Sociology

There are various menus which are found in the McDonald restaurant in United States. This includes Chicken McNuggets. This kind of food tastes the same despite of where it is prepared. This menu uniformity is accomplished by implementation of various factors. The chemical flavoring industry plays a role in ensuring this uniformity. It has been common for conflicts arising from franchisors and franchisees. The market of fast food has widened. In order to ensure uniformity in the menus, restaurants within the same chain are made to operate under the same conditions. This kind of putting things closer to one another is referred by many as encroachment and it is opposed by franchisees. This brings about competition of customers. Restaurants maximize on profits through much sales (Schlosser, 2001, p.99). Franchising was covered under the federal law in 1978.

The federal law is not involved in regulating the manner franchisees are run. Franchisees operate on their own after signing a contract. These franchisees are required to obey corporate directives. Chain restaurants are mandated to buy products from suppliers who have been approved. This ensures uniformity of the menus and taste since the same products are used through out the chain. Restaurant can only be sold to a buyer who has been approved by the chain. Food flavoring is another concept which has ensured uniformity in the menus. Flavors ensure that food has a certain taste and smell. The flavors used may either be natural or artificial. Natural flavor is highly considered than artificial flavor because it is healthier. The source of the flavor defines its application. Chemical plants have taken the lead in producing both natural and artificial flavors. Flavorists is the term used to refer to those who are involved in preparing the flavors widely used in United States. These scientists involve various disciplines in devising the flavors organic chemistry, psychology, biology and physiology (Schlosser, 2001, p.100). The uniformity is also ensured by use of analyzer which determines the lumpiness, creep, juiciness amongst other properties of food.

There is still remarkable uniformity between McDonalds fast food and Chinese fast food despite of the different organization practiced in ether of them. There is the possibility of having the same dish appearing on many menus. This might happen even when the organization is different. There was encroachment to McDonalds territories by Chinese fast food. The rise of an outlet which is the same chain of production may draw customers of another outlet. In order to meet the needs of customers who have used to a certain taste and preference, a replica has to be produced. This can be achieved through food flavoring. This has created uniformity between Chinese fast food and McDonald fast food.

Franchisees use chains of fast food due to suppliers inflated prices, encroachment, terminations and bankruptcies. This regulation enables the production of the same food in a wide range. The legal disputes apply to various franchisors. These include McDonalds fast food and Chinese fast food. This makes these franchisors been tied up as an institution (Schlosser, 2001, 126). Despite of having no organized authority, they produce the same menus. There was a legislation which was passed in 1999 covering on franchisors. The business principles applied on American companies was to apply to franchisors.  A commercial code was to apply to various businesses in the same line. This defines why different franchisors may end up making same dish.

Q.
2 a)  There are several organizations which are involved in the production of a Big Mac. These include cattle ranchers. Cattle ranchers include farmers of cattle and chicken growers. The beef and poultry industries are amongst the organization involved in the production of Big Mac. The wave mergers saved the collapsing poultry industry. These led to rise of several chicken processors who control the market in America. These chicken processors are situated near chicken growers who are the farmers (Schlosser, 2001, 128). Cattle ranchers participate are directly involved in production of Big Mac. This includes farmers and meatpackers.

2. b) The cost of Big Mac is low in United States. Taking the major component of Big Mac to be beef, it is clear that cattle prices had gone down over a decade.  The price of cattle defines the price of the end products. Beef industry has been well structured in United States. This has helped prevent extra which might be introduced by factors such as merging. Merging of business is cost since it introduces new policies. Beef industry has been very sound in United States. The condition of bringing up cattle in United State is cheap.

The conditions are favorable for farmers in this industry. Cattle ranchers deal with mass production of cattle. This minimizes the cost of Big Mac since the products are readily available from cattle ranchers.  Meat packers also play a role in determining the cost of Big Mac (Schlosser, 2001). Meat packers use improved technology in their work and also maximizes on cheap labor. Improved technology and cheap labor keeps the cost of beef low. Meat packing is achieved easily without much cost. The advanced technology in United States has made the cost of Big Mac to be low. Big Mac is easily produced through minimal operations. This is possible with the involvement of improved technology.

2.C The organization of the labor process inside the meatpacking has really helped keep costs low. The manner in which labor is organized in a company determines the operating cost. In the meat packing plants most of the activities are carried out with aid of machines. Most of the work which was usually carried out by humans has been replaced by machines. Machines are faster in production as opposed to humans who may take a lot of time to achieve a certain task. With automation in place, most of the activities are performed with minimal human supervision. This has enabled reduce the cost of production since machines are involved reducing human error. Mass production is possible with the aid of machines. The meatpacking plants are also filled with expertise that ensure that everything is running as expected. Employees in the meatpacking plants are skilled (Schlosser, 2001, 10). Skilled labor eliminates unnecessary mistakes which may contribute to increased costs.

3). In American, many of the existing Chinese restaurants serve a similar food called the General Tsos Chicken.. Just like the MacDonalds, these restaurants basically make food of the same flavor without the essence of hierarchical or organized authorities that command the restaurants. This is by contrast to the MacDonalds where there should be a uniform state of menu across the board as dictated by the franchisors powers. The large presence of Chinese restaurants within American cannot solely be explained by the view of the MacDonald which regulated the state of similarity of the menus provided by its franchisees. However, understanding this argumentation can only be through the conception of the institutional theory. According, the survival of corporations within the very competitive market environment can only be via following the strong rules, regulations and systems within the environment. Thus, corporations are usually influenced by the existing social institutions which consequently give them the path to explore. Subject to this the Chinese restaurants provided the same menu in regard to the existing market trend and thud having Chicken McNuggets and General Tsos Chicken.

In conclusion, the cost of Big Mac is relatively low in United Sates as opposed to other nations. There are several factors contributing to the low cost. The low cost of beef is one of the major factors to low Big Mac cost. This is determined by certain factors which include cattle ranchers and meatpackers. Meatpackers employed advanced technology in their work. This includes use of machines in production. This keeps the cost of production of beef to be low. This is reflected to the price of Big Mac.