McDonalds 2005 Annual Report Download - page 6

First and foremost, I am passionate about people. People have always been
McDonald’s legacy. I also appreciate the fact that, in an organization like McDonald’s,
people and profitability are inexorably linked. You cannot have one without the other.
McDonald’s has a strong and deep leadership bench, and we continually cultivate
and promote talent. Of the 12 members of our senior management team, four are in
new positions from this time a year ago. Some, like me, have grown up with the
System. Others are new to the System, and they bring a wealth of talent and new
thinking. McDonald’s has experienced the benefits of strong succession planning,
and that's why planning for our future leadership remains one of my top priorities.
I want to thank McDonald’s Board of Directors, led by Chairman Andy McKenna,
and Mike Roberts, our President and COO, as well as the entire McDonald’s senior
management team, for their continued support in this effort.
Everything we do centers on our restaurants. As a result, we apply the same diligence
to talent development at the restaurant level. It is critical that we hire, train and retain
the best people for our restaurants because they are the crew and managers who
are on the front line behind our counters and in our drive-thrus serving our cus-
tomers every day. They also will ultimately become our next generation of leaders.
My second priority is maintaining McDonald’s strong commitment to balanced, active
lifestyles. This is important to our customers, to our System, and to me personally.
In 2005, we announced that we would provide comprehensive nutrition information
about our food on our packaging. This initiative debuted in February during the 2006
Winter Olympics, a fitting venue as the athletes we served in the Olympic Village
epitomize our commitment to balanced, active lifestyles. We are the first quick-
service restaurant company in the world to provide
this kind of transparency, and our research confirms
that customers appreciate having easy-to-understand
information on packaging because it helps them make
choices that best fit their lifestyles.
To help inform our customers about the importance
of physical activity, in 2005 we also launched a public
education campaign called, “it’s what i eat and what
i do...i’m lovin’ it.”
We will continue to maintain our leadership efforts in these three areas—nutrition
information, menu choice, and the relationship between what we eat and what we do.
Finally, we are making progress toward our goal of sustained, profitable growth. Our
sales results in 2005 prove that our strategy, our Plan to Win, is working because of
our focus on the five elements that drive our business—people, products, place,
4 McDonald’s 2005
McDonald’s has a
strong and deep
leadership bench,
and we continually
cultivate and
promote talent.
REVENUES
dollars in billions
$20.5
$24
18
12
6
01 02 03 04 05
CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATIONS
dollars in billions
$4.3
$4
3
2
1
01 02 03 04 05
Letter to shareholders, continued
introduced nutrition information on
product packaging starting in 2006