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Mcdonald's Environment Strategy

Pollution Prevention in Corporate Strategy
NATIONAL POLLUTION PREVENTION CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Case A: McDonald’s Environmental Strategy
Susan Svoboda, manager of the University of Michigan Corporate Environmental Management Program (CEMP), prepared this case under the guidance of Stuart Hart, director of CEMP and assistant professor of Corporate Strategy and Organizational Behavior at the U-M School of Business Administration, as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an adminstrative situation. This document may be used by either students or faculty for background information.

Introduction
Rooted in Ray Kroc’s founding principles of Quality, Service, Cleanliness & Value (Q.S.C.&V.), McDonald’s management has always believed in being a leader in issues that affect their customers. This philosophy is evident in McDonald’s involvement in various community projects regarding education, health care, medical research, and rehabilitation facilities. These activities help the corporation to extend their image beyond fun and entertainment into social responsibility. However, in the late 1980s, McDonald’s began to face criticism for its environmental policies, especially those surrounding polystyrene clamshell containers. In 1987, McDonald’s replaced CFCs, the blowing agent used in clamshell production, with weaker HCFC-22’s after facing public criticism that CFC usage was contributing to ozone depletion. But this change was not enough for many grass-roots environmental groups that, led by the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste (CCHW), united in establishing a “Ronald McToxic Campaign” consisting of restaurant picketers and an organized effort to mail clamshells back to Oak Brook headquarters. When McDonald’s later tested trash-to-energy on-site incinerators, CCHW quickly named the project “McPuff.” By 1989, school children, the backbone of McDonald’s customer base, founded a group called...