Guide to Writing CUEGIS Concepts Essay
The Basic Approach to Writing CUEGIS Essays: PEE Structure
Point: Identify a general point that answers the question in a brief statement.
Evidence: Give examples/evidence from the real-life organization to support the validity of your point.
Explain: Explain how your point influences one stakeholder group of your chosen organization. (I
recommend employees, customers, and/or shareholders).
Part I: Introduction
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Define both CUEGIS concepts from the question.
Apply the two concepts to the organization(s) of your choice.
Formulate a thesis statement (main idea) incorporating the two definitions and your chosen
organization.
Part II: Body (PEE paragraphs)
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Write 2 paragraphs for the first CUEGIS concept using the PEE structure.
o 1st Paragraph: One positive aspect about the organization in terms of the first
CUEGIS concept.
o 2nd Paragraph: One negative aspect about the organization in terms of the first
CUEGIS concept.
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Write 2 paragraphs for the second CUEGIS concept using the PEE structure.
o 1st Paragraph: One positive aspect about the organization in terms of the second
CUEGIS concept.
o 2nd Paragraph: One negative aspect about the organization in terms of the second
CUEGIS concept.
Part III: Conclusion and Recommendation
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Stakeholders’ perspectives are discussed. (Optional)
Summarize your answer into 1-2 brief sentences.
Recommend a solution to the issues discussed in your answer by providing a wise judgment.
Examine how ethics and innovation has impacted the marketing strategies of an organisation
of your choice.
Introduction
Ethics is the moral standard of conduct, attitude, beliefs, and behavior shared by employees within an
organization. These moral standards are typically associated with businesses “doing the right thing”.
Innovation, on the other hand, is a set of skills that involves creating new ideas and products that will
help businesses create a unique selling point and thus sustain competitive advantage that way. Unlike
ethical businesses, innovative businesses are more focused on “doing things right”. McDonald’s is an
American fast food company that always strive to strike a balance between being ethical to appeal to
their frequent customers (usually young consumers) and while also being innovative by offering
valuable meals to their customers that their competitors cannot in order to achieve their mission
statement of “to be our customers' favorite place and way to eat and drink”.
Ethics
McDonald’s have been striving towards their ethical goals by offering both gender- and age-focused
meals. Larger portion meals, such as the Big Mac, are available for the younger male customers who
have larger appetites while smaller ones (McNuggets) are available for the female or older ones who
may not be able to eat as much. By having a wide variety of meal selection, McDonald’s may not only
be able to attract more consumers, but may also publicly promote anti-discrimination by gender or
age, leading to positive brand image.
Although McDonald’s designed different variety of products that satisfy consumers’ needs and wants,
they are being unethical by purposely marketing to children (e.g. toys from the Happy Meal). Children
push their parents to get a new toy by ordering a Happy Meal at McDonalds and the parents will also
order a meal in order to dine together with their kids. Though McDonald’s sales revenue will improve
noticeably, the company is earning them unethically by taking advantage of children's’ desires to have
toys. As a consequence, they had to adjust their marketing strategies by reducing their Happy Meal
advertisements in their stores to merely at a small corner in order not to grab the children’s attention.
McDonald’s food quality does not meet ethical expectations as well. In Shanghai and several other
regions in Mainland China, McDonalds had been caught using expired meat, mainly chicken, to serve
their customers. The justification in doing so was that this way they can minimize costs of supplies in
order to make the most profits. Once the public found out about this food scandal, McDonalds
immediately stopped selling and removed all chicken-related meals from their menus. To reinstall
confidence into their consumers, McDonalds launched a nationwide advertising campaign on
television commercials and newspapers. Some branches in China had to even lower their prices to
and offer discount promotions to woo their consumers back.
Innovation
In addition to meeting their ethical aims, McDonald’s are also sustaining their innovative goals by
updating their menus frequently. The American fast food retailer is also uniquely adapting to their
customer’s cultural differences all around the world. For example, McDonald’s in predominantly
Islamic countries such as Pakistan removed any pork from their menus. Similarly in Hong Kong,
McDonalds offer rice sets and red bean pies since these new additions are favored by the local
culture. These local adaptations demonstrate McDonalds’ unique ability to innovate and remain
competitive over the likes of other fast food restaurants such as KFC. In the past two years, KFC retail
stores have continued to close down in Hong Kong while McDonalds is able to remain intact. This way
not only will McDonald’s sales revenue increase, shareholders may enjoy a greater return on their
investments and will thus invest more capital into the company.
Although McDonald’s are updating their menus frequently, they don't have delivery in many countries,
such as in America since many fast food restaurants have delivery. Many of their direct competitors,
including Pizza Hut, already have deliver service right to the customers’ doorsteps. As many
consumers in America are getting wealthier and would like to enjoy a better quality of life, they may
prefer to have food delivery services over actually traveling to the store. McDonald’s lagging
technology not only will affect the choices of consumers not ordering their food, employees may also
not be too happy working a labor-intensive job leading to job dissatisfaction.
Conclusion
To conclude, McDonalds, given that it has over 50 years of history, has been able to achieve both
local and international marketing success through balancing their ethical as well as innovative
objectives. Though they have not been entirely ethical nor were the most innovative fast food
company, McDonalds have been sustaining a competitive edge by offering a wide variety of food
selection that fits the needs of consumers of all ages, gender, and culture all around the world as
shown by their unique menu choices.
No business can be successful without effectively adapting to changes and correcting their wrongs. It
is therefore recommended that McDonalds investment equal amounts of finance into pursuing both
their ethical and innovative goals and ensure that neither side is neglected by the other. Only then
may McDonalds sustain a competitive edge over other competitors and ensure long-term success.
Change
Change is the continuous process of alternating events both internal and external to an
organization that provokes the organization to adapt to the new situation.
Culture
Culture refers to the collection of attitudes, norms, practices, knowledge, languages, etc.,
that distinguishes one group of people from another.
Ethics
Ethics the moral standard of conduct, attitude, beliefs, and behavior that defines what is right
from wrong and is shared by employees within an organization.
Globalization
Globalization is the process of creating a more economically interdependent world by
integrating global economies as a whole functional unit.
Innovation
Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that
creates value for businesses and their customers.
Strategy
A strategy is a plan devised from analyzing both the internal and external environments of an
organization utilized by businesses to bring about a desired future achievement.