Epilogue Summary and Analysis

Mike Quinlan becomes the third chairman of McDonald's in 1987 and has to guide McDonald's through tough economic times, through the early 1990s, in particular. During a speech in 1994, Quinlan notes that only a few weeks before, McDonald's sold its one hundred billionth hamburger. However, he notes that customers do not care; they have to keep focusing on the customer. McDonald's has to restructure throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s and begins to evaluate itself and its flaws.

McDonald's reinvents itself when no one is noticing. The cost of growth is rising and the real estate market is becoming more difficult to manage. McDonald's pays higher bills but the recession of the early 1990s makes that impossible to sustain. Fred Turner knows that McDonald's needs to change as well, which is why he appoints Quinlan to take over for him.

McDonald's...