unit1听力原文及辩论话题

Unit1

Lesson1

Audio

McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) is one of the leading fast-food restaurant chains in the world, touching the lives of people every day. As the world’s largest chain of restaurants, it primarily sells hamburgers, chicken, french fries, milkshakes, soft drinks, etc.

The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. Initially, they just owned a hotdog stand. But after establishing the restaurant they served around 25 items, which were mostly barbecued. It became a popular and profitable teen hangout. Their introduction of the “Speed Service System” in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc on April 15, 1955.

In effect, Kroc opened his first and the overall

ninth restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, and gave birth to McDonald’s Corporation. In 1958, the restaurant chain sold its 100 millionth hamburger. In 1960, Kroc renamed his company as “McDonald’s Corporation”. In 1961, Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers to sell the business rights to him in the company. Thus he purchased the brothers’ equity for a sum of $2.7million and led to its worldwide expansion.

As McDonald’s expands success fully into many international markets, the company became a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Its prominence also made it a frequent subject of public debates about obesity, corporate ethics and consumer responsibility.

Video

Tanya: It’s the fast food chain with the iconic golden arches that have been spotted all over the world. Yes, we are talking about McDonald’s. But did you know McDonald’s, year after year, is

voted one of the best places to work? We’re looking today at this all-American company and what we can learn from its success. We’re joined by Paul Facella, author of the book, Everything I Know About Business, I Learned At McDonald’s: The Seven Leadership Principles That Drive Breakout Success. Paul was a former McDonald’s executive who has the behind-the-scenes story on the world’s most successful restaurant organization. Hi there, Paul. Thanks for joining us. Paul: Thank you, Tanya. Nice to be here. Tanya: Now, while you no longer work for McDonald’s, I understa nd that the company has had a huge impact on your life. Tell us why you decided to write a book on business lessons that you learned from a fast food chain.

Paul: Sure. Well, not only myself but literally hundreds of thousands of people that went to the Mc Donald’s system and were guided by a lot of the principles. When I left McDonald’s, I went into consulting and, and one of the surprises I had was many of the organizations, both large and

small, was the fact that some of the basic principles, some of the foundations that good organizations need to be successful, weren’t there. And I was constantly being asked about, “Well, tell me how you did in McDonald’s”. And my thinking was, “Gee, I’ll write a book about it and help my client base and I’ll be able to h elp them move forward with it.” So that was the thinking behind it.

Tanya:Well, we’re gonna get into some of those secrets of success. I wanna start by asking you, you know, obviously a lot of people know McDonald’s for their burgers and Big Macs. But, I’m sure a lot people will be surprised to know that it has one of the highest corporate employee retention rates of any company, I mean people assume, fast food chain, people just want to get in and get out. What makes McDonald’s so successful?

Paul: I thi nk, I think there’s a number of factors, but I think the retention piece is about McDonald’s, when you work, there it’s really about

a meritocracy. It is about advancement that is based on achievement. And from the first crew person moving in all the way up to store manager, all the way up to the present CEO, Jim Skinner, who was a crew person 35 years ago and moved into, after 35 years, moved into the CEO ranks. So it’s always been a progression of opportunity for people, and I think that's one of the great things that keeps folks there. Every CEO has gone through the ranks.

Tanya:Is there any crossover from those who work on the server side to the executive side, or you have to go back to school for that?

Paul: Oh, no, all the time, I mean, I started as a 16-year-old crew person. Mike Quinlan, who’s a CEO for 14 years started in the mail room, so there’s plenty of crossover.

Lesson2

Audio

Since setting up the first McDonald’s in China, the Western restaurant chain has been expanding

steadily and successfully. So far, other than the home market – the United States – China is the No. 1 growth market for McDonald’s, with over 1000 restaurants and over 60,000 employees. China also represents one third of all capital expenditures in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, where the fast-food giant is in 37 markets. According to Skinner, vice-chairman and CEO of this world’s largest fast-food company, “We’ve been steadily growing with China for the past 20 years and are very excited for what the future h olds,” he says.

In 1990, McDonald’s chose Shenzhen, a pioneer Special Economic Zone in Guangdong province bordering Hong Kong, to open its first 500-seat store in the developing market. McDonald’s quickly won over the local consumers, due to its many attractions like its Ronald McDonald clown, Golden Arches or the yellow “M” logo, Big Mac, the smiling attendants and the quick service. The success of the Shenzhen outlet prompted McDonald’s to expand its chain nationwide. And

McDonald’s has not stopped from a ggressively increasing the number of its outlets in China. The mainland’s fast-food market is growing at a rate of 16 percent per year.

“We are going to continue our growth at a faster rate in China. China is a huge market with great opportunities for businesses around the world, and it's no different for McDonald’s,” Skinner adds

Video

Tanya: And in your book, you’ve broken down some of the keys, the fundamental keys of McDonald’s success, in terms that can be applied to other companies. So, let’s go throu gh these one by one. The first you say is honesty and integrity, and this obviously comes at a time when so many people have lost trust in Wall Street. How can we apply this?

Paul: Yeah, I think, it’s, well, honesty and integrity started very early on with Ray Kroc who started the McDonald’s system in 1955, and back then franchises were just starting to proliferate,

and there were not a lot of laws about how they would conduct businesses. And one of the things was done, sadly, was that many of those franchisors would take commissions back from suppliers that supplied the franchisees product. From the beginning, that's now how we’re gonna do businesses. We’re gonna have integrity, we’re gonna be honest with our franchisees, I wanna the franchisees to make the first dollar, I’ll make the second dollar, and that kind of got into the DNA very early. And to this day, there is a wonderful relationship of integrity and honesty with our relationships with our operators, with our vendors. Tanya: And I would imagine that motivates everybody because you feel like if you do well, you will get rewarded.

Paul: That’s correct. Absolutely, no question about that. How important everybody working together as a team is!

Tanya: Right, and another secret to McDonalds’ success, I understand, is relationships, and the company apparently promotes the idea that

relationships are sort of the secret sauce, as, if you will, and everyone who works for the company is a part of an extended family, is that right? Paul: The Mcfamily!

Tanya: Yeah.

Paul: It's a great safe way from honesty and integrity. If you start with the foundation of honesty [and] integrity, it goes right into relationships. And Fred Turner, who is still to this day, 54 years later, is active, was actually the one that coi ned the phrase “the three-legged stool”. What it really meant was, that there were three legs in our relationship: the franchisees, the suppliers and the company people. And all of us pulling together, and working together as a team and the synergy of that team, is how it will be successful. And if you think about that, you know how important that is, that you really don’t want to let your team members down and you want them to be successful.

Tanya: Sure, and every leg of the stool is only as strong as the other leg, right?

Paul: Absolutely.

Tanya: And another secret is the idea of standards. One of the McDonalds’ mottos, apparently, is never be satisfied? [Yes.] Tell us about the company’s no excuses working environment.

Paul:Yeah, well, standards are very important and you know is – in order to have a standard, you have that measurement, and if it’s worth doing, it’s worth measuring. And every time you measure something, performance improves because people have a guideline –they know where they’re going, and that, that’s actually part of even the people side of that. The meritocracy wasn’t based on anything, but clear metrics on how you advance through the ranks on that. But it was never satisfied, we always felt we could do it harder, quicker, faster. And that stayed one step ahead of the competition and kept our franchisees the best in the system.

Speaking Task 2 Debating

Motion: We’re just lovin’ it (adapted from the McDonald’s international advertising slogan).

Pros

?McDonald’s business model –the

Three-Legged Stool –is one

entrepreneurs worldwide can learn from.

?The modern world is a busy place. If we

are to compete effectively, we cannot

afford to waste time. Fast food is an

obvious way to save precious time.

?No company could be so successful for so

long without having given a lot of people a

lot of pleasure. What’s wrong with that?!

Don’t we all want to offer people a

service they appreciate?

?McDonald’s epitomizes globalization,

which is an irresistible force which we should welcome rather than oppose. Globalization –and McDonald’s – offers people more choice, at lower prices. And globalization does not mean uniformity. For example, McDonald’s is sensitive to local cultures; in India it has developed a beef-free burger; in China there’s the corn cup.

?McDonald’s provides welcome investment in China and many much-needed jobs for Chinese people. Over 60,000 Chinese people owe their jobs to McDonalds.

?ROIP ensures quality control and cleanliness in McDonald’s restaurants. It must work, otherwi se customers wouldn’t keep coming back.

?In Golden Arches East (1997) James L. Watson shows how McDonald’s led the way in raising standards of toilet and

bathroom cleanliness in Hong Kong in the 1970s. So McDonald’s has made a major contribution to global hygiene.

?McDonald’s is a meritocracy. It has one of the highest corporate employee retention rates of any company because it provides employees with great opportunities to be promoted on the basis of what they have achieved. That’s a model China should emulate.

?Of course, there has been a lot of criticism of McDonald’s –successful organizations always attract criticism –but McDonald’s has responded quickly and effectively to such criticism, whether it be about food quality, animal welfare or environmentally friendly farming.

?No country with a McDonald’s outlet has

ever gone to war with any other country

which also has a McDonald’s outlet.

Cons

?McDonald’s is junk food: the fries and

fried meat are unhealthy. No wonder so

many people in the west have problems of

obesity! In Fast Food Nation (2001), Eric

Scholosser shows how the USA has

become the fattest nation on earth.

Does China want to go down that road

too?

?McDonald’s food is high in sugar, fat and salt, i.e. it is deliberately addictive. It manipulates our minds and desires and is a major cause of diabetes糖尿病.

?McDonald’s contributes significantly to global warming. Enormous amounts of meat are consumed in hamburgers. This necessitates extensive cattle farming. One of the major causes of global warming is the methane

emitted by cattle.

?McDonald’s contributes significantly to world poverty. It takes of grain to produce of beef – no wonder food prices are rising all over the world! And vast areas of land are bought up in poor countries for cash crops or cattle ranches, thereby depriving the local population.

?Thousands of tons of McDonald’s packaging add to the problem of litter. This is contrary to the Chinese government’s green policies –for example, its ban on free plastic bags in supermarkets

?Like all big multi-nationals, McDonald’s devotes huge funds each year to publicity ($1.8 bn). And its employees are expected to smile. But just how pretty is the reality behind the mask? A few –a very few –

employees rise through the ranks, but what

about the rest? What are they paid? How easy is it usually for them to join a trades union?

?McDonald’s represents a new kind of American imperialism, far subtler and more insidious than territorial aggression. Chinese people are being colonized through their stomachs.

?Food additives used by McDonald’s are known to cause hyperactivity in children. ?It’s sinister how McDonald’s targets young children – for example, by its clown Ronald McDonald. Children get quickly addicted to burgers, fries and milk shakes at an early age, to their great detriment.

?McDonald’s has even opened a Hamburger University in Shanghai (March 2010). O China! O China! What is

happening to you? What would Confucius have said! With their 5,000 year history and their rich food culture, why on earth are Chinese people allowing McDonald’s to set up shop on every street corner? Whatever happened to patriotism?! – and good taste?!