麥當勞為何不懼衰退？

????伊利諾伊州奧克布魯克市，麥當勞CEO吉姆?斯金納正在視察當地一家連鎖店的廚房。他事無巨細，要求嚴苛，或許他的同行們只有對待財務報告時才會如此。他一邊檢查食物準備區，一邊向我詳細解釋“如何檢查脆薯餅”這款麥當勞幾年前就已經推出的產品；并且告誡我不要碰任何東西?！俺悄阆朐谶@里工作，”他補充道。畢竟，在當前的經濟形勢下，麥當勞是為數不多仍在招聘的公司之一。

????但是，如果你認為斯金納是一名微觀管理者，那你就錯了——他只是特別重視麥當勞在全球的33,000家連鎖店的效率和表現，以及大量復雜的配套基礎設施。正是在麥當勞的鼎盛時期，他形成了這種管理風格?，F年66歲的斯金納2004年成為麥當勞CEO。此后，麥當勞每年都以5%的速度增長，去年公司收入超過240億美元。而在其七年任期內，受到密切關注的行業標準，即同店銷售額，每年都在增長。與此同時，公司股票累計收益率超過250%（即便八月初股市暴跌后依然漲勢強勁），而同一階段標準普爾500（S&P 500）股票的平均收益率僅為16%。（點擊閱讀本刊2005年文章，了解麥當勞如何選定合適的CEO繼任者。）

????如果你最近沒有光顧麥當勞，你肯定會認為，公司只是占了美國和其他地區經濟不景氣的便宜，因為在這種情況下，節衣縮食的消費者們紛紛放棄了正式的餐廳，轉而到快餐店就餐。但為了維持麥當勞目前所取得的成績，以及平安渡過當前的經濟動蕩，斯金納一方面要留住巨無霸和炸薯條的鐵桿粉絲，同時又必須想方設法吸引更多食客。所以，現在除了漢堡和奶昔，消費者還可以到麥當勞挑選一款快餐卷或水果冰沙，或者來一杯正宗的拿鐵咖啡【這令星巴克（Starbucks）怒火中燒】，而這些都能增加每家連鎖店的銷售額。去年，每家連鎖店的平均銷售額從2004年的160萬美元增長到240萬美元。

????下面，我們來細數一下要成功實現這種總體轉變必須正確執行的所有步驟：測試廚房是否有能力不斷推出能夠廣受歡迎的食譜（顧客們對McPizzas這樣的食品已經厭煩了）；公司必須建立一支能處理大額訂單的供應商隊伍；員工需要接受針對新品的制作進行培訓；而營銷人員必須找出有效的方式推銷產品——與此同時，還要時刻提防“食物警察”，他們緊盯著公司食品的營養價值，這讓麥當勞困擾不已。好在斯金納是一位運營奇才，他將這家餐飲業巨頭成功變成一臺運行良好的機器，并堅持在整個公司推行規劃與責任制——即便脆薯餅也要接受檢查。瑞士聯合銀行（UBS）分析師大衛?帕爾默表示：“麥當勞是管理界的奇跡?！闭浅鲇谶@個原因，在《財富》雜志（Fortune）評選出的首支商界高管“夢之隊”（由最優秀的高管組成的全明星陣容）中，斯金納入選首發名單。

????斯金納為人低調，也未能完成大學學業。所以當時在麥當勞內部，極少有人會料到會由這個生于美國中西部的人出任公司CEO。身高5.6英尺的斯金納極少在采訪中談論自己，他說：“我從來都是‘龍套’?！寪酆扇A達文波特的小個子來試試?！敃r沒有人會這么想：”2004年11月，斯金納終于從“龍套”一躍成為公司的“男一號”，當時公司被悲傷的氣氛所籠罩：前CEO吉姆?坎塔盧普在那一年因心臟病去世，而他的繼任者查理?貝爾在上任七個月后，因癌癥需接受治療而不得不提出辭職。2005年1月，查理?貝爾去世。

????Jim Skinner, CEO of McDonald's, is inspecting the kitchen of one of his restaurants in Oak Brook, Ill., with the rigor many of his peers might reserve for financial reports. He examines the food-preparation area as he explains, in great detail, the "review of the hash browns" that McDonald's initiated a few years ago -- and admonishes me to not touch anything. "Unless you feel like you want to have a job," he adds. McDonald's, after all, is one of the few places hiring these days.

????Skinner isn't a micromanager. He's simply intensely focused on the efficiency and performance of McDonald's (MCD) 33,000 restaurants worldwide and the enormous, complex infrastructure that supports them, a managerial trait that has resulted in nothing short of a Golden Age for the Golden Arches. Since Skinner, 66, became CEO in 2004, the company has delivered an annual growth rate of 5%, with revenue topping $24 billion last year. Same-store sales, a closely watched industry metric, have climbed each of the seven years of his tenure, and in that time the stock has returned more than 250% -- even after the early-August equities selloff -- vs. 16% for the S&P 500 (SPX). [Click here to read our 2005 story about how McDonald's got CEO succession right.]

????If you haven't been in a McDonald's lately, you might assume that the company simply has been the beneficiary of the struggling economy in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, and that cost-conscious consumers are flocking to fast-food eateries instead of sit-down restaurants. But to post the kind of impressive numbers McDonald's has -- and to weather the current turmoil -- Skinner has had to find ways to attract new diners while retaining the hard-core Big Mac-and-fries crowd. And so today, along with burgers and shakes, you can stroll into a McDonald's and pick up a snack wrap or a fruit smoothie or a decent latte (much to Starbucks' chagrin), all of which translates into higher sales per location. Last year average per-store sales jumped to $2.4 million, from $1.6 million in 2004.

????Now think of all the things that have to go right to pull off that kind of global transformation: Test kitchens need to churn out winning recipes (no more McPizzas!), the company must line up suppliers who can handle big orders, the crews have to be trained to prepare new items, and marketers must figure out a way to sell them -- all while fending off the food police who, not without merit, dog the company about the nutritional value of its fare. Luckily for McDonald's, Skinner is an operations whiz who has turned the restaurant giant into a well-oiled machine, insisting on planning and accountability throughout the company -- even hash browns are subject to review. "McDonald's has been an execution wonder," says UBS analyst David Palmer. That's why Fortune has named Skinner to the starting lineup of our first Executive Dream Team, an all-star roster of top-performing executives.

????Yet few at McDonald's ever expected the publicity-shy Midwesterner, who never graduated from college, to become CEO. "I've been a walk-on in everything; nobody was thinking, 'Get the little guy from Davenport, Iowa,'" says the 5-foot-6 Skinner, who rarely talks about himself in interviews. His transition from supporting player to team captain in November 2004 came under tragic circumstances: Former CEO Jim Cantalupo died of a heart attack that year, and Cantalupo's successor, Charlie Bell, resigned as he underwent treatment for cancer after just seven months on the job. He died in January 2005.