The challenge: That year, Jack Greenberg became the company’s fourth chief executive. His main concern was how to lead the business in less favourable market conditions. McDonald*s was facing concerns about fatty foods and about beef; competition was squeezing margins; andgrowth from international markets was slowing.

The strategy: Mr Greenberg did what the textbooks suggest. First, he focused on improving the core business, announcing it as his top priority. Then，he also set a second priority: to find a new platform for growth. With this audacious goal in mind, he supported five acquisitions of related restaurant businesses including Chipotle, a Mexican food restaurant, and 50 per cent of Pret A Manger, the U.K. sandwich chain and he setup the Partner Brands Division, to be responsible for these new businesses. Mr Greenberg also opened the door to a number of other, more organic initiatives led by his head of strategy, Mats Lederhausen.

What happened： Mr Greenberg found it difficult to dedicate enough attention to both priorities. The core business continued to deteriorate andin 2001 McDonald’s announced its first quarterly loss and the resignation of Mr Greenberg.

Jim Cantalupo, a retired McDonald’s executive, was asked to return as CEO. His first announcement was that McDonald’s had been trying to do too many things. He shut down many of the organic initiatives and housed all the new businesses into a structure called McDonald’s Ventures.