Ray Kroc

This source documents Ray Kroc's 1961 acquisition of McDonald's from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million - a sum calculated to deliver $1 million each after taxes. By 1961, Kroc had established 228 restaurants with $37 million in sales.

For business strategy, Kroc's story illustrates the critical distinction between building a successful business (what the McDonald brothers did) and building replicable organizational DNA (what Kroc did). Kroc didn't buy restaurants - he bought a system. His genius was identifying which elements were genotype (standardized processes, training methods) versus phenotype (local adaptations).