JOHN A. GORDON

The stores that are company-owned are mainly for testing products and other corporate goals, according to John A. Gordon, an independent restaurant chain expert and founder of Pacific Management Consulting Group... Yet McDonald's expressing global solidarity with Ukraine is among the most bold and decisive moves taken by a restaurant chain of its magnitude, said Aaron Allen, a restaurant analyst and founder of Aaron Allen & Associates... The group included McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, some of which had operated in Russia for decades and had faced heightened scrutiny in recent days as other companies elected to halt their business dealings there. A veritable naughty-or-nice list, compiled by a Yale University professor, generated headlines by highlighting the companies maintaining normal operations.