Kfc in China

Name: Suha Lakkis

Instructor: Dr. Ziad Haddad

Course: Managing the Global Corporation

Case Study 1: KFC in China:

1. Global companies face critical questions when they enter emerging markets.

How far should they go to localize their offerings? Should they adapt existing products just enough to appeal to consumers in those markets? Or should they rethink the business model from ground up?

In its definition reactive business strategy are those that respond to some unanticipated event only after it occurs, while proactive strategies are designed to anticipate possible challenges. But because no one can anticipate any possibility, no organization can be proactive in every situation and especially at its early phases.

KFC was not prepared to many challenges that it faced as soon as it entered the Chinese market and mainly the cultural difference so its strategy came to be reactive.

KFC reacted to the Chinese culture and customized its services and products in a way that suits and fits the Chinese.

The basis for this decision was first that the Western style fast food restaurants were unknown in China, so KFC was a novelty, a taste of America. And they were mainly targeting the foreigners living in China who can afford KFC high prices.

2. KFC wasn’t prepared to any risks and mainly cultural differences so when the Chinese curiosity ends toward new fast foods they returned back to their local cuisine. So KFC took the initiative to introduce some of the Chinese recipes or to give the Chinese taste in its menu. In addition to lowering prices so it can be affordable to all the population. Plus they worked on improving their hygiene and they stressed on healthiness of their food.

Moreover, they trained their staff on customer service that was oriented to deal with Chinese people, they taught their employees how to interact with customers for example one child families and the proliferation of home computers means that the Chinese children interact...