Healthy Fast Food Chain - Dissertation Example

Healthy Fast Food Chain Chapter 1: Introductions 1.1 Introduction The brand development refers to one of the most complicated and key element of the business success. Branding is the concept that refers to the strategy that creates a prominent name for the business through which the product can be differentiated from other similar products[Bat12]. In other words, branding refers to the process of establishing a differentiated name of the business. Now the question arises how a business as a start up or a new entrant in the market can implement a successful branding strategy in highly competitive market? The answer to this question lies in the correct identification of the consumer behaviors along with their existing and future preferences along with the changing trends in the market. The consumer behavior is the concept refers to dealing with the demand of the consumption of any product or services. In other words, the consumer behavior is the patterns that individuals follow while making purchase decisions. The study of behaviors is also referred to as the social science, which plays one of the most important but complicated role in designing the business strategy or developing a brand. The reason is that the behaviors of individuals are seasonal. Moreover, the behaviors can change at any point of time depending on the circumstances. This implies that for a successful business start up and identification of most suitable business strategy, reading the minds of the target market or expected consumers is important. The phenomenon of dealing with the complications of consumer behavior is important in almost all kinds of business. The importance is even higher in case of food business. The research work is based on the identification of brand development strategy of a healthy fast food chain. The key determining elements which are studied in this research work for the establishment of the fast food brand are the marketing trends and the consumer behavior. 1.2 Aim/Goal of the Research The aim or goal of research refers to as the identification of the purpose of the research work. The Goal of the research is “To identify the most successful branding strategy that can help the new entrants in the fast food business to establish healthy fast food chain. Moreover, the research work also served the purpose of guiding the entrepreneurs regarding how to identify the marketing and consumer behaviors along with the strategies of dealing with these complications “ 1.3 Objectives of the Research In order to achieve the goal of the research, which defines the broader perspective of conducting a research, the objectives are defined to make the research work more precise and accurate and the combining the conclusions regarding the achieved objectives of research serves the goal of the research. Therefore, for the purpose of achieving the goal of the research following objectives are defined 1. Identification of the branding strategies of the Successful international food chains such as McDonalds and YUM Brand 2. The evaluation of the impact of defined marketing trends and consumer buying behaviors by McDonalds & YUM brands on the success of the brand. 1.4 Research Questions For the purpose of making the research more directional following research questions are designed for the purpose of research work 1. How the new entrants can enter into the exiting market to establish brand 2. What are the key strategies followed by the successful brands of food chain business such as McDonalds and YUM brand 3. How the marketing trends and consumer behaviors of the successful food chains can be suitable for the new entrants who have budget constraints. 1.5 Scope of Research The determination of branding strategies of the successful food chains identified and their significance of marketing trends and consumer behaviors can provide the guideline to the new entrants in the fast food business regarding how they can establish the fast food chain. Moreover, after considering the cases of successful relevant businesses the new entrants are able to identify the strategy regarding how to determine marketing trends and consumer buying behavior, which leads to the achievement of the goal of the research. 1.6 Limitation of Research The research work is subject to some limitations as well such as the study of the branding strategies of McDonalds and YUM brands during their start up phase may not be truly suitable for the new entrants in the industry because the establishment of the under studied big brands took place in 1950 and 1997 respectively. The consumer behaviors and market trends were significantly different at that time. Therefore, the research work is subject to limitations that understanding the marketing trends and consumer behaviors by the current new entrants in the food chain industry have to refer to some outdated branding strategies. Chapter 2: Literature Review This section of the research report is focused on the review of the literature on the branding concept and strategies i.e. 2.1 How different authors and researchers have identified and explained the concept of branding and branding services? 2.2 How brands Influence the consumer preferences and tastes? 2.3 Existence of brands and the intentions to purchase 2.4 Consumer Decision Making Process 2.5 Study of the Models of Consumer behavior Let’s review each part using the literature on the area under study 2.1 Brands/ Branding Services Geofery Rnadali (2000) in his book on branding presents the concept of branding and examines the questions what determines the brand and branding service? He examines the brands such as Coca Cola and IBM. The examination of the big brands helped the author to explain that it is the perception regarding the quality along with the time frame to determine the changes in consumer preference and tastes that defines brand. In addition to this, the branding is also referred to as the process of translating the business model to the target market such as expected consumers using the marketing trends and services. Branding services is also about understanding the exact positioning of the product along with the determination of its value (Davis, 2006.p-9). In actual branding is a vast concept and understanding the practica implementation process, which have already been adopted by the bigger brands, lead to the study of the study of the cases of the already established brands and their success stories. 2.1.1 Service Branding versus Goods Branding Review of the literature reveals that there are two types of branding i.e. 2.1.1.1 Service branding The service branding refers to as the market worth of the services of the individuals or the company. The services oriented companies include banks, consultancy agencies, educational institutes etc., where the branding is done on the bases of the services provided to the target market instead of the products[Rao11]. Therefore in order to determine the branding process of service industry such as health care services, which is identified in the book named as “ Branding Health Services: Defining Yourself in the Marketplace”[Bas00], that in order to develop the branding in the services industry such as Health Care Service industry it is reasonable for the main decision makers of the organization to design and develop the infrastructure that after identifying the appropriateness of the provided medical facilities. Moreover, the branding process also requires that the organization should also determine the appropriate facilities and technologies that best meet the population of the area. The process of infrastructure development during the branding process is also referred to as defining the vision of the business (Chernatony, 2010.p-37) 2.1.1.2 Goods branding The branding process of the businesses, which provide goods as the primary business, is as much complicated as that of the services. Some researchers also found that the branding of goods is even more complicated than the branding of services. The reason is that with the passage of time services are becoming more apparent in terms of their contributions towards GDP of the economy, which means that the identifying the marketing trends and consumer behavior is more easier because the behaviors can be commonly studied[Che102]. On the other hand branding the goods is getting more difficult because the consumer preferences and tastes change very rapidly, and the dynamics of the market cannot be easily determined[Dav09]. The book on “ Fundamentals of branding”[Dav09] also identifies that the Goods branding is referred to as the adoption of flexibility and adaptability, which are considered as the key attributes in dealing with the continue sly changing consumer preferences and marketing trends. Therefore, regardless of the type of the branding process i.e. whether the service branding or Goods branding, the review of the literature proves that both require the identification of the marketing trends and changing consumer buying behavior. Simon Barrow & Richard Mosley(2011) gave another concept of branding in their book “ The Employer Brand: Bringing the Best Brand Management of People at Work” that till the 20th century the branding process was referred to only the brand of Goods & services but in the recent period, the concepts and perceptions behind the branding process have been changed. The brand is now terms as anything that carries difference in its identification i.e. it refers to anything that has distinct identity (Barow & Mosley, 2011.p-6). Branding is the cure of all ills in business i.e. the branding process secures the customer satisfaction, stipulates business growth, increase the commitment level of the employees because of increased prospects of the human capital and lead the analysts to value the firms positively[Fio08] 2.2 Influence of Brands on Consumer Preferences & Tastes The determination of the consumer preferences and tastes is the key element for the successful brand development. In addition to this, the consumer preferences and tastes are difficult to evaluate because of the extreme flexibility and changes that arise in the consumer tastes. Therefore, the brand developers need to directly attack or influence the consumer preference whether by creating the demand of the new product or capturing the existing demands with strong marketing strategies and providing high quality products. In addition to this, most of the researchers identified that the consumer preferences and tastes are strongly related to the brand development procedures (Samli, 1995.p-125). 2.2.1 International Brands & Consumer Tastes There are number of international brands that have significantly attracted the attention of the people regardless of the location or environment of the people. For example Rolls Royce is considered as extremely famous international brand. The company has caters to the elite markets internationally and the users regardless of their locations but considering the fact they can afford to buy the Rolls Royce have greater inclination for the Rolls Royce Car (Coles & Hall, 2008.pp-241). Now moving towards the international brands of food chains such as the McDonalds, KFC, Burger King etc. have great emphasis on defining the consumer tastes by introducing new style of burgers and food items that may significantly influence the consumer tastes and preferences. The brands such as McDonalds regardless of its prices, which may be higher than the non branded food chains but the marketing strategies have captured the minds of the people that they provide hygienic and tasty foods lead the consumers to prefer the food of McDonalds (Paul & Kapoor, 2008.pp-115). Similar is the case with Burger King, which has created itself a brand in the international food chain industry with the help of international joint ventures and by capturing consumer preferences with the help of strong marketing strategies considering the tastes of the local market[Yan01] Determining the consumer tastes for the multinational companies is a complicated task because understanding the geographic and demographic differences takes time. For example for an American fast food chain which has established its branch or franchise in any Muslim country like Pakistan, it must have to identify the differences between the haram and halal food. Consumer of such Muslim countries will not prefer food regardless of the brand image if they come to know that the food is not made in accordance to their religious bindings. Therefore, the international food chains carefully study the consumer preferences and inject in the market otherwise the brand may lose the image. Similarly in US, brands may use the symbols of ‘H’ in the food representing Halal for Muslims to have such food or to capture market of Muslim consumers after understanding their tastes and preferences[Saf13] Bibliography Bat12: , (Batey, 2012), Rao11: , (Rao, 2011), Bas00: , (Bashe, et al., 2000), Che102: , (Chernatony, et al., 2010), Dav09: , (Davis, 2009), Fio08: , (Fioroni & Titterton, 2008), Yan01: , (Yan & Luo, 2001), Saf13: , (Safety, 2013), Read More