New KFC International Structure - Essay Example

NEW KFC INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURE Lecturer: Address: Table of Contents Introduction 3 Management 3 SWOT Analysis 3 Advertising 4 Customer Retention 5 Management Organization Structure 7 Improvements 8 References 10 New KFC International Structure Introduction Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is one of the biggest companies of fast food industry. It is a subsidiary corporation of Yum Brands. It is chain of fast food restaurants that has its headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. In the world, KFC has 33,000 stores and 840,000 employees. KFC offers many delicacies popular with the American society, which include but are not limited to wraps, chicken pieces and sandwiches. Management Management involves the use of available resources to accomplish the goals that have been set by an individual or organization. KFC is a firm that has its own set of goals, objectives, indicators, flags and accountability. There are numerous sections in the organization that management may be required such as tin the Human Resource department, sales and marketing, research and the financial department. Just as with other organizations, there are major considerations for the successful operations of the organization. In this case, I intend to concentrate on increasing the sales of the firm, improving the customer and staff relations as well as minimizing conflict within the running of the firm (Stacks, 2010, p. 128). SWOT Analysis In increasing, the sales there are a number of aspects that I should look into. Firstly, I have to assess the current market needs, against what KFC offers. The aim of the management in this stage is to create a competitive edge. As management, to increase the sales we have to have a proper marketing and advertising strategy, serve the customers and popularize our products. A SWOT analysis is important at this stage to ensure that all the needs of the business are met. The strengths that KFC has include reputation, a wide point of sales, and an elaborate distribution system and community acceptance. The weaknesses that the management is to work on include a growing number of competitors, ever increasing costs of products and operational costs (Day and Antonakis, 2012, p. 123), dwindling revenue and an overwhelming pressure against the fried foods that compose a large portion of our menu. The opportunities that are presented to KFC include indulgence of organic and healthy foods, corporation with other firms in other fields such as airlines and sporting organizers. The major threats to the company are the upcoming restaurant businesses and the tendency of customers avoiding the fast foods. Advertising In advertising, the best option to take on currently is the IT geared advertisements. The bulk that is KFC’s target is the youth and the middle-aged persons. According to various studies, it has been shown that the group that KFC is targeting is the largest user of the internet. The aim of getting into the online advertising and operational system is to attract the attention of these individuals. There are two main ideas that I propose for this strategy. Using social media to create a fans page as well as pay for advertisements in the social networking sites such as Facebook, Linked, YouTube and others. This platform shall then be used to communicate directly with the mass regarding the offers in the stores and any new advancement (Schein, 2004, p. 271). An interactive website is another proposition for the advertising strategy. It is high time that KFC made use of the internet mania to get numbers, associations and interactions with the market. By this, I recommend the use of a log in and registration functionality in the KFC website. The fans can create an account from which they may access various services such as home deliveries, bookings and customized orders (Fullan, 1998, p. 3). KFC’s official website provides products information, customer service, some video advertisement and online food ordering system. Online food ordering is a current trend that addresses the issue of the currently extremely busy American pulling off long hours to make ends meet. The customers are allowed to place an order online or via a call center, after which KFC shall deliver the order as requested to the customer’s address. Unparalleled customer service, immediate response and top quality make KFC to be the leader of fast food restaurant. Customer Retention A loyalty program is another method by which the management can keep the sales of the company up. It is important to note that, the new customers do not contribute the largest portion of the collected revenue in the firm. As suggested by the Pareto pyramid theory, 80% of the revenue collected by KFC comes from 20% of its customers, who are regulars. By ensuring that the needs and desires of these regulars are met, then KFC can continue generating the critical mass revenue. This loyalty program could include discounts on sales and referrals, by which then the ‘usual’ shall influence the flow of traffic towards KFC (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman and Gupta, 2004, p. 21). Common to the American customer is the coupon. The coupon is one of the most used methods of attracting and retaining customers. By introducing the coupon to the KFC marketing and sales strategy, then a large crowd could be gathered as well as retained. Coupons in the company should be appealing to the customers and thus they should not only revolve round the service offered by the company. By making KFC, an all-round consultant in terms of coupons via coalescing with other companies, which provide customers with basic need, then traffic to the stores shall be guaranteed (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2008, p 213). Relations with the customer are an important consideration in management. It is an obligation to make sure that the customers served have their needs met. The best solution to this issue is introducing the service concept in how the company operates. A customer’s satisfaction is what that determines their loyalty to a given outlet. Satisfaction is rarely associated to the physical aspects of the trade such as price. Location quality and quantity, but the emotional stimuli initiated in the customer are what that determines whether they are to favor a given outlet. With most fast food competitors engaging in price based competition, by ensuring that the customer is happy by concentrating on other elements of trade other than price such as cleanliness, point of sale services and friendly staff shall attract more and more customers. Under this form of leadership, then the staff should be tutored on some of the common methods of introducing and maintaining service concept (Bernays , 2004, p. 261). The product and service offered is another consideration looked into by a customer. Different people in the market crave for different products and will often go to great lengths to satisfy their quench. In managing the company, the aspect of market segmentation should be introduced. Although food is a basic need for survival and the chances of such businesses failing are lower, having a greater share of the market needs determination and learning the target group. By introducing market segmentation, KFC can concentrate on what the bulk of the community needs. Currently a lot of people prefer eating fried chicken piece, but if KFC fails to diversify its menu, it will lose its market share to more flexible and versatile establishments. In China, KFC follows local legislation to produce rice-based products (Bolman and Deal, 2008, p. 241). This is a portrayal of leadership and management, KFC does take into account the impact made by culture. This can help KFC in attracting customers who prefer local recipes or slight variations of the convectional eating habits. KFC could introduce a healthy and diet oriented line of products that would contribute well with the ongoing awareness on fast foods which are deemed unhealthy and the cause of obesity. Management Organization Structure Management of a company is heavily dependent on the relations between the management and the staff. For the franchise to succeed, I need to concentrate on improving the relations between the staff in the company. One of the requirements for this success is the choice of a perfect organizational structure. As a manger, the functional matrix structure would be the best option. By incorporating hierarchical network into the matrix, some elements such as communication between the management and staff shall be resolved. The matrix structure shall segregate roles according to departments within which the roles of each employee shall be described to ensure that there is a seamless flow of information and procedure within the company. Some of the practices by the current management such as product diversification are useful in ensuring continued success of the company, but there is a lack of new ideas (Bowditch, Buono and Stewart, 2008, p. 201). Being a member of management, there is important that the capability of the staff be effectively harnessed to the wellbeing of the company. The easiest way to encourage innovation and performance in the company is to make use of the human capital theory. Under this theory, incentives to workers based on some of their actions such as innovation and proper conduct should be rewarded with what the workers feel they need most; resources. Theses resources may be offered in terms of wage rises, holiday packages among others that may improve the attitudes and favor performance in the company. Improvements KFC is a leader of the fast food restaurant in the world. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the success, but KFC also has some weakness that need improving. Firstly, I think KFC needs to stop raising prices in china (Broom, 2008, p. 23). The pricing strategy used in the company in that region is expensive compared to the other competitors based in the region. New Fast Food Companies are leading to a decrease of the market share in the orient thus raising the need of controlling the products price. Learning the culture of the Chinese people is one of the points to learn from in attaining this status. In an effort to globalize, it is a recommendation to KFC to invest in the less developed regions. The large metropolitan cities may provide a huge market for any fast food company (Hagel III, and Brown, 2005, p. 183), but the degree of competition as well as challenges in these regions is quite high. With the globalization via the internet, I would recommend KFC to invest in stores in the remote areas where a market that seems marginalized and deprived of the city wares shall gladly accept such as venture. Thirdly, KFC should get more involved in social responsibility. However, a recommendation for the business world, engaging in social responsibility practices is necessary for the success of the company society relationships. In conclusion, the fast food industry stresses on the quality of food provided. Numerous legislations that have been proposed to control the quality, especially nutrition wise, some of which have been adopted. Following the legislations may help the company in avoiding charges by the government (Marques, Dhiman, and King, 2009, p. 13), but the company should go a step further and better the propositions. A Total Quality Management system is an effective way to address issues such as the products, services as well as relationships in the running of the company. The TQM system shall help in the supplies department by ensuring that the suppliers provide high quality produce that shall be used in the food preparation. The hygiene of the cooking area and conduct can be improved with technology as well as time through using the TQM as it incorporates comparisons with the recommended and available systems. References Day, D. V., and Antonakis, John. (2012). The Nature of Leadership. Oaks, California: SAGE. Fullan, M., 1998. 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R., Hunt, J. G., and Osborn, R. N., 2008. Organizational behavior. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Schein, E. H., 2004. Organizational culture and leadership . San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Stacks , D. W., 2010. Primer of Public Relations Research. New York: The Guilford Press. Read More