Kfc's Global Strategy

With 18,000 outlets spread across 120 countries, KFC is a highly internationalised organisation, emphasising the importance of satisfying the needs of the individual markets whilst maintaing a globalised brand image. In order to do this, KFC integrated the marketing strategies of standardisation and adaptation. The motto they used to describe this method is “Go Global, Act Local”.

Adaptation is the process of modifying features and products to satisfy local customer needs. This is important for KFC when entering foreign markets as consumers in the food industry are especially affected by culture. Standardisation is the opposite of adaptation, it is the process of using relatively standard brands, formulations, packaging, positioning and distribution in its global markets. It conforms to work across different cultures and countries. KFC balances both of these marketing strategies, respecting cultural traditions and at the same time presenting a worldwide famous brand.

Comparing and contrasting two countries in which KFC operates, provides evidence of the similarities and differences which occur in the company's marketing mix. The two countries are The United States, the origin of the organisation, and China, one KFC's largest markets.

Despite being an American company, KFC continues to excel most notably in the Asian market by being both responsive and relevant to local customers in a way that is authentic to the brand. China is KFC's fastest expanding market with hopes of opening 700 more outlets in 2013 alone, which is approximately 2 each day.
The first P of the marketing mix is PRODUCT. In China, KFC always launches a new taste of products in different seasons to cater to the needs of Chinese customers. Such as, the Chicken Roll of Old Beijing and many other rice dishes, demonstrating the innovation and creation of products in KFC combined with the characteristics of Chinese culture. These items are not available in the American Market as their KFC...