Fried Chicken

1. The five-force analysis suggests that KFC faces a very active and rigorous competition.
• There is extreme rivalry in the fast food industry. There are more then a hundred other fast food businesses that KFC competes with.
• Statistics show that there is always threat of new competition as there are new chains developing from time to time in the industry. The reason behind such a threat existing is due to the fact that the industry is a highly profitable market.
• There a various number of substitutes that KFC faces as competitive forces such as fine dining, different fast food concepts such as Mexican, Chinese, Italian etc.
• There is not a significant pressure from supplies in terms of bargaining as there are also a vast number of supplies available to supply the fast food Industry.
• When it comes to bargaining between seller and buyer, there is heavy competition, due to the fact that there are many other fast food chains with the same restaurant concept as KFC, with whom KFC competes with.
2. The competitive factors to be considered to succeed in the fast food industry: -
• To succeed a fast food chain should always be working in improving their quality of food they offer to their consumers.
• The development of new product from time to time is critical to stay on top of the market; consumers always look forward to new products that businesses have to offer.
• The frequent analysis of demographics helps the business to keep active awareness of a risk in the change of their target market in a particular area. The analysis helps businesses keep track of any change needed to cater to changing demographics.
3. KFC's internal strengths and weaknesses: -
• One of KFC's internal strengths is its early experience in the international market. Due to the fact that it was among the first to enter the market it had early experience on what international markets demanded while other chains where still experimenting.
• The independent franchising strategy resulted to loyal and competitive franchisees, which leaded to a strong competitive force.
• A weakness that KFC had was the fact that there menu was limited and new products where rarely or slowly coming in.
External opportunities and threats
• A external opportunity that KFC has is that it can expand its operations to Latin America which consisted of countries which held potential for a new fast food chain.
• The threats that KFC would have externally would be the competition against them that is every growing and new ones erupting.
• Another threat would be the political, Economic and natural risks of countries they would like to expand into.
4. Major strategic issues surrounding KFC's decision to expand or freeze growth in Latin America: -
• One factor that KFC's considered to be the reason to freeze growth, is because the countries have constant changes in political status and economic environment.
• Expanding growth in the some Latin countries was beneficial because of the free trade agreement that was arranged between them and the U.S.
• Due to the fact that geographic proximity between the countries was as such that communication and travel was made easy, this point would hold as a plus in the idea of expanding to these countries. To Expand in Mexico: -
• Transportation costs where relatively low.
• American products where highly excepted in Mexico
• There was free trade between the countries.
• Labor was by far cheaper in Mexico then in the U.S
To Freeze Operations in the U.S
• High import and export tariffs being imposed.
• Most of the industries where owned and run by the government, thus causing less effort being put in importation.
5. Latin America is a attractive market with great opportunities, but great opportunities come with great risks. KFC will have to definitely undergo a certain level of risk if they expand to Latin America. The costs of operating in these countries are relatively low, there is good understanding between government and the target market is readily available. The risks are mainly to do with the fact that political and economic conditions of these countries are highly unstable. The alternative to expand internationally is to do further develop and expand there present operations in the U.S.A.
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KFC and the Global Fast Food Industry
Q3) What was PepsiCo¡¯s corporate strategy during the 1960s and 1970s? How did it differ from its corporate strategy during the 1980s and early 1990s?

PepsiCo¡¯s corporate strategy was acquisitions. PepsiCo, Inc, was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Co. and Frito-Lay, Inc. These corporate strategy made PepsiCo its one of the largest consumer products companies in the United States. Pepsi-Cola¡¯s major business was the sale of soft drink concentrates to licensed independent and company owned bottlers that manufactured, sold, and distributed Pepsi-Cola soft drinks. Frito-Lay manufactured and sold a variety of snack foods.

PepsiCo was heavily invested on an acquisition similar to RJR. PepsiCo bought a number of companies in area unrelated to its major businesses. Acquisition included North American Van Lines, Wilson Sporting Goods and Lee Way Motor Freight. But corporate strategy was not so success, because the management skills required to operate these business lay outside of PepsiCo¡¯s area of expertise.

PepsiCo restructured company operation by chairman and chief executive officer Don Kendall in 1984. He was divested companies which that business did not support PepsiCo¡¯s consumer product orientation and sold foreign bottling company and Kendall recorganised PepsiCo along three lines: soft drink, snack food, and restaurants.

PepsiCo¡¯s strategy of diversifying in to three distinct but related markets-soft drinks, snack foods and fast food restaurants to created one of the world¡¯s largest consumer products companies and a portfolio of some of the world¡¯s most recognizable brand. PepsiCo entered the restaurant business with acquired Pizza Hut with 3200 unit restaurant system in 1977 and Taco Bell was merged into a division of PepsiCo in 1978. The restaurant business completed PepsiCo¡¯s consumer product orientation.
PepsiCo believed that its management skills could be easily transferred among its three business segments. Because of both of soft drink and fast-food business has some of same pattern of marketing factors. PepsiCo¡¯s restaurant chains provided an additional outlet for the sale of Pepsi soft drinks. Both business segments also could be marketed together in the same television and radio segments, thereby providing higher returns for each advertising dollars. To complete its diversification into the restaurant segment, PepsiCo acquired Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation in 1986. The acquisition of KFC gave PepsiCo the leading market share in chicken(KFC), pizza(Pizza Hut), and Mexican Food(Taco Bell).

KFC and the Global Fast Food Industry

In 1939, Colonel Harland Sanders first gave the world a taste of his most famous creation, Original Recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken, featuring that secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. Since that time, millions of people the world over have come to love his one of a kind chicken, homestyle side dishes and hot and fresh biscuits.
We still take pride in doing things The Colonel's way, utilizing only the highest quality ingredients, innovative recipes, and time-tested cooking methods.
So come and dine with us, or take some home - any way you like it. Only KFC has so much tasty chicken, fresh from our kitchens, just for you.

KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain, specializing in Original Recipe®, Extra Crispy™, Twister® and Colonel's Crispy Strips® chicken with homestyle sides.
Every day, nearly eight million customers are served around the world. KFC's menu includes Original Recipe® chicken -- made with the same great taste Colonel Harland Sanders created more than a half-century ago. Customers around the globe also enjoy more than 300 other products -- from a Chunky Chicken Pot Pie in the United States to a salmon sandwich in Japan.
KFC has more than 11,000 restaurants in more than 80 countries and territories around the world. And in quite a few U.S. cities, KFC is teaming up with sister restaurants, A&W, All-American Food™, Long John Silver's, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, selling products from the popular chains in one convenient location.
Over fifty years ago, Colonel Sanders invented what is now called "home meal replacement" -- selling complete meals to busy, time-strapped families. He called it, "Sunday Dinner, Seven Days a Week."
Today, the Colonel's spirit and heritage are reflected in KFC's brand identity -- the logo features Colonel Harland Sanders, one of the most-recognized icons in the world.
KFC is part of Yum! Brands, Inc., which is the world's largest restaurant system with over 32,500 KFC, A&W All-American Food™,Taco Bell, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut restaurants in more than 100 countries and territories.

Case 10: KFC and the Global
Fast Food Industry
1. How well did KFC fare under its various owners — Heublein, Reynolds, and PepsiCo? What value did they add to the KFC enterprise? Did they have anything to offer KFC that would help KFC improve its financial performance or competitive strength?
Under Heublein, quality control and restaurant cleanliness was a problem. By assigning a management team to redirect KFC's strategy they sought to solve the problems that KFC was going through at the time. They achieved gaining better control of the operations and then only began to build new restaurants.
In my analysis Heublein when acquiring KFC was under the impression that KFC was in a positive gowth stage at the time and did not require much management intervention or in other words there was no need to re-invent the wheel. This was coupled by the fact they had very inexperienced managers with regards to the restaurant business did little to strategise the direction odf KFC. This as we know brought about other operations related problems.
Under Reynolds (as opposed to Heublein), they differed in management style for KFC whereby, they was allowed to operate on its own with little interference. Eventually KFC was divested when RJR decided to redefine itself as a leader in the consumer foods industry. In my analysis, RJR obviously did not bring about much improvement to KFC. If anything, they would have hampered the image of KFC due to its affiliation with a cigarette manufacturing company. Fortunately the acquisition of KFC under RJR was only for a year and the damage was not extensive.
PepsiCo was predominantly in the consumer product orientation, this provided them with the experience required with operating the restaurant business. Prior to acquiring KFC it had already owned Pizza Hut and Taco Bell; this provided the relevant know how in implementing strategies that would improve the financial performance and competitive strength of KFC. Not forgetting the fact that PepsiCo is on e of the world's largest consumer product companies and a portfolio of some of the world's most recognizable brands.

2. What are the chief economic and business characteristics of the global fast-food industry?
The global fast food industry evolves in the typical manner that of how every one of its players does. Its characteristics are recognizable brand names, the creation of franchising, local management of its restaurants, maintaining basic food menu and introduction of local flavours to create a sence of belonging to of to that locality.

3. What forces are driving change in the industry?
In my analysis the growing incomes of consumers and the sophistication that comes with it provides affordable alernatives. The full-service restaurants that provide a different amosphere and ambience provides this alternative. The demand for a more healthier life-style among consumers would create defection from fast food to more healthier food types.
4. What does your 5-forces analysis of the fast-food industry tell you about the competition facing KFC?
KFC's closest competition were Popeyes, Chick-fill-A, Boston Market and Church's and in that order. The competition offered alternative dishes in its menu and other methods of chicken preparation which appealed to consumers who prefered healthier alternatives. Apart from that. Mature consumers, however prefered to patronize dinner houses and full-service restaurants. US immigrants tended to prefer ethnic foods and they patronized estrablishments that sold their native foods. The above reasons attributed to the lost of sales form 70.8% in 1989 to about 55.6% in 1999.
5. What factors do you see as critical to competitive success in the fast-food industry?
Food menu should include healthier alternatives to cater for the more mature consumer. The fast food industry highest percentage of consumer age group are teenagers of whom is the group that have less spending power and are easily influenced by the pop culture. That being the case value meals and affiliation to pop idols should be emphasized. Adding local food type menu especially in international restaurants would appeal to the locals of that country.
6. Is the fast-food industry attractive? What factors make it attractive? Unattractive?
The fast food industry is attractive due to the fact that that worldwide demand for fast-food was expected to grow rapidly duringb the next two decades. The rising capita per incomes worldwide made eating out more affordable for greated numbers of consumers.
7. What is KFC's current strategy and how well is it working? Do you like the company's competitive position vis-à-vis other fast-food chains?
It introduced a variety of new products and nenu items. It rolled a buffet that included some 30 dinner, salad and dessert items. It introduced Colonel's Crispy Strips and five new chicken sandwiches. It then focussed on building smaller restaurants in non-traditional outlets. It also continued to experiment with home delivery and establised 2-in-1 units that sold both KFC andTaco Bell or KFC and Pizza Huts products.
8. What are KFC's internal strengths and weaknesses? What are its external opportunities and threats?
Strengths:
-insulated from currency fluctuations
-has a global brand name
-provides a tasty menu
-affordable prices
Weaknesses:
-limited resources and cash flow
-menu does not cater for healthier alternatives
-long distances between headquarters and franchises
Opportunities:
-NAFTA and Mercusor agreements that allow non-tariff and free-trade
-beef was becoming less popular due high fat content
-worlwide demand for fast-food growing rapidly
-internet development was breaking down communication and language barriers Threats:
-competitors (other fast-food operators, dinner reataurants and full service restaurants)
-long term value of the peso in Mexico

9. What are the major strategic issues surrounding KFC's decision to expand or freeze growth in Latin America and in Mexico in particular?
In Venezuela growth was freezed due high costs of operating in smaller countries. In Brazil the 8 restaurants was decided to be closed bacause it lacked the cash flow needed to support an expansion program in that market. KFC's early entry into Latin America gave it leadership position over its competitors in Mexico and the Carribean. It expanded into Mexico and Puerto Rico because of their geographic proximity as well as political and economic ties to the United States. Latin America was also appealing due to the size of its markets, its common language and culture
10. What are KFC's alternatives for expanding internationally? Is the Latin American market attractive? Why or why not?
KFC has a number of reasons supporting the venture to expand internationally especially in the Latin American region. Geographic proximity made communications and travel easier and quicker between countries. NAFTA had eliminated tariffs on goods shipped between Canada, Mexico and the United States. The Mercusor signed in 1991, eliminated tariffs on trade among Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. Other countries such as Chile and Argentina had also established free-trade policies that were beginning to stimulate growth. All these free-trade agreements would also benefit foreign establishments such as KFC as it would there would less ‘protection' by the governments in that country towards the local companies thus creating fair game business practices in those countries.
11. What recommendations would you make to KFC management regarding the company's operations in Latin America and Mexico?
Extend the use of local suppliers in the form raw food supplies and distribution services. Create and add local food items on the menu that cater to Mexican or Latin American tastes. Create a management hub in the Latin American region to oversee operations of franchises in those countries. The non-tariff and free-trade agreements would only ease the management of these franchises. Form alliances with local restaurant chains of these countries; they would not be a direct threat to the local restaurants. However they would be able to create presence and have an edge over other international fast-food franchises due to these alliances that already have significant market share.

1.0 Introduction

Colonel Harland D. Sanders established Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation (KFC) in August 1952 in Salt Lake City. Due to the over-whelming response, Colonel Sanders cashed in his $105 social security check to begin franchising his dream.

In 1964, Harland Sanders (age 74) lessen his load by selling his business to Jack Massey and John Young Brown Jr, who turned their attention to the international markets. KFC subsidiaries were later established in Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico.

In 1971, KFC entered into negotiations with Heublein, to discuss a possible merger. However, Heublein later acquired KFC as Brown decided to pursue other interests, which includes political career. Heublein was in alcohol beverages business and has little experience in the restaurant business. Conflicts quickly erupted between Colonel Sanders and Heublein management.

R.J. Reynolds (RJR) then acquired Heublein in 1982. R.J. took a more laid-back approach and allowed business to operate autonomously with little interference and because of this, RJR avoided many of the operating problems that plague Heublein during his ownership of KFC. Finally in 1986, KFC was acquired by PepsiCo, which was trying to grow its quick serve restaurant segment. The acquisition of KFC gave PepsiCo the leading market share in chicken (KFC) segments of the fast food industry.

By the year 2000, KFC was the world's largest chicken restaurant chain and third largest fast-food chain. There have more than 10,800 KFC stores in more then 80 countries.

KFC fast food chains are currently under the restaurant division of PepsiCo Incorporated. The fast-food industry is highly competitive and includes external threats that are social-cultural, political, economic, operational, competitive, and substitutional. Some major threats include the changing attitudes of society towards healthier eating habits, the unstable business environment and diversion of fast food menus by other fast food chains.
2.0 Problem Identification
1. Strategic Growth of KFC
2. Challenges KFC faces when they globalize
3. Why KFC acquisition never worked well under R.J Reynolds (RJR)
4. The environmental risk and opportunities associated with international expansion, particularly looking at Mexico and Latin America.

3.0 Assumptions
i. All the facts given to us are accurate at the time of printing of the case study. ii. Anything that happened to KFC after 2000 will not be reflected as it falls outside of the case study. iii. The financial figures provided are accurate and does not have to be proven.

4.0 Situational Analysis
4.1 SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis was done to analyze KFC's resource Strength, Weaknesses, external Opportunities, and Threats.

Strength Weaknesses
i) Proprietary recipes and technologyii) Delivery of high quality / consistent foodiii) Established / strong brand image and loyaltyiv) Widely recognized market share leader in its segment (Refer to Fig 2 Market Share of KFC in Chicken Segment)v) Operating efficiency vi) Experience in international marketsvii) Diversification (Taco, Pizza Hut & KFC)viii) Cash rich companyix) Cost sharingx) Global advertising - having one expense on an ad for 3 productsxi) Ample financial resources (Refer to Appendix 1) i) Too many substitutes in the marketii) A number of outdated restaurants and restaurants are in deteriorating locationsiii) Many restaurants are small and offer take-away onlyiv) Lack of product innovation beyond chicken as KFC offers mainly deep fried chickenv) Service and cleanliness could be improved—problems here have hurt KFC's reputation in those locations where service/cleanliness/quality problems existvi) Relying on independent franchisees for expansion in many markets adds to the difficulty of maintaining consistent quality and cleanliness and otherwise striving for standardized operations from restaurant to restaurantvii) Unhealthy food - Majority of the products offered are fried items, which are not suitable for the health conscious population.viii) Spent quite a bit on acquisition, which not all are profitable. ix) McDonalds is the dominant market leader in the fast food chainx) Difference in management style – between KFC laid back approach vs. PepsiCo's performance driven culturexi) Weak advertising and promotion
Opportunities Threats
i) More varieties to be offered in the menu as customers are inquisitiveii) Low labor cost in other countries, creating an opportunity for international expansioniii) International markets-KFC well received in other countriesiv) Expansion of product line – to embrace healthier choices to meet the market demands like having roasted or steamed chicken which have less oil contentv) Co-branding with Pizza Hut and Taco Bellvi) Malls, home delivery, and other non-traditional distribution channelsvii) Upgrade of the facilities in the smaller outlets viii) Localize the global ads to meet the customer's cultureix) Going into burger businesses x) Localize the menusxi) Introduce a brand new selling concept like having a buffet style where customers are able to choose the food from the shelves and make the orderxii) Serving additional customer groups or expanding into new geographic markets and product segmentsxiii) Go after customers of those rivals whose product lags on quality and services.xiv) Move in on rivals that have weak brand recognition. i) Diversion of fast food menu (new chicken product line) offer by other fast food chainsii) Entry of more competitors - saturated fast-food industryiii) Entry of Hardee's, Wendy's and McDonald's and other chains into chicken items. This may also contribute to more pressure of lower prices by competitioniv) Limited menu (given that more fast-food chains are offering chicken products)v) McDonald's is moving aggressively in Brazil and Mexicovi) More upscale chicken chains (Pollo Loco, Boston Chicken)vii) Indirect competitors - Increased competition from microwave food segment and most households have a microwave.viii) Continued moves of consumers away from fast food to more upscale chains and diningix) Consumer's expectations are ever changing (demographics, lifestyle, spending power)x) Possibility of the government putting a banned on unhealthy foodxi) Increase of trends of more vegetariansxii) Bird flu (strain that infected 18 people in Hong Kong and killed six of them in 1997)

4.2 Porter's 5 forces
The Five Competitive Forces shall be used to determine the intensity of competition and hence the profitability and attractiveness of the fast food industry. The Five Competitive Forces are typically described as follows:

4.2.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers
The suppliers to the fast food industry have very little leverage and bargaining power for numerous reasons: o The items purchased in bulk are generally commodity items. o Competitive - The products in demand are standard and offered by many other suppliers and are only differentiated by the services, prices, delivery and other terms and condition. o The switching costs from one supplier to another are high. o Customers are important to the supplier. o World wide market of suppliers o Bigger organizations can negotiate for a lower pricing

Therefore the supplier bargaining power is likely to be low, mainly caused by the saturated market.
4.2.2 Bargaining Power of Customers
In the current competitive market, customers have a wide selection of food choices, which gives the customers more selection power. Bargaining power of the customers is likely to be low when: o Fast-food consumers are price sensitive. o Fast-food consumers want convenience and are location sensitive. o Fast-food consumers are quality sensitive. o Fast-food consumer switching costs are low. o Fast-food consumer prefer varieties o Fast-food consumer search for ambience in restaurants o Fast-food consumer prefer healthier food menus

From the standpoint of individuals looking for a meal away from home, there are many substitutes and almost no switching costs between competing restaurant chains. Customers tend to be price sensitive, location sensitive, relatively health conscious, and increasingly more quality conscious. They may be more loyal to some chains/locations than others.

So the positive buyer perceptions of a fast food chain's product offering are definitely a competitively relevant consideration. Buyers of fast-food products do not have significant bargaining power for there is wide selection of fast food restaurants available to the customers and none offer concessions for return patronage, customers will have little brand loyalty.
4.2.3 Threat of New Entrants
A moderately strong force and growing stronger as existing chains look to new geographic markets for expansion, especially in countries where consumers may be attracted to fast-food products and there is significant growth potential for fast-food enterprises to establish new locations
Newcomers (especially new start-up enterprises) have several formidable entry barriers to overcome: o Slowing industry growth rate domestically (especially in the U.S. where the market is pretty saturated with fast-food locations) o High costs of market entry (to build outlets, recruit/train franchisees, and fund advertising/promotional efforts) o Established competitors with well-known reputations and menu selections o Existing brand loyalties o High cost to exit, thereby increasing resistance of existing competitors to new entrants.

However, several major chains pursue growth in foreign markets to escape domestic market maturity. New chains crop up quite frequently, so there is some threat of entry, even in the saturated U.S. market. Perhaps the greatest entry threat from KFC's perspective would be the likelihood that other fast-food chains would decide to add popular chicken items to their menus—thus entry into the chicken segment is a very real and potentially strong competitive force.

But the real issue here is the threat of existing restaurant chains to enter the markets of foreign countries where they currently have little or no market presence. Here the threat is very real and growing. Existing fast food chains function as "new entrants" when they expand into geographic markets where they have no outlets. Plainly, the global expansion efforts of a number of rival fast-food chains currently pose significant entry threats. Hence, the threat of additional entry is a relatively strong competitive force in those country markets where fast-food opportunities present themselves—certainly there are entry threats in Latin America and Mexico.
4.2.4 Threat of Substitutes
There are numerous substitutes for fast-food and for the fast-food offerings of the chicken chains like KFC:

i) Microwavable products
These products are conveniently available at all supermarkets that can be easily prepared at home

ii) Convenience shops
This neighborhood shops offers microwavable food products with microwave oven available in the shops so that customers can heat up the food upon making the purchase. They have a wide variety of products (including chicken) catered to the masses.

iii) Supermarket delis
These delis provide delicious chicken cooked food at a lower price targeted at shoppers who are shopping in the supermarket.

iv) Full-service, formal restaurants
Some people have the preference of being served and would not mind paying a slightly higher price.

v) Homemade meals
Homemade meals are cheaper and healthier as compared to fast food, which are usually fried and contains lots of calories. It is more suitable for those people who are more health conscious.

vi) Other Ready-to-eat cooked food
Other fast food restaurants / restaurants can also be considered as substitutes since they offer products that are traditionally offered by fast-food chains in other menu segments, the competitive line between the various fast-food segments is getting blurry indeed. Chicken products are offered in most fast food restaurants and the difference may be one is offering chicken burger while the other is offering chicken parts.

Other restaurants do provide other high quality, reasonably priced eating alternatives. Family restaurants, cafeterias, and other quick-serve food establishments with other menu concepts (fish and seafood, dim sum, pasta dishes, sandwiches, sushi and others), to add to the competition, there are numerous restaurants and other eating alternatives located near KFC. Customers can frequent anywhere they like since the switching costs are low.
4.2.5 Competitive Rivalry between Existing Players
Competitive rivalry among the leading fast-food chains is the strongest of the five forces due to market maturity and a slowdown in industry growth rates, the high market visibility of the 50 or so largest fast-food chains, and the fact that, except for industry leader McDonald's, the major players in the industry are relatively similar in size and resources. Plus, many are choosing to pursue expansion into many of the same foreign markets with relatively similar strategies.

The weapons of competition are price, quality, menu attractiveness and appeal, location, dining atmosphere and cleanliness, advertising and promotion (including celebrity endorsements in some instances), and brand name recognition.

When a rival acts in a way that elicits a counter response by other firms, rivalry intensifies. The intensity of rivalry commonly is referred to as being cutthroat, intense, moderate, or weak, based on the firms' aggressiveness in attempting to gain an advantage.
Rivalry is strong for several reasons: o Slow market growth causes firms to fight for market share. In a growing market, firms are able to improve revenues simply because of the expanding market. o There's intense jockeying for sales and market share among existing chains—fresh competitive moves are made frequently by one or more players in order to gain business at the expense of their rivals. o High first mover rewards (e.g., McDonald's created brand awareness for its chicken sandwich by introducing its sandwich before KFC). o Low customer switching costs increase pressure on chains to attract customers through advertising, new product offerings, and price discounts. Also when a customer can freely switch from one product to another there is a greater struggle to capture customers. o Low levels of product differentiation is associated with higher levels of rivalry. Brand identification, on the other hand, tends to constrain rivalry.(chicken products are also available in Mac Donald's) o High exit barriers place a high cost on abandoning the product. The firm must compete. High exit barriers cause a firm to remain in an industry, even when the venture is not profitable. A common exit barrier is asset specificity. When the plant and equipment required for manufacturing a product is highly specialized, these assets cannot easily be sold to other buyers in another industry. o Changing prices - raising or lowering prices to gain a temporary advantage.
5.0 Company Analysis

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was the world's largest chicken restaurant chain and the third largest fast food chain in 2000.

5.1 Culture
PepsiCo's culture emphasized a lot on the performance and top performers are expected to move up through the ranks quickly. It made used of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Frito-Lay and training grounds for its managers, rotating them every two years. This performance driven practice created immense pressure for the managers to demonstrate their managerial skills and maximize their potential for promotion.

For Colonel Sanders, he adopted a laid-back approach. Employees were entitled to benefits, pension, and other non-income needs. This created strong loyalty among it employees. The above management style contrasted greatly with KFC's traditional laid back approach, where employees were accustomed to stability and employment security.

5.2 Leadership
Organizational weaknesses include the extreme pressure that was placed on PepsiCo's managers to produce, and the limited flexibility of their restaurant franchisees. These policies create high turnover in management and contract difficulties with franchise owners. The unwanted effects of the performance driven culture also brought about lost of employee loyalty.

5.3 Finance and Management Issue
PepsiCo is financially stable. The net sales for the year for its restaurants in year 1996 rose to $31,645,000. (Refer to Appendix 1 – Consolidated Statement of Income)

6.0 Stakeholder Analysis
The figure below is the identified stakeholders of KFC.

Figure 6.0 Stakeholders of KFC (Sources: Self-created)

6.1 Primary stakeholders
Primary stakeholders are immediate communities of interest for the organization. They are vital to KFC's growth. If their involvements are high, then KFC will be able to expand. However, if these groups of stakeholders have negative feelings towards KFC, the impact is likely to be high. For e.g., if the products from KFC is not up to the usual standards, the stakeholders might switch to other alternative since the switching cost is low. Moreover, through the word of mouth, others may be influenced in believing that their standards had drops, may also do a switch.

6.2 Secondary stakeholders
This group belongs to the intermediaries in the process, and may include government agencies and other institutional bodies. The influence from this group of stakeholders is far greater than those from the primary stakeholders. For instance, if the media is to release some negative articles of KFC, it will give a very bad impression. On contrary, if the media is to release an article to the advantage of KFC, then business in KFC will improve.
7.0 Macro-environmental Analysis
7.1 Economic Environment
Fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates in Mexico. An increased inflation rate in Mexico poses an economic threat of lower profits and revenues in KFC's Mexico locations. In addition, the tendency of having strikes is high and this will bring down the economy.
7.2 Social – Cultural Environment
Society's attitudes have changed in the past decade toward eating healthier food selections, eating fewer fried foods, and eating more reduced-fat food selections. The majority of KFC's menu items are fried foods. This is due to the increasing population that is obese and articles that criticized fast food being the main culprit.

KFC could improve the social environment of local communities and society in general by offering innovative, community-involvement programs.

Identifying the cultural differences in other countries is important. For e.g.: some Asia countries have a majority population of Muslims (Malaysia) therefore, the menu must be Halal and no pork can be served.
7.3 Political Environment
The government may implement stricter heath and safety guidelines, which may affect KFC sales. An example will be Bird flu strain that infected 18 people in Hong Kong and killed six of them in 1997. If the bird flu were to hit US, then KFC will be greatly affected.
7.4 Technological Environment
As the technology continues to improve, it creates unlimited opportunities for innovation. Online information seeking by customers is easy due to Internet. In addition, the use of computers to advertise via the Internet, targeting on the yuppies. Computer ordering via Internet can be made possible since they are an increasing population that is Internet savvy. Internet enabled KFC to develop global brands and worldwide consumer base.

Computers can be used to improve labor, scheduling, payroll, accounting, inventory control and communications with other franchisees. This will give KFC a greater control over its employees and even to the franchisees.

Hi – tech equipment that will be able to determine of the cleanliness of oil content be used since majority of the products offered in KFC are deep-fried. Other technological methods can be implemented, like new cooking method whereby there will be a reduction of oil content in the fried food.
In the recent years, the market is growing as single-person households are on the rise. This is due to factors like rising incomes, higher divorce rates and people getting married later. There are also more women in the workforce than ever before. As a result of this, individuals are spending more disposable income on eating out. Moreover, there is a perceived value for money for the fast food products offered. They tend to be cheaper as compared to other cooked food.

7.5 Demographic Environment
Dual income households are on the rise, with higher household purchasing power. These working executives have hurried lifestyles and a desire to avoid food preparation at home has made the fast food business an attractive market. Moreover, there are more women in the work force than ever before, and this continues to increase. Because of this, traditional family income has risen. Due to these demographic changes, opportunities exist for expansion of restaurant chains to compliment and meet the new demands created by these changes. Meals offered in any fast food restaurants will usually consist a main course, side dishes, and a drink, which make it very convenient.

8.0 Alternative Action
1. Expand into Mexico and Puerto Rico Advantages:
Ø KFC is popular with the Mexicans
Ø Close proximity with US
Ø Free trade agreement with Mexico
Ø Strong competition as competitors are already in Mexico, however; their specialty products are burgers and not chicken
Ø Standards can be maintain easily
Ø Growing economy in Mexico
Ø Cheap labor and chicken parts
Ø Demand for fast food expected to grow
Ø Tax brakes of 5 years when investments are made into Mexico
Ø Growing rate of the Mexican population is high and constant

Disadvantages:
Ø Poor working attitudes of the Mexicans
Ø Majority of the workers are unskilled and requires training
Ø Unstable economy – depreciation of Pesos
Ø Do not like the Americans
Ø Unstable economy (strikes often)

2. Leave Mexico and enter into other foreign market Advantages:
Ø Focus investment on other stronger growing segments like South America
Ø Less political and financial risks in other foreign market
Ø Maintain a minimal presence in Mexico for future growth when the stability is greater

Disadvantages
Ø Forgoing a potential growth in a profitable market
Ø Servicing of Mexico units without the increase of the of the economy of scale
Ø Still have not mitigated the risk in Mexico
Ø Limited resources and cash flow
Ø Large distance causes difficulty in exercising control, servicing, support and other problems

3. More advertisements with promotional features attached to it Advantages:
Ø Attract more customers to patronize KFC
Ø Capture competitors market share
Ø Increase brand awareness

Disadvantages
Ø Higher cost incurred for the promo features
Ø Lower perceive value of KFC (brand) when they have frequent promotions

4. Wider varieties available in the menu Advantages:
Ø Appeal to a greater number of customers
Ø Capture competitors market share
Ø Increase brand awareness
Ø Healthy food like low oiled items may attract new segments (health conscious)

Disadvantages:
1. Higher cost incurred in experimenting, advertising (new product) and recruiting.

9.0 Recommended Option
Our selection is to expand into Mexico and Puerto Rico, which is currently a growing market. The obvious advantages shall be the close proximity to U.S., whereby KFC can maintain its standards, the existing North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), GATT and the availability of cheap workforces and products. Operating efficiency in the restaurants is largely dependent on controlling food and labor cost.

Another pull factor is that there is no competitors from the chicken segment, therefore, can be said as an untapped market. Being the first mover, KFC will be able to establish a strong foothold before other competitors enter the Mexico. First time customers remain usually remain strongly loyal to pioneering firms in making repeat purchases. Making investment into Mexico, the government allows tax brakes of 5 years.

The world is divided in different regional markets (like Europe, Asia, Latin America, and etc.). If a crisis happens in a specific country it tends to affect all countries within the same economic region with which it has close economic relations. KFC should focus not only on ‘Latin America' but also in other markets. That way it can minimize possible economic crisis in one region with the profits of another region.
10.0 Steps of Implementing the Option
Since KFC is a new company, it will be necessary for the franchisees to register for the business.

10.1 Organizational
The strategy to enter into Mexico and Puerto Rico shall be through franchising as avoid the risk of committing resources into an unfamiliar market. To grant franchises to only the highly motivated, talented entrepreneurs with integrity and business experience and train them to become active and aggressive owners of KFC. A revision of franchise contracts would need to be made to protect KFC from having other KFC franchises in too close a proximity to one another and the prevent franchisees from having sub standards. The traditional Colonel's way of life philosophy would be brought back into KFC's mission and goal statements to improve relationships and to reduce management turnover and internal discontentment. Additionally, it is very important to have well trained marketing staff, with sufficient knowledge of the evolution of the Mexico's market, Mexicans laws and regulations.

10.2 Product
KFC will increase their product line to include new menu items in various locations to test acceptability and possible sales in relation to demographics. While expansion of their menu is necessary, they need to continue their focus on the "healthy foods" the domestic population is demanding. They can do this by adding additional items such as oriental chicken dishes and grilled chicken sandwiches and dinners.

10.3 Place
In this industry, distribution and new product introduction are the keys to success.
Therefore, KFC shall expand into more nontraditional locations such as hospitals, gas stations, convenience stores, malls, airports, concert halls, amusement parks, and college campuses. They will need to implement new, culturally-specific procedures such as serving beer in German restaurants, more Asian chicken dishes, familiar dress in Asian restaurants, a pub-type atmosphere for European restaurants with a leisurely atmosphere conducive to long conversations and others depending on the Mexican's culture.

10.4 Pricing
This will be a determining factor for the customer making their first purchase. The price should be set reasonably and competitively with other local restaurant offer chicken in their menu. The price for the initial launch must be low. (Refer to 10.5 Promotion)

10.5 Promotion
Promote all three divisional products combining ads and reducing costs for individual advertisements. Offer special introductory bargains for newly opened locations to get customers' attention. Continue with celebrity promotions of KFC. Promote beneficial societal programs by continuing their neighborhood grant programs and expanding opportunities for more neighborhood youths as they build new restaurants as an outreach and advertisement of PepsiCo's traditional values and "caring" attitude.

10.6 Operational
Hire and train new employees in all areas including customer relations. KFC must deploy a program that will create a more disciplined work force. That can be accomplished by giving a bonus for those that had high punctuality rates, good growth perspectives, etc. Prepare and test menu items in restaurant and maintain high cleanliness standards. Increase efforts to improve work environment for workers and customers such as implementing a smoke-free facilities policy of all restaurants.

10.7 Financial
KFC needs the financial backing of PepsiCo to expand into the nontraditional locations and foreign countries. Due to increased competition domestically, the financial stability of PepsiCo is essential for KFC and the other restaurant divisions to expand into the nontraditional locations. PepsiCo needs to increase the amount of funds budgeted for employee training programs, community betterment programs, and equipment for new franchises. They can still increase funds used to promote beverages in their battle against Coke, but not concentrate all their monies in that direction.

10.8 Sustaining Competitive Advantage
Sustaining competitive advantage means to create unique service and product, which cannot be easily imitated. This would include:
(a) International SO Standards
(b) Cleanliness of restaurant
(c) Restaurant of the year
(d) Unique advertisements
(e) Unique packaging
(f) Introduce new products frequently
(g) Obtain feedback from customers and making modifications to meet their needs
11.0 Conclusion
The global fast-food market is competitive, with rivalry, substitutes, and the threat of entry presenting the strongest sources of competitive pressure. Some country markets are more competitive than others; however the U.S. fast-food market – high saturation so growth opportunities are relatively lesser but still can grow considerably by offering franchisees to open more outlets. Declining margins in the fast food chains reflected that increasing maturity in the fast food industry.

We anticipate that, despite the inherent risks and generally higher general and administrative expenses of operations, we will continue to invest in key international markets with substantial growth potential. As an alternative to domestic expansion, many restaurants began to expand into the international market. Our selection is to expand into Mexico and Puerto Rico as the target market niche is big enough to be profitable and offers good growth potential. Franchising to build a presence in Mexico and Puerto Rico without risking any resources. Being a first mover will help KFC to build up their reputation and image with the buyers.

The world is divided in different regional markets (like Europe, Asia, Latin America, and etc.). If a crisis happens in a specific country, it tends to affect all countries within the same economic region with which it has close economic relations, therefore, our recommendations for the international strategy will begin by focusing into Mexico and Puerto Rico.

12.0 References

1. The Manager, http://www.themanager.org/Models/p5f.htm, Accessed 18th August 2003

2. PepsiCo, http://www.pepsico.com/investors/annual-reports/1996/financial/page6.shtml , Accessed 5th August 2003

3. George E. Belch & Micheal A. Belch, 2001, " Advertising and Promotion", McGraw-Hill

4. Kleindl, Brad Alan, 2001, "Strategic E-Marketing: Managing E-Business" South-Western Publishing

5. Susan Dann and Stephan Dann, 2000, "Strategic Internet Marketing", John Wiley and Sons

6. Kotler & Armstrong, " Principles of Marketing", 9th Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc, Upper Saddle River, New Jersy

7. Arthur A. Thompson. Jr. & A.J. Strickland III, 2003, " Strategic Management", 13th Edition, McGraw-Hill

8. Subhash C. Jain, (2001), "International Marketing", 6th Edition, South-Western College Publishing

13.0 Glossary

Brand A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those competitors.

Culture The complexity of learned meanings, values, norms and customs shared by members of society.

Franchise A contractual association between a manufacturer, wholesaler, or service organization (a franchiser) and independent business people (franchisees) who buy the right to own and operate one or more units of the franchise system

Internet A worldwide means of exchanging information and communicating through a series of interconnected computers.

Porters 5 Forces Tool for analyzing an organizations industry structure in strategic process

SWOT Stand for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats.

Word-of-mouth Personal communication about a product between target buyers, friends family members and associates

14.0 Appendixes Appendix 1 - Operating Results Appendix 2 - Consolidated Statement of Income Appendix 3 – Consolidated Balance Sheet

1. Brief Introduction about KFC KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain, specializing in Original Recipe®, Extra Crispy™, Twister® and Colonel's Crispy Strips® chicken with home style sides.
Every day, nearly eight million customers are served around the world. KFC's menu includes Original Recipe® chicken -- made with the same great taste Colonel Harland Sanders created more than a half-century ago. Customers around the globe also enjoy more than 300 other products -- from a Chunky Chicken Pot Pie in the United States to a salmon sandwich in Japan.
KFC has more than 11,000 restaurants in more than 80 countries and territories around the world. And in quite a few U.S. cities, KFC is teaming up with sister restaurants, A&W, All-American Food™, Long John Silver's, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, selling products from the popular chains in one convenient location. KFC is part of Yum! Brands, Inc., which is the world's largest restaurant system with over 32,500 KFC, A&W All-American Food™, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut restaurants in more than 100 countries and territories.
As Yum! A brand continues to grow the world over, so do the ranks of our key business partners who reflect the diversity of the markets we serve. As a KFC, Pizza Hut, or Taco Bell franchisee, you'll enjoy the satisfaction and rewards that come from owning your own business, yet with the assurance that your efforts are supported by a global restaurant leader. Our brands are committed to making sure that our franchisees represent our diverse customer base. Our partnerships with the International Franchise Association's (IFA), for example, assist our brands in educating and attracting prospective minority franchisees. Our franchisees are key to our overall business growth, and help us build thriving neighbourhoods and provide economic opportunities for everyone.

Problem Identification
• Poor relationship Between Pepsi Corporation and KFC franchises.
• KFC loose their market share because of other chicken chain competitors (Popeyes, Chick-fill-A, Boston Market, and Church's) increase sales at a faster rate.
• Cultural factors influence when they going to expand their business overseas.
• Other chicken chain competitor's differentiate their products. (For example Boston Market introduce new restaurant chain that emphasized roasted chicken rather than fried chicken.
• Conflicts between KFC and Pepsi Cola's corporate cultures create a moral problem within KFC.
• Low Research and Development funding from Hubelin, the division found it difficult to match the expansion plans of its main competitors.
• Local franchisees often were more interested in maximizing profits in the short term rather than to adhere to corporate standards and strategic plans.

2. Assumption
Strategic management is concerned with matching the organization's internal capabilities with the external opportunities and threats and developing plans to achieve the medium to long-term goals. There are few Assumptions need to make in order to achieve those goals.
• Foreign exchange rates dose not change significantly.
• Political instability in Asia not last long.
• Current tax system not going to change
• Bank interest rate will be stable.
• No new environmental laws introduce for the industry
• KFC should ignore their competitors in the fast food restaurant chain, such as McDonald's which is technically in the sandwich segment and go where it will be more profitable.
• Fast food chains had already experimented with new forms of existence such as in shopping malls, airports, department stores, universities, etc
• Socio-cultural trends in U.S. were favourable to the fast food industry, except for consumer demands for lower and lower prices.

3. Situation Analysis
3.1. S.W.O.T Analysis
It is an easy-to-use tool for developing an overview of a company's strategic situation. It forms a basis for matching your company's strategy to its situation.
Strengths
 It had expanded early in its corporate history and had experience
 Strong brand name
 Its affiliation with pizza hut and taco bell allowed it to create operational efficiencies abroad as well as domestically.
 It prior relationship with PepsiCo, which had extensive international efficiencies abroad as well.
 KFC had focused on countries in which McDonald's did not have a strong presence.
 World largest chicken chain restaurant
 Third largest fast food industry
 KFC continued to dominate the chicken segment, with sales of $4.4 billion in 1999.(Source; Jeffrey A Krug, 2001)

Weaknesses
As a competitor in international market KFC mostly consider only about franchising market. This is not a very good idea as other imported fast food is catching the domestic market.
• KFC was losing market share as other chicken chains increased sales at a faster rate.
• KFC's share of chicken segment sales fell from 71% in 1989 to less than 56% in 1999,a 10 year drop of 15%.
• Tight Financial control
• High Share price
• Higher returns to the share holders

Opportunities
As the fast food market is rapidly growing KFC may expand it operation in to the domestic market by putting more efforts to it and grab the market share of the local fast food market. KFC's leadership in U.S. market was so extensive that it had fewer opportunities to expand its U.S. restaurant base which was only growing at about 1%

Threats
Any company who operates in the international market has to face the fierce competition in the market place. Apart from that growing concern regarding fast food and takeaway related restrictions in the community is becoming a new threat to industry. • Competition –.chick – fill A and Boston market increased their combined market share by 17%. (Pleases see Appendix), in the early 1990s, many industry analysts predicted that Boston market would challenge KFC for market leadership.
• Product development treats – Boston market was a new restaurant chain that emphasized roasted rather than fried chicken. It successfully created the image of an upscale deli offering healthy, "home style " alternatives to fried chicken and other fast food.
• New Entry to the Market place
• Asian market of fast food industry growing Eg; china, Thailand
• Increasing competitive product-
• More new entries for end market place
• Technological improvements

3.2 Industry and competition Analysis

The five forces model of competition expands the arena for competitive analysis.
Historically, when studying the competitive environment, firms concentrated on companies with which they competed directly. However, today competition is viewed as a grouping of alternative ways for customers to obtain the value they desire, rather than as a battle among direct competitors. This is particularly important, because in recent years industry boundaries have become blurred.

Threat of new entrants
Evidence suggests that KFC have always found it difficult to identify new competitors. This is unfortunate, in that new entrants often have the potential to be quite threatening to incumbents. One reason new entrants pose such a threat is that they bring additional production capacity. Unless the demand for a good or service is increasing, additional capacity holds consumers' costs down, resulting in less revenue and lower returns for an industry's firms. Often, new entrants have substantial resources and a keen interest in gaining a large market share. As a result, new competitors may force existing firms to be more effective and efficient and to learn how to compete on new dimensions

Bargaining power of suppliers
Increasing prices and reducing the quality of products sold are potential means through which suppliers can exert power over firms competing within an industry. If a firm is unable to recover cost increases through its pricing structure, its profitability is reduced by its suppliers' actions. A supplier group is powerful when:
• It is dominated by a few large companies and is more concentrated than the industry to which it sells;
• Satisfactory substitute products are not available to industry firms;
• Industry firms are not a significant customer for the supplier group;
• Suppliers' goods are critical to buyers' marketplace success;
• The effectiveness of suppliers' products has created high switching costs for industry firms
• Suppliers are a credible threat to integrate forward into the buyers' industry. Credibility is enhanced when suppliers have substantial resources and provide the industry's firms with a highly differentiated product.
As a result of its success, initially in its US domestic market and now globally as well, Wal-Mart is an example of a company over which few suppliers have power. The sheer size of its purchases and the relatively low switching costs it faces when choosing among suppliers often combine to yield significant power for the firm.

Bargaining power of buyers
Firms seek to maximise the return on their invested capital. Buyers (KFC customers of an industry or firm) want to buy products at the lowest possible price, at which the industry earns the lowest acceptable rate of return on its invested capital. to reduce their costs, buyers/customer's bargain for higher quality, greater levels of service and lower prices. These outcomes are achieved by encouraging competitive battles among the industry's firms.
Customers (buyer groups) are powerful when:
• They purchase a large portion of an industry's total output;
• The product being purchased from an industry accounts for a significant portion of the buyers' costs;
• They could switch to another product at little, if any, cost; and
• The industry's products are undifferentiated or standardised, and the buyers pose a credible threat if they were to integrate backward into the sellers' industry.

Substitutes
One of the main problems that face many companies today is the threat of substitute products. There main substitute products competitors are McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Domino's, chi-fi -A and Boston market, popeyes, etc.

Industry rivalry
Beyond seeking to deter entry, firms also use strategies to reduce the level of industry rivalry because unrestricted competition over prices or output can reduce profits. Several strategies are available.
1. Price signalling is the process by which firms convey their intentions to rivals concerning pricing strategy, or how they will react to the competitive moves of their rivals. Firms can announce that they will respond vigorously to other firms' hostile moves if attacked. Also it indirectly allows firms to coordinate their prices.

2. Price leadership, in which one firm takes the responsibility of setting industry prices, is another way of using price signalling to enhance industry profitability. The price-setter creates a model that other firms can follow.
3. Non-price competition usually occurs through product differentiation whereby firms compete for market share by offering products with different or superior features, or by applying different marketing techniques. There are four non-price competitive strategies.
a. Market penetration involves expansion of market share in a firm's existing product markets by advertising and other promotional means.
Example: Toys R Us based its CA on being a low-price, low-service store but now competes on having more toys in stores than competitors.
b. Product development is the creation of new or improved products to replace existing ones. It can help to maintain product differentiation and build market share.
Example: KFC very recently they rolled out buffet that included some 30 dinner, salad, and dessert items.
c. Market development involves finding new market segments for a firm's existing products. It uses the firm's brand name to get market share as it enters these segments.
d. Product proliferation (a range of products for a range of niches) is also a strategy for managing rivalry. Firms compete over perceived quality and uniqueness.
4. Capacity control is aimed at controlling the level of industry output. Although firms prefer non-price competition, periodically price competition does break out.

This occurs because industry over-capacity leads to reduction in prices for firms attempting to dispose of the product. If one firm reduces prices, the others follow to avoid being left with unwanted goods.
Excess capacity can occur because of new low-cost technology or new entrants. Two strategies are available:
a. A preemptive strategy is used when one firm, recognizing an opportunity, moves quickly to establish a first-mover advantage. It hopes that other firms will recognize that they are too far behind to catch up and thus not increase their capacity.
b. A coordination strategy involves firms signalling their intentions concerning their future capacity to one another. By indirectly informing one another of their plans, they seek to ensure that capacity does not become so large that it promotes a price war. As a result, the risks associated with increasing capacity (investments therein) are reduced.
Sources: www2.bus.okstate.edu/mgmt/labig/(15/08/03)
Is the Kentucky Fried Chicken is Profitable?
The company opened over 1,000 new international restaurants in 2001 and expects to open another 1,000 in 2002. The company's target for new restaurant growth is +5% to +6% per year in net new international restaurants.
In year "2000 was a year of growth, growth, growth for our international business! We opened
929traditional restaurants around the world, grew operating profit to $309 million, up 16% from1999, and improved international system sales by 6%. And we did it while achieving solid reduction and margin improvement."
"Our big international winners were Greater China, which increased profits a whopping 47%, and our KFC United Kingdom and Pizza Hut Korea businesses, which each increased profits by 25%."We also boosted the global popularity of our food, scoring big wins with the debut of Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust pizza in Malaysia and the Philippines, and the continuing success of KFC's Twister in Australia and Korea. In Asia, we launched two delicious new product variants, Honey Mustard Twister and Spicy Twister, which are helping to drive strong sales growth in the region." (http://www.yum.com/investors/annualreport.htm)

WHY
KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Ky., is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain specializing in Original Recipe®, Extra Crispy™, Colonel's Crispy Strips® chicken and Popcorn Chicken with home-style sides and freshly made chicken sandwiches. Since its founding by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, KFC has been serving customers delicious, already-prepared complete family meals at affordable prices. There are over 11,000 KFC outlets in more than 80 countries and territories around the world serving some 8 million customers each day. KFC Corporation is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., Louisville, Ky.
KFC leads the way as China's largest, o