Supply Chain Management of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN DISASTER
OF KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN (KFC)
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Concept of Supply Chain Management...........................................................................................2
Supply Chain Disaster of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).............................................................3
Analysis of the Supply Chain Disaster through the usage of Supply Chain Pillars........................4
Evaluation of the key Communication Concepts and issues in the Disaster...................................6
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

2SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction
As stated by Christopher (2016), the success of the different business corporations
substantially dependent on the efficiency or the ease with which they are being to procure the
various raw materials needs by them for the manufacture of the services or the products offered
by them. Coyle et al. (2016) are of the viewpoint that the corporations are also required to ensure
that there is a coordination or synchronization among the different inbound as well as the
outbound logistics processes which are being used by them as part of their supply chain
management process. This coordination or synchronization is important since it greatly
determines the efficiency of the supply chain system of the organizations (Copacino 2019). More
importantly, the business corporations are also required to ensure the fact that they take the help
of adequate communication models or approaches and also anticipate the potential issues that
they are likely to face due to the supply chain system which are using and thereby take adequate
mitigation measures or formulate contingency plans for the resolution of the same (Fredendall
and Hill 2016). These measures are important since they help the business corporations to
overcome the issue of supply chain disaster which some of the major business corporations of
the world had experienced in the recent years. The purpose of this paper is to undertake an
analysis of the concept of supply chain disaster through the different supply chain pillar and also
the issues which can give rise to the same in the light of the supply chain disaster faced by
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in the February of 2018.
Concept of Supply Chain Management
Genovese et al. (2017) have observed that supply chain management is the process
through which the business corporations manage the flow of their goods or services, raw
materials that they need for the manufacture of their services or products, manage their inventory
and also deliver the finished services or products to the markets. Adding to this, Mangan and
Lalwani (2016) have stated that the supply chain management process used by the corporations
is also concerned with the designing, planning, execution, control as well as the monitoring of
the different supply chain activities which are intended to create value for the corporations. In
this relation, it needs to be said that these activities are integral to the effective functioning or for
that matter the operations of the different business corporations and not only directly affect the

3SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
manufacturing process of the corporations through the supply of the raw materials which are
required for the same but also help the corporations to deliver the finished products or the
services to the markets as well (Dubey et al. 2017). However, the business corporations in order
to develop an effective supply chain system are required to develop adequate communication
lines with its different suppliers to ensure the fact that the raw materials needed by it are
available to it as per its needs and convenience (Pettit, Croxton and Fiksel 2019). In addition to
these, it had also been seen that some of the corporations formulate a contingency plan for the
scenarios in which its major suppliers are being able to deliver the raw materials needed by it for
the manufacture of products or services so as to avoid adversely affecting the work of the
corporation (Durach, Kembro and Wieland 2017). This substantially helps the corporations to
avoid the supply chain disasters and also ensures the fact that the corporations are being able to
manage their different business functions adequately.
Supply Chain Disaster of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), established in 1952 by Colonel Harland Sanders, is one
of the largest fast food restaurant chains of the world and it operates in more than 136 different
nations of the world with around 22,621 outlets (Kfc.com 2020). More importantly, the
concerned corporation had been largely successful in developing a high-performing supply chain
system in the different nations of its operations which in turn had directly contributed towards
the success attained by the corporation. However, in the month of February, 2018, the
corporation under discussion here faced one of its worst supply chain disasters in its United
Kingdom operations which in turn made the concerned corporation to substantially redesign its
entire supply chain system (Ft.com 2020). Furthermore, the most important effect of the supply
chain disaster faced by KFC was the fact that the concerned corporation was not being able to
offer Kentucky Fried Chickens to its customers in the nation of UK which as a matter of fact is
the main product of the concerned corporation and after this particular product only the
corporation had named since it ran out of poultry (Priday 2020). More than half of the restaurants
of KFC in UK had to be closed down because of the supply chain disaster faced by the
concerned corporation (Fcsi.org 2020). Moreover, the method of using warehouse which over
the years had formed the highlight of the supply chain system used by the concerned corporation
and had greatly contributed towards its success by helping it cut costs contributed towards the