BA Business: Marketing Management Report - Chick-fil-A

This report provides a comprehensive marketing analysis of Chick-fil-A, an American fast-food chain. It begins with an introduction to marketing management and the specific context of Chick-fil-A. The report delves into internal and external environmental factors, utilizing SWOT and PEST...Read More

Marketing Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
Developing knowledge and understanding key theories, concepts and models in marketing in
order to guide marketing strategies..............................................................................................1
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
Complexity of competitive environment and impact on effective marketing decisions.............5
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................6
Developing skills to critically analyse marketing situations and problems that are faced by
organisation..................................................................................................................................6
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................7
Recommending appropriate marketing strategies and tactics to the organisation.......................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management is the term that is basically defined by American Association of
Marketing as a process in terms of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion
and distribution of various ideas, goods and services in such way that would lead them in
satisfying people and also leads in fulfilling objectives or goals of particular firm (Deepak and
Jeyakumar, 2019). In the following report, Chick-fil-A has been taken into consideration. It is an
American fast food chain restaurant that has been headquartered in College Park, Georgia.
Further, more than 2300 restaurants are being operated by this firm, while McDonalds is the
biggest competitor. Moreover, Chick-fil-A is originally founded by Dwarf Grill in the year 1946.
Thus, in this report, the internal and external environment factors that may affect the
running of business and also its expansion will be discussed in detail along with the description
of competitor analysis that may impact the marketing decisions and strategies will be illustrated.
Further, this report also leads in analysing skills that may help them in adapting strategies will be
discussed. In addition to this, this report also highlights on various recommendations that will
help the cited organisation in expansion of market.
TASK
LO 1
Developing knowledge and understanding key theories, concepts and models in marketing in
order to guide marketing strategies.
Marketing is that term in which the action is taken in order to promote and sell products
or services that includes both marketing and advertising. Moreover, marketing environment is
the term that includes internal and external factors that basically surrounds and influences the
marketing operations of a particular firm (Flores, 2015). Thus, the internal and external factors
that affect Chick-fil-A has been discussed as per below context-
Micro Analysis (SWOT)
Micro environment is basically that environment under which a particular firm operates.
Thus, it has been discussed with the help of SWOT analysis, through which strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threats that they are facing are identified and discussed in brief.
 Strengths- The customer service of particular company is flawless that makes it the
successful business firm. Thus, for fast food chain restaurant it is quite unusual as there is
a trend of self service model and this actually makes the whole outlet quite different.
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Further, the employees are also paid in high volume as compared to industrial average
and also try to give their workers with maximum opportunities in terms of advancement
in career (Venter, Wright and Dibb, 2015). This makes their employees as valued and
creates satisfaction that makes them to give their maximum effort to a particular
organisation.
 Weakness- The overall popularity of Chick-fil-A is limited as compared to other
competitors as they do not have presence countries other than that of USA. Thus, they
lack in order to forming a part of big league in terms of fast food industry. Further, cited
organisation prices higher as compared to other which is one of the major weaknesses of
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Figure 1: SWOT analysis
(Source: SWOT analysis, 2019)

Chick-fil-A. In Addition to this, innovation is also major challenge that they have to face
as compared to other fast food organisation as it is not global.
 Opportunities- They can concentrate on healthy fast food options for customers as
today’s generation completely focus on healthy consumption of goods. Thus, it may help
them in opening new segments for fast food companies that will further lead in increasing
customer base (Hollensen and Opresnik, 2019).
 Threats- High number of scandals has been centrered in fast food joints in which it has
been stated that chicken that is used by them as their primary ingredient in a restaurant
related to quality and quantity used. This has created questions in customer’s mind which
makes them avoid such brands.
Macro Analysis
Macro environment is basically termed as the general environment that may affect the
working of business. Thus, it has been discussed with the help of PESTLE analysis that helps in
identifying external factors as per below context-
Figure 2: PESTLE analysis
(Source: Scanning the Environment: PESTEL Analysis, 2016)
 Political- Political factors are those factors that plays significant role in terms of decision
taken for any kind of investment. There are some of the political factors that not only
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impact long term sustainability but also cost of doing business which includes
governance system, democracy and institutions, law and order in market, etc (Uttakalla,
Walger and Wu, 2017). Thus, the political impact is influenced by federal government
laws and regulations on a particular business. Thus, Chick-fil-A has to alter the standards
related to manufacturing of food and beverage in order to make excellent products that
attract huge customers towards the brand.
 Economic- With the help of variable products, the economy of the cited organisation or
restaurant is increasing on daily basis. Thus, the product that is basically launched by
them is high nutritional food for babies have helped them in attracting high volume of
customers. In addition to this, initiation of business where the earnings of capital of each
matters that is termed as private varies country to country as per the increased net sale.
 Social- The social environment is basically changes as per the mindset of customers. The
social forces are those that affect the attitudes, interests and opinions of customers as per
the changing trend and perceptions of a society. Chick-fil-A has to look after living
system of customers in order to succeed in a particular business. Therefore, the cited
company has to take procedures in order to meet any kind of goals in terms of healthy
and yummy food as today’s generation is completely health conscious (Key and
Czaplewski, 2017).
 Technological- Chick-fil-A is one of the multinational company so it invests in various
other departments so that they can take their products and services which they are
offering to customers to the next and higher level. Other than this, the stated enterprise is
investing higher amount or capital in research and development department so that goods
and commodities are produced healthier and highly nutritious.
 Legal- Chick-fil-A concentrates more on laws and guidelines so it has been stated that
legal factors do not have any kind of impact on the cited firm.
 Environmental- As per the ecological effect, it has been dedicated that the Chick-fil-A
operates in environment which is environmental friendly with help of conservation of
natural resources and energy. Hence, larger variety of items are produced there may be
risk if the resources that are used are recyclable or not.
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LO 2
Complexity of competitive environment and impact on effective marketing decisions.
The term competitive environment is defined as dynamic external system in which
particular business basically competes and operates their functions accordingly. Thus, the
amount or numbers of sellers available of a particular product increase the competition in a
market (Kotler and et.al., 2018). Thus, the complexity of environment is further discussed with
the help of competitive analysis of a particular market with the help of Porters five forces.
 Threat of new entrants- It has been analysed that market with high profits has capability
of attracting large number of entrants into market. This has become the major threat for
cited firm. The barriers can be considered as both either industrial or legal. In addition to
this, the cost that are related in terms of new entry into that particular market or access to
raw materials and also barriers that are basically related to culture and technical standards
also leads in playing significant role in terms of affecting the decision that is taken by a
particular firm as entering into new market.
 Threat of substitutes- The products that are offered by Chick-fil-A are termed as an
alternative that are available in a particular market at better price. Such products are
therefore produced with the help of updated technology. This technology are therefore
can be used by other brand for producing substitute products which will be termed as
dangerous for a particular brand. Further, if there is higher threat of substitute than it will
further lead to low level of profitability. This is because the profits are limited as products
and services are replaced with their substitutes.
 Bargaining power of buyer- The buyers are the customers that can influence the
profitability in high manner by imposing condition that are less favourable for suppliers
in terms of service, quality and price. Thus, the buyers are powerful when they can flip
side of supplies that are powerful by forcing those prices in such that they move
downwards and also by demanding high quality of goods and services. Further, this can
be done by creating huge level of competition between participants in industry (Li and
Luo, 2018).
 Bargaining power of suppliers- There are some suppliers that leads in possessing or
forcing more power in order to capture high value for their self. Thus, for this they
demand high price and lowers down the quality and quantity of particular products and
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services. In addition to this, the bargaining power of supplier is higher if the goods
offered are highly differentiated.
 Competitive rivalry- The competition of a particular firm is on the basis of diversity.
This is therefore an analysis that is conducted in terms of particular brand and the
products that they are providing. In addition to this, it also leads in analysing strengths
and weakness along the strategies and competitors and also including shares that are
invested in a particular market.
LO 3
Developing skills to critically analyse marketing situations and problems that are faced by
organisation.
Marketing situations includes research and analysis in terms of target market, challenges
that are faced by business, competitors, etc. Thus, it has been further discussed with the help of
STP process (Lilien, Rangaswamy and De Bruyn, 2017). Further, it is one of the significant
concepts that lead in demonstrating link between overall market.
Segmentation
Segmentation is basically defined as the process where market is spitted into small
groups with same kind of goods and services or either identifiable characteristics. This is done
basically in order to select the target markets that are appropriate for a particular brand. Thus,
this helps the cited brand in order to meet needs and wants of each and every group which further
leads in giving a high level of competitive advantage over those competitors that uses basic
approach as one size fits all. Hence, segmentation can be done in various ways that has been
discussed as per below context-
 Demographic- In this, personal attributes has been taken into consideration that includes
age, marital status, ethnicity, gender, education and occupation.
 Geographic- In this country, religion, state and city has been taken into consideration.
 Psychographic- In this, Chick-fil-A takes personality, values and lifestyles of customers
into consideration.
 Behavioural- In this, the behaviour of a person, their loyalty towards the product of the
cited organisation has been highlighted.
Targeting
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After segmentation, targeting is done. Under this section, there are numerous factors that
can be considered. The cited organisation has to first look at the profitability of each segment.
Other than this, size and potential growth is considered that leads in achieving long term success
of a particular firm (Menon, Bharadwaj, Adidam and Edison, 2015). In addition to this, it has
been analysed that target marketing is done so that company can easily target specific market
group and also puts their energy into connecting with defined and specific group into a particular
market. Thus, this will help Chick-fil-A to identify market situations and problems that they face
in easy and effective manner.
Positioning
Product positioning is the last step in the process of STP. The main aim of cited
organisation here is to basically identify the way is order to position the product in order to target
most valuable segments of customers. Further, unique selling proposition is to be identified in
order to make customers purchase Chick-fil-A’s product rather than that goods and services that
are produced by competitors. In addition to this, this is that process that leads in creating positive
image in the minds of customer groups or targeted audience. In other words, it also helps
customers in order to create high level of perception of a particular product or services.
LO 4
Recommending appropriate marketing strategies and tactics to the organisation.
Marketing strategy is the term that is being defined as a plan in terms of any kind of
action that is being further designed in order to promote and sell a product or service into a
particular market (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019). Thus, recommendations for this has
been further discussed below with the help of following Marketing Mix strategy that would help
cited organisation in achieving high level of profitability and company may achieve long term
success.
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Marketing Mix
Chick-fil-A is termed as a subsidiary of its parent company that is known as Cathy
Family and is posed well in the competitive market but still faces high level of competition from
their main competitors that includes Subway, McDonalds, etc.
 Product- The cited organisation is a restaurant chain that basically specialises in fast
food like sandwiches that are made up of chicken. Along with this fast food, they also try
to serve lunch, dinner menu and also provides customers with catered options for any
kind of events in the market (Samiee and Chirapanda, 2019). Further, the product
portfolio also tries to include fresh and healthy items. In addition to this, it has been
analysed that a particular firm must also try to use high quality materials to produce their
product and services as today’s generation is health conscious and try to consume goods
that is of high quality even if the prices are high.
 Price- The revenue that has been posted by stated firm is 8 billion dollars of US. The
main target of this firm is upper middle and middle class people that are in need of high
quality goods. The pricing strategy that has been adopted by them is reasonable pricing
policy that means products are offered at reasonable rates that can be easily affordable by
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Figure 3: Marketing Mix
(Source: The Marketing Mix 4P’s and 7P’s Explained, 2019)

customers. In addition to this, competitive pricing policy is adopted in order to deal with
competitors that make them keep the price of a product according to the rival brands
price and rates. It has been analysed that the cited firm faces high level of competition
from number of brands in a particular market.
 Place- Chick-fil-A performs its operations in both Canada and United States and has its
headquarters at Atlanta in US. There are number of restaurants opened over every part
that includes actually 46 states. It uses unique way in order to operate and retain
ownership and offers a chance to operator as they basically believe in franchise system.
Thus, the operator has to pay 50% to the owner as per the deal that has been signed
between them. In addition to this, it has been analysed that the cited organisation must
select place in such way where every customer can easily reach to the brand and enjoy it
accordingly. This will lead them in attracting huge volume of customers and company
may achieve high profitability and company may reach the boost.
 Promotion- Promotion is referred to as the set of entire activities that leads in
communicating product, brand or service to the user. The main idea of this process is to
make people aware about the goods and services and attract them for buying it in
preference over others. Thus, technique that has been adopted by them is quite unique
and innovative in order to publicise its brand and product (Selvaraj and Harnett, 2018).
Further, campaigns have been created that leads the stated firm in order to deal with
mindset of customers directly and in adequate manner. In addition to this, they must also
try to offer free meal to audience on the events that they are organising in terms of
promotion activities. This makes the customers aware about products and services of
Chick-fil-A and gets attract towards brand easily.
 Process- The process and system that are used by organisation affect the service
execution. Thus, stated enterprise has to assure that the process used by them are well
tailored that will help them in minimising cost of goods that is produced by them.
 People- The workers of the cited firm plays significant role in making the brand as the
most successful one. Therefore, to make them active in work that has been allocated to
them, Chick-fil-A must try to motivate them for their performance by rewarding them
with bonuses and awards. In addition to this, training and development program also
plays huge role in making them active and also in running the business with high speed.
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Further, this will help them in putting their complete effort in the work that has been
assigned to them which directly leads towards progress of an enterprise.
 Physical Evidence- Physical evidence refers to as the way in which products and
services are perceived in a particular market. This plays extremely significant role in
attracting high volume of customers towards the brand. Therefore, the way of promoting
or delivering any kind of product to customers must be quite unique and innovative that
would lead them in gaining huge profitability and increase brand image (Shah, Azhar and
Bhutto, 2019).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that marketing management plays very
significant role in order to achieve long term success. It has also been analysed that Chick-fil-A
is one of the multinational organisation in America. Further, it has been illustrated that various
models and key theories has been used that leads in guiding the development and also in
executing the marketing strategies that helps cited organisation in achieving long term success.
In addition to this, the company is being recommended with various strategies in terms of
marketing mix, which considers the high quality product at reasonable price. Therefore, if
marketing mix is applied by cited firm than it would aid them in attracting large number of
customers towards the brand and company may reach the boost.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Deepak, R. K. A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation Publishing.
Flores, L., 2015. Exploring the Venture of a Food Truck (Doctoral dissertation, Point Loma
Nazarene University).
Hollensen, S. and Opresnik, M. O., 2019. Strategy Formulation in the Marketing Planning
Process. World Scientific Book Chapters. pp.139-202.
Key, T. M. and Czaplewski, A. J., 2017. Upstream social marketing strategy: An integrated
marketing communications approach. Business Horizons. 60(3). pp.325-333.
Kotler, P., and et.al., 2018. Marketing management: an Asian perspective. Pearson.
Li, X. and Luo, C., 2018. Developing competitive advantage for a restaurant.
Lilien, G. L., Rangaswamy, A. and De Bruyn, A., 2017. Principles of Marketing Engineering
and Analytics. DecisionPro.
Menon, A., Bharadwaj, S. G., Adidam, P. T. and Edison, S. W., 2015. Effective Marketing
Strategy-Making: Antecedents and Consequences. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of
Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 224-224). Springer, Cham.
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R.M. and Wills, G.B., 2019. Importance-performance analysis based
SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management. 44. pp.194-203.
Samiee, S. and Chirapanda, S., 2019. International Marketing Strategy in Emerging-Market
Exporting Firms. Journal of International Marketing. 27(1). pp.20-37.
Selvaraj, S. and Harnett, D., 2018. An analysis of the quality and operational efficiency of the
Crest Clean franchise.
Shah, S. A., Azhar, S. M. and Bhutto, N. A., 2019. Halal marketing: a marketing strategy
perspective. Journal of Islamic Marketing.
Uttakalla, S., Walger, I. and Wu, C. H. K., 2017. Case Study: Chick-fil-A Team 7-The
Bootstrappers: Alicia Fowler Christopher Mead.
Venter, P., Wright, A. and Dibb, S., 2015. Performing market segmentation: a performative
perspective. Journal of Marketing Management. 31(1-2). pp.62-83.
Online:
SWOT analysis. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis>
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Scanning the Environment: PESTEL Analysis. 2016. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.business-to-you.com/scanning-the-environment-pestel-analysis/>
The Marketing Mix 4P’s and 7P’s Explained. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<https://marketingmix.co.uk/>
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