Consumer Behaviour Analysis: KFC and McDonald's Strategic Approaches

This report examines the strategic approaches of KFC and McDonald's for global expansion, focusing on their entry into China and India. It analyzes how these fast-food chains adapt to local consumer behaviors, cultural norms, and preferences to gain a competitive advantage. The report highlights the importance of joint ventures, menu adaptations, and understanding consumer perceptions in different markets. It discusses the benefits of global expansion, including access to new markets, diversification, and talent acquisition. The analysis compares the strategies of KFC and McDonald's, emphasizing how they cater to local tastes and preferences. The report concludes that joint ventures are a suitable market entry strategy, allowing companies to adapt to local lifestyles and influence consumer buying behaviors effectively. The report uses examples from the fast food industry to illustrate these concepts.

Running head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer behaviour
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Importance of global business expansion..................................................................................2
Strategic approaches for business expansion.............................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................3

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Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the strategic approaches that are often
considered by the business organisations like KFC and McDonalds to expand into a new
location for generating higher revenue and attain competitive advantage in business as well.
The topic will also highlight the importance of influencing consumer behaviours, which has
been possible with the consideration of various factors including the cultural norms, values
and beliefs along with the perceptions of consumers regarding the products and services
delivered (Solomon et al., 2014). All these factors can not only enable diffusion of new
products and services, but will also facilitate the influence on consumer behaviour and
influence them to make purchases from the company as well.
Importance of global business expansion
The fast food chains have aimed at global expansion for the purpose of acquiring
more customers and form a large customer base, furthermore, ensure gaining high level of
profit along with attaining competitive advantage in business too. Few of the major benefits
include the ability to enter new markets, manage diversification of products and services,
gain accessibility to better talent pool consisting of individuals with higher level of skills and
knowledge, exploit the foreign investment scopes and opportunities effectively and gain
competitive advantage in business as well (De Mooij, 2019).
Strategic approaches for business expansion
From the case scenario, it is found that while KFC considered the menu adaptation
policy to ensure meeting the local tastes and preferences of the customers, McDonalds has
also similar kind of strategy to suit the local tastes of customers through delivery of familiar
menu items. To enter the foreign market, i.e., in China, KFC adopted the joint venture market
entry mode or strategy to ensure smooth global business expansion. The Chinese Government

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partnered with KFC while making an entry into the global market, which facilitated the joint
venture strategy as well as helped in meeting the needs of different global market segments
with much ease and effectiveness. McDonalds adopted the Western lifestyle for grasping this
extensive opportunity to excel in terms of performance and revenue generation while entering
China easily (Mullen & Johnson, 2013). From the case study revolving around KFC, it has
been found that KFC adopted the joint venture strategy for expanding its business into India
through adoption of local culture and the lifestyle behaviours for meeting the local needs and
preferences of the customers effectively too. The shareholders have made immense numbers
of investments, which has also enabled the joint venture strategy to become successful and
allowed the company to merge with another organisation while entering the foreign market
quite easily.
With the formation of joint venture, both these two companies namely KFC and
McDonalds could gain access to new markets and at the same time, facilitate the networks for
distribution to ensure that the overall business performance is increased. This would also
allow for sharing both the costs as well as risks with the business partner, furthermore gain
greater accessibility to the resources, both financial and human resources with much ease and
effectiveness (Thompson et al., 2015). Considering the presence of middle class segment
customers mostly in India with love for the fast food items, the joint venture strategy should
allow these two fast food chains to market the products and services easily through
assessment of customer database and by evaluating the recent market trends. The joining of
new forces for conducting research and development should further boost the ability to
innovate the products and services and cater the changing needs of people with efficiency
(Sun & Lee, 2013).
To ensure satisfaction among the global customers, the companies could also
introduce a new product line with a home like feel consisting of good and healthy ingredients.

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This would not only create a positive mind sets among them, but would also facilitate the
buying behaviours of consumers to make purchases frequently and consistently from these
two fast food chains while operating in the global Indian market (Killing, 2013).
Conclusion
From the various evidences of data and information collected on the basis of various
contexts, the joint venture market entry strategy would be the most suitable for both these two
companies, i.e., McDonalds and KFC to enter the global market in India with ease. Moreover,
the cultural norms, values, beliefs and other cultural aspects should drive the behaviours of
customers and at the same time, allow the companies to easily adapt to the local lifestyles,
tastes and preferences of customers. This would also allow for influencing the buying
behaviours of customers, furthermore, generate more sales revenue and create extensive
opportunities to attain competitive advantage in business as well.

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References
De Mooij, M. (2019). Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing
and advertising. SAGE Publications Limited.
Killing, P. (2013). Strategies for joint venture success (RLE international business).
Routledge.
Mullen, B., & Johnson, C. (2013). The psychology of consumer behavior. Psychology Press.
Solomon, M. R., Dahl, D. W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R.
(2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Toronto, Canada:
Pearson.
Sun, S. L., & Lee, R. P. (2013). Enhancing innovation through international joint venture
portfolios: From the emerging firm perspective. Journal of International
Marketing, 21(3), 1-21.
Thompson, A., Strickland, A. J., & Gamble, J. (2015). Crafting and executing strategy:
Concepts and readings. McGraw-Hill Education.