Marketing Planning Report: KFC

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of KFC's marketing planning. It begins with an introduction to marketing planning and its importance, followed by a detailed examination of KFC's core competencies, strengths, and weaknesses. The report then delves into both internal and external audits, utilizing tools such as SWOT and PEST analyses to assess KFC's position in the market. Key barriers to effective marketing planning are identified, along with strategies to overcome them. The report also explores the development of new products, emphasizing the importance of market research and various techniques for identifying customer needs. Ethical considerations in marketing are discussed, using examples to illustrate the impact of ethical and unethical practices on a company's image and success. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for improving KFC's marketing strategies.

Marketing Planning

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
1.1...........................................................................................................................................1
1.2...........................................................................................................................................2
1.3...........................................................................................................................................3
1.4...........................................................................................................................................3
2.1...........................................................................................................................................5
2.2...........................................................................................................................................6
3.2...........................................................................................................................................6
3.3...........................................................................................................................................7
3.5...........................................................................................................................................8
4.1...........................................................................................................................................9
4.2...........................................................................................................................................9
4.3.........................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................11

TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Future change in organisational marketing planning...................................................2
Figure 2: Core Competencies KFC............................................................................................3
Figure 3 Labelling GM Food.....................................................................................................4
Figure 4 PEST Analysis of KFC................................................................................................5
Figure 5: Honesty in Advertising...............................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Marketing planning is the process of developing and implementing a plan which will
help to identify and evaluate the customer demand prevailing at the market place. This is
mainly done to study the market and analyse the demand in market. Proper market planning
is done with the help of market research which helps the organisation to use adequate market
mix to fulfil the requirements. With the help of proper market planning the organisation is
able to organise all the aspects of market such as consumers, market, product and competition
which influence the growth of company.
In the given report, the aspects of marketing planning are discussed. All the techniques
of organisational auditing and external factors which affect the market planning are also
included. Further the subsequent report states about all the barriers and essential of market
planning which affects the working of the organisation. The report duly evaluates the
marketing planning and future aspects of KFC.
1.1
KFC is a USA based fast food company which has specialised in fried chicken. KFC is
considered as the second largest fast food chain after McDonalds. It has 18,875 outlets across
118 countries.
In earlier days, the organisation used to market their products by way of mass media
and reach of the advertisements to the customers. This lead to a trust gained by the familiar
brands among customers which increased its sales. Marketing is responsible for the image
and familiarity of brand. This was done to target the customers (Abubakar, 2014).
The changing environment and market conditions have lead to develop new marketing
strategies which are based on fresh and improved concepts. These are based on the total
experience of the customer and now trust among customers is gained through experience and
over a period of time. Now all the persons in the KFC are responsible for the brand.
Consumers have now become the co creators of the brand as organisation demand for regular
feedback from the customers which help in improving the brand of KFC.
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Figure 1 Future change in organisational marketing planning
(Source: Wong, 2010)
1.2
Core competencies, resources and strengths are the capabilities of KFC to plan its
future activities of marketing. Company employs creative operations within marketing of its
products which have distinctive brand in market which puts out synergetic impacts on
customers’ perception in markets. Company also has sound networks globally along with
strong base of resources which are capable of helping firm in conducting effective market
research. This further helps in customizing marketing activities to suit different types of
demand in markets. Firm also enjoys huge potential for competing with other bigger brands
in the same industry such as McDonald’s and Burger King (Stephenson, 2005). It has
employs competent management functions related with finance, productions and human
resources. Company is also proficient in monitoring fund flow with the help of effective
budgeting (Schottler, S. J., 2013).
KFC is also famous for enhancing its awareness of brand among current and potential
customers around the world and this enhances its operations related with clientele. Its core
competencies, strengths and weakness are explained as under:
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Figure 2: Core Competencies KFC
1.3
Analysing and auditing are the two main aspects of generating a proper plan in every
organisation so as KFC. There are different ways of doing organisational audit such as
SWOT Analysis, value chain etc this help in analysis the internal value and strength of KFC.
It also helps to estimate the scope of development internally of KFC which will increase its
value. The organisation is able to understand its operating system and analyse its strength
weakness opportunities and threats which can influence the organisation (Gönül and Carter,
2012).
External analysis on the other hands leads to development of the peripherals of KFC. It
considers all the exterior factors which influence its growth and development. The techniques
used for external analysis are PEST helps in evaluating the external factors which influence
the working of KFC and thus the external analysis is done in next question.
1.4
Here is the PEST analysis which is one of the techniques of external audit for KFC and
hence is as follows:
 Political: KFC has to follow many political factors such as Health and Safety
guidelines to support that the organisation is taking care of the safety measures for the
welfare of customers. It also has to properly label the GM Foods so that customers are aware
in advance about the ingredients used in it are safe and not allergic to them.
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Core
Competencie
s
Multi-Market Strategy
Relationship between
management and staff
Finance and IT
Marketing and services
Strengths
Market share
Skills and expertise
Innovative and new
products
Quality processes and
procedures
Weaknesses
Low brand loyalty
Poor distribution
network

Figure 3 Labelling GM Food
(Source: Bens, 1990)
KFC also have to deal with the campaigns related to animal rights and welfare as these
is the organisation which affects the development and sales of KFC (Pest Analysis On KFC,
2013). KFC deals with a huge variety of non vegetarian food and thus it is necessary for the
organisation to take proper care of these issues. Political factors of different countries also
influence this organisation as every organisation has different political background and it has
to deal with all these factors.
 Economic: KFC is has a very low set up cost which is one of the benefit for
organisation. It uses franchising techniques for setting up in different organisation which
helps in influencing its growth. The market for KFC is tremendously growing which is
another factor which persuades KFC. Thus the economic factors are favourable for the
organisation (Bens, 1990).
 Social: Today’s lifestyle is very busy and persons are now becoming health
conscious. They are developing healthy eating habits and this has a negative impact on KFC.
The customers are now becoming vegetarian and getting aware about different issues by way
of social activities related to safe animals is a threat for KFC.
 Technological: KFC has always invested in technological inventions which have
helped in the growth of KFC. It is using computer ordering system today which has reduced
the heavy duty work of the employees and thus leads to fast service to the customers.
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Figure 4 PEST Analysis of KFC
(Source: Caemmerer, 2009)
The organisational Audit in any organisation is done by way of internal analysis and
hence the SWOT for KFC is as follows:
Strength: KFC is the second largest restaurant chain in and thus has a good brand
image which is its biggest strength (SWOT analysis of KFC, 2013). The organisation is now
fixing its roots strong in China and is establishing its business. It is globalising and
developing a good market for the organisation in the entire world.
Weakness: KFC has untrustworthy suppliers which is its biggest weakness. It leads to
negative publicity to the organisation. The menu of KFC is very unhealthy which does not
attract to health conscious crowd (Freytag and Munksgaard, 2011). The employee turnover is
also very high which a drawback is for the company. Marketing forces of KFC is not very
strong which affects the value of organisation.
Opportunities: KFC can opt for providing healthy food as its demand is also increasing.
It can offer home delivery option which will increase its sales. The organisation can also
develop new range in its chicken products which will provide good opportunities to KFC.
Threats: Food market in developing countries is saturated which is affecting KFC’s
growth. The new healthier trend is also affecting the organisation (Gönül and Carter, 2012).
There is huge currency fluctuation due to inflation which has an adverse affect on KFC.
There are some lawsuits against KFC which is declining its value.
2.1
There are certain barriers which affect the marketing planning of KFC and they are as
follows:
Confusion between tactics and strategy is the biggest barrier for KFC in context of
market planning. The organisation is unaware about how to implement the strategy and
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tactics. This is one of the biggest mistakes as KFC formulate its plans in accordance with
tactics when strategy is required (Grete, Noreen and Susan 2003).
KFC also lacks in doing depth analysis which is another drawback for the organisation.
Depth analysis helps in properly formulating market plans in organisation and fulfils all the
organisational strategies. But this depth study lack in KFC.
KFC does not follow a systematic approach of market planning which affects its overall
development. A systematic market planning help to properly evaluate the market and then
make proper plans for the market development. Thus these are certain barriers which highly
influence the market planning for KFC.
2.2
KFC must take certain steps to overcome the above barriers so that it will help in
promoting and increasing its efficiency (Henley, Raffin and Caemmerer, 2011). For that KFC
needs to first identify the main difference between tactics and strategy and thus develop its
strategy in such a manner that it leads them to develop proper plan which help in achieving
will long term goals of the organisation.
KFC also needs to analyse the market properly so that it will make them aware about
all the factors in which it lacks and then proper plan will be developed which will focus in
that particular area. This will help in promotion of KFC (Johnson. 2004).
It must also develop a systematic plan in the organisation. Systematic planning will
properly evaluate and plan the desired plans in KFC which will lead to its growth. Thus it is
necessary for KFC to put these into practice to properly manage working.
3.2
Marketing planning is vital for KFC as well as for its strategic planning process. It
helps in identifying sources of achieving competitive advantages in industry. It is useful in
having smooth flow of a number of departmental activities which have to be in accordance
with activities of marketing planning. There are various threats from markets which
organization has to face and which shape its major responses to deal with them. Major
marketing decisions of company are often affected by threats from substitutes and
competitors. KFC is bound to share considerable amount of market share with its competitors
in food retail industry and it is because firm has little control over it (Loudon and Wrenn,
2006). Further, customers and suppliers enjoy considerable amount of bargaining power
which again affect level of profitability of firm. Company has to operate in accordance with
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demand from markets and level of food supply available in industry. New entrants in industry
also pose significant threats to KFC in markets and they have to be tackled through sound
customer awareness of brand (Johnson. 2004).
3.3
In order to develop new products KFC must use certain techniques which will help to
analyse market demand and then duly develop new products which will lead to its growth.
Some of the techniques are:
KFC can take a market survey to analyse the requirement of customers (Schottler,
2013). This is that method which helps in connecting directly with the customers and taking
efforts to develop products according to their choice.
KFC can focus on a target market which and then develop product considering that
particular market. This will help in generating a demand in customer and KFC will be able to
satisfy that demand which will increase value of new product.
KFC can also opt for Delphi techniques (Stephenson, 2005). Under this technique the
employees will do proper survey in the organisation which will help in developing the
appropriate product according to the needs and demands of the customer.
By the above methods KFC can develop new products and launch in market. It is
necessary to analyse the market properly before developing or launching any product.
In addition to it, following are the steps that can be taken into account by KFC for
developing new product:
 Idea Generation: At this step, idea about new product is generated with the help of
market research, market opportunities, demand of customers and other related.
 Idea Screening: After this, idea is screened based on feasibility and acceptability. In
this, somewhat clear picture of product is developed so that work upon it can be
initiate.
 Concept Development & Testing: It is required to assess the reaction of customers on
the idea that been developed. It helps in developing product more specifically so that
need of customers can be addressed.
 Business Analysis: After testing the idea, profitability context of the same need to be
review. This aids in identifying whether new product will be profitable for KFC or
not.
 Product Development: In case if new product is approved, then marketing and
technical steps need to be clear out. For this, a prototype is developed at this phase
where exact product is produced.
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 Test Marketing: Based on prototype, test marketing is done in which actual response
is attained from the customers. In this, every aspects of product are assessed and
feedback is considered to make it better.
 Commercialisation: At this phase, marketing strategies and tactics are applied in order
to move towards the phase of launching of product. KFC need to focus on
segmentation, targeting and positioning so that more of customers can be attracted
towards new product.
 Launch: This is the final stage where products are launched in the market. For this,
smooth plan for launching is required so that more attention can be derived through
targeted audiences.
3.5
There are many internal and external factors which influence the marketing planning of
KFC and thus it is necessary to take certain steps to overcome these issues which will help in
the acceptance and proper implementation of market plan (Wong, 2010).
Market planning is contingency task as no one can exactly forecast the future and thus
it is necessary for it to duly analyse the market properly and then make a plan which will help
in the proper execution of market plan (Abubakar, 2014).
KFC must develop its marketing plan taking the availability of substitutes into mind
this is because the customers must be attracted towards the product develop so that it will
increase its sales and it must increase the value of new product of KFC. In addition to it, there
are several other barriers as well in implementing the plan. These are mentioned underneath:
1. Environmental barrier: KFC need to assess the business environment of whole
country prior implementing plan as it can affect to core. There are variations in
political structure, economic aspects, social background, technological grounds and
other related.
2. Cultural barrier: KFC is directly affected by cultural differences as it offers varied
dishes of chicken. However, company needs to mould its products so that it can meet
with the demand of varied customers.
3. Behavioural behaviour: There are differences in the behaviour of individual and it can
affect the marketing activity. Marketing team with variation of behaviour among
members leads to poor implementation of plan.
4. Resources: Another key concern for implementing plan by KFC is to have right set of
resources. Hence, same need to be arranged by cited company so that success can be
attained.
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4.1
There are always some or the other ethical issues involved in activities of KFC and
they may or may not be against law. These issues are concerned with various marketing
aspects such as advertising, distribution, media promotion, dividends etc. Ethical business
consideration of KFC requires firm to keep away from those activities that are illegal and
harm customers’ sentiments. It is the duty of firm to ensure true claims made by its
advertisements and that they are not false and misleading (Market planning, 2014). A study
shown by Adweek Media poll revealing responses of customers towards honesty and loyalty
of firms within their advertisements is shown as under:
Figure 5: Honesty in Advertising
(Source: (Abubakar, 2014)
4.2
The famous example of ethical issue is related to Nike. The news was published in one
of the very reputed newspaper stating that Nike was using child labour in its factories. The
company moved ahead with the slogan “just do it”. It created havoc in the industry that Nike
is not going ethical but the organisation still moved on. At that time the brand ambassador of
Nike was Tiger Woods (Natalie, 2012). Nike faced many issues and challenges but moved
ahead strong and ethically.
Another issue on ethics was raised on the company that it was not paying proper wages
to its employees. These consecutive issues related to ethics could not create less importance
of this brand among the consumers but somewhere it was affecting organisational progress.
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