Marketing form an essential part of all business ventures. The Kentucky Fried Chicken is one such commercial undertaking that fulfils society needs through merchandizing fast foods and side dishes. Their delicacies attract the milieu and numerous persons outside Australia.
n an industrial setting, a quality SWOT analysis is advisable (Segal-Horn, & Faulkner, pg. 28). The strengths and weaknesses are internal to the organization while the opportunities and strengths are outside forces from the company’s control. In discussing these elements, the paper will focus on the micro-environmental and macro-environmental marketing factors that impact on an organization. KFC has been on the public limelight for both affirmative and negative concerns.
All these are central to their ability to capitalize on a strong corporate image as stipulated by a careful assessment on marketing techniques. Micro-environmental factors symbolize issues pertinent to the company. They directly impact on KFC from a personal perspective. It could be stakeholder response, customer satisfaction, employee grievances, or competition. These are issues that can easily be handled by the company without help from consultants.
Macro- environmental factors on the other hand, create as an enormous challenge to the company because they are bigger issues beyond interior control. They include demographics, technology, social factors, and legislative issues among others. Consequently, they probably affect the company over the long term. Collective effort in handling the two forces ensures a company’s ability to maintain an enviable customer base.
Managers pre-eminently address such concerns through a series of situation analyses that correlates the two scenarios whilst at the same time seeks to find long lasting remedies. An environmental scan aids in attending to issues effectively in order to avoid crises in the future (Groucutt, et al. pg.43).
KFC influence on microenvironment factors within Australia
All competitive markets are volatile and prone to change. KFC thus requires strategy transformation and plan update depending on the revolution exhibited in the market. Issues occurring within this business entity require internal attention as such; KFC can influence its internal activities through multiple means including the incorporation of the techniques discussed.
Customers
They represent KFC’s image and they can be controlled by it. Customer attraction, access and retention become the full responsibility of the service provider. For KFC in Australia, home deliveries will maximize the customer base. Alternatively, self-service measures will work well for them. This is so because customers like choosing what they want to eat in their preferred portions. Secondly, it creates enough time to serve everyone. KFC should implement a customer relations desk through which their complaints can be redressed efficiently.
Shareholders
Shareholders represent the second most important asset of a business entity. They should be treated with uttermost respect to prevent them from defecting from the company (Carroll, pg.7). When this occurs, the share value reduces and it daunts the company image. KFC should inform them of any changes in management and they should maintain consistency in communication in order to make the stakeholders feel Important.
Suppliers
A good relationship with suppliers means a quality feedback from the consumers. When the suppliers of various fast foods receive good treatment from KFC they most likely will reciprocate with goodwill. Suppliers ensure that no food poisoning cases occur and that quality meals reach the public through KFC.
Employees
Employees form an imperative part of the firm. For KFC to succeed in a competitive market, it should realize that employee-handling techniques reflect through service delivery. As such, the employees must receive salaries in good time. They should make a decent living out of the wages. They must be able to afford necessities. This is to ensure that psychological factors do not cause them to treat customers unfairly.
Competition
Australia poses a competitive environment especially when fast food joints come into the picture. World known McDonald’s, Chicken inn and Vissalis reside in Australia. They offer almost same food quality. To ensure success, KFC must develop a strategy to gain the competitive advantage.
Essentially, they should maximize on excellent customer care, increase food varieties, maintain good relations with the media and work on an eminent corporate image. Additional, Sanders must invest on franchising in marginalized sections of the globe like Latin America and Africa since they also pose as superior market destinations (Havaldar, & Havaldar, pg. 29).
Media
The media poses a vital part of a marketing strategy. KFC must take special concern when media issues arise. They should use media for positive publicity and avoid contact with the media during scandals. So far, for KFC in Australia the media has been of tremendous help especially for advertising. The internal memos, press releases and conferences also act as the best forum for publicity and creation of awareness.
Macro-environmental trends
Macro-environmental factors require exceptional consideration since most of them impact negatively on the firm. The worst part of this is that their impacts last for a long time and often call for financial rejuvenation and image restoration efforts. Macro-environmental factors (Kirst-Ashman, pg.100) revolve around the treats and opportunities of the business empire.
The purpose of the assignment is to capitalize on the opportunities while reducing the threats. KFC’s location at Guilford was based on a strategic plan in the 18th century. Changes within the society result in a complete transformation in how things occur. Two centuries down the line, KFC faces multiple threats
Social
Various environmental front groups accuse KFC of ecological degradation (Carroll, pg.9). They claim the rain forests face extinction based on the amount of wrapping material used cover their products.
The paper that serves this purpose is manufactured from the same forest trees and thus KFC is in the verge of a sue trail by environmentalists. Secondly, the foods contain a large portion of oil, which poses as an enormous risk to health, and weight related complications. Finally, the vegans also threaten to sue KFC because they do not protect animals.
Economic
Investing in franchising (Segal-Horn, & Faulkner, pg. 19) within and outside Australia is a huge task requiring excellent skills and financial empowerment. KFC might face collapse if they fail to formulate a proper monetary plan to aid in future planning. Additionally, KFC will require enough money for marketing and settling up a crisis control unit in order to deviate from crisis situations. Without such a plan then they will likely fall victim of numerous circumstances.
Political
Issues revolving around disputes, publicity, law, and controversies encompass political environment. A case of a teenage girl suffering effects of food poisoning from KFC products badly destroys the firm’s image. The Sydney incident really took a toll on KFC making it spend over eight million in compensation and huge sums of money in image restoration activities.
An accusation of racial stereotype in Australia also leaves this company struggling to win consumer goodwill. All these events plus others not highlighted that are politically instigated, pause a major threat to the firm’s success.
Response to the macro-environmental trends
The conditions earlier mentioned occur from time to time. Responding to them needs an individual to be in control especially when the media are involved. This is because they always have a way of blowing things out of proportion. To avoid future problems, KFC should invest in regular advertisements. This aids them to remain relevant within a changing environment.
They should not change their logo frequently in order to create consistency and to avoid consumer apathy and confusion. Secondly, consumer lobby groups help in brand positioning products so that when legislative issues arise, they come out strongly to defend their cause (Kirst-Ashman, pg .89).
The most important aspect of future reaction lies within a relevant Public Relation team and a crisis management unit. These two will always help KFC find a good solution to problems while at the same time control media coverage. Finally, KFC needs a superior company attorney who will handle all the corporate and legal matters. When they face jurisdiction, then the attorney advices them on the right steps to take.
In conclusion, KFC like many other companies dealing in fast foods, face many challenges both internal and external. A quality strategic plan aids in giving them a scope and direction over the long-term and essentially offers them a rejoinder in times of need. The strategy should also be review every three months to improve it based on the changes within the two environments (Groucutt, et al. pg.54).
References
Carroll, A 2009, Business & Society: Ethics & Stakeholder Management, South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, OH.
Groucutt, J, Forsyth, P & Leadley, P 2004, Marketing: Essential Principles, New Realities, Kogan Page, London.
Havaldar, K & Havaldar, K 2010, Business Marketing Text and Cases, Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Ltd, New Delhi.
Kirst-Ashman, K 2011, Human Behavior in the Macro Social Environment: An Empowerment Approach to Understanding Communities, Organizations, and Groups, Brooks/Cole, Australia.
Segal-Horn, S & Faulkner, D 2008, International Strategy, Thomson Learning, London.