Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

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Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded in 1952 by Colonel Harland Sanders and is currently headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky under Yum! Brands, Inc. (“About KFC,” 2014). KFC has since grown to be a global company with over 37,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries around the world (“About KFC,” 2014). I chose to research KFC because I noticed vast differences in KFC’s presentation and reception in America versus its reception in Asia. While there are different marketing strategies for various countries, the main differences in perceptions of KFC are the ways local factors influence the reception of KFC. KFC is received in a variety of ways in different geographical areas due to cultural variation in those places, despite the implementation of different marketing strategies.
KFC’s establishment as a franchising company enabled rapid growth and globalization. In 1952, Colonel Sanders started to seek out prospective franchisees about his “Original Recipe” for Kentucky fried chicken, and by 1963 there were over 300 franchises with overall profits of $500 million (Krug, 2001, p. 420). Kentucky Fried Chicken also systemically hired old workers through their “The Colonel’s Tradition” Program which offered older workers part-time managerial positions with various fringe benefits and a reasonable salary (DeMicco and Reid, 1988, p. 57). In 1986, KFC was sold to PepsiCo which drastically changed KFC’s relaxed culture due to the Colonel’s desire to provide for his employees to a culture based on competition and performance (Krug, 2001, p. 421-422). By 1998, KFC had saturated the American market and started to focus on international expansion with 50% of its restaurants located abroad (Krug, 2001, p. 426-428). By allowing franchisees to ow...

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