Leadership Strategy Of KFC

Leadership Strategy Of KFC KFC was first introduced by Colonel Sanders. His first franchise was in year 1952. Under new management, the first sale was for $2 Million. In 1980, there were more profit and expansion of KFC was carried out. Within 50 years, the profit went up to $ 7 Billion. In 1952, Col. Sanders started franchising his recipe door to door financed by his $105.00. Col Sanders had more than 600 franchised outlets in the US and Canada by year 1964. He sold his interest in his company for $2 million to a group of investors. In 1966, KFC went public. KFC was listed on the NYSE in 1969. Current Market Cap value on the NYSE is 7.2 Billion. A competitive marketing strategy in the international market focused on the Latin American countries is the reason why KFC can maintain a market leadership in the global fast-food industry. Key to continued growth was to find, motivate, and retain hard-working and entrepreneurial managers and franchisees around the globe .In addition to short term profits, store managers were also responsible for building local public relations, maintaining employee morale, developing customer good-will, keeping tab on the competing chains and creating a legacy of special chicken cooking recipe. KFC had a refocused international strategy to grow its company and franchise restaurant base all over the world. Their Competitive marketing strategy: was to developed three types of chicken, original recipe (pressure cooked) ,extra crispy (fried)and also tender roast (roasted) .Sweeping changes into the culture was initiated by the new management- this brings about demoralization to old KFC employees and even franchisees. Several restructurings led to layoffs throughout KFC, replacement of KFC managers with PepsiCo managers .Conflicts between KFC and PepsiCo cultures- this is manifested with PepsiCos stronger emphasis on performance rather than loyalty expressed by Col. Sanders to KFC employees over the years. According to SWOT ANALYSIS, the weaknesses of KFC are as follows.KFC finds difficulty in entering the German market (culture incompatibility) .KFC sales stagnated. There was widespread discontent among the franchisees, some of whom felt the new owners did not understand the chicken business and were not providing leadership expected from a franchisor. Company stores floundered and become underperforming the franchised operations, further convincing franchisees that the company did not know its own business. (KFC HQ acquired them to company-owned) .Overseas expansion with the rapid economic growth and trend toward two-income families that had fuelled the growth of fast-food industry in the 1950s and 1960s were appearing in the late 1960s in the other country.  [1]   Primary objective is to take advantage of the potential growth in other countries, to establish a strong position and to develop their image. Key Success Factors are ever continuing cost savings through RD, innovations and use of new technology to work efficiently. These success techniques will lower costs and increase profits in the industry. KFC uses an integrated low cost/differentiation leadership, since it can count on its brand name and original taste and recipes to be unique while at the same time compete on price using the benefits of cost savings from economies of scale. Based on the analysis, we can conclude that they should start by solving their internal issues such as management and restaurant menu before thinking about expanding. They should work on the management issues to create a good atmosphere where employees are happy to work in. I certainly do not believe that by treating employees poorly, a company can be successful. They also need to make sure that their restaurants offer a diversified menu, provide their customers with quality food, excellent service and restaurant cleanliness. KFC should always listen to their customers and try to follow the new trends on the market in order to fully satisfy their customers. Otherwise, competitors will satisfy them and will eventually outperform you as Boston did with its grilled chicken. Even though, KFC seems to have an emotional attachment to their original recipe that made their success, they definitely need to move on and develop new products that customers want in order to increase their financial performance and value. We have seen that Boston and Popeyes are stealing customers away from KFC because they understood what customers wanted and started offering healthier items. KFC should certainly do the same and enhance their menu.  [2]   On the other hand, it is time to talk about another local business success story and how can we talk about successful organizations without talking about Al-Baik. It is next to impossible that you are living in Jeddah or ever visited it without being to Al-Baik. The local fast food chain has been around since 1974. After 35 years by now, the restaurant is mainly operating in Jeddah with minimum number of branches in Makkah, Madinah, Yanbu and Taif. Arguably, Al-Baik possesses the highest market share and customer loyalty amongst its competitors especially in Jeddah; noting that when I say competitors, I mean international multibillion brands like McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut etc. For those of you familiar with the debate surrounding Porters Generic strategies, Al-Baik is a living proof that you could follow a strategy that combines both differentiation and cost leadership. Although there are a lot of restaurants serving fried chicken, the quality and taste of Al-Baik are certainly unique and its prices are way below the average. Al-Baik has very strong brand equity whether we are measuring it by evaluating the restaurants products or by studying its brand impact on customers. Al-Baik brand communicates strong messages of quality, fast service, trust, affordability, convenience, and social responsibility. Its management has been very smart emphasizing these values into the brand using different methods of advertisements, public relations, or even by spreading stories about the brand. The entrepreneurial story of its founder and how he struggled to raise his community awareness about eating outside the home which was strange back then and how he has been working alone in the restaurant preparing the food, serving it, and then cleaning the small shop are all meant to build some kind of connection with its customers. Also, some suspense and mystery would not hurt either; the secret chicken formula that is only known by few individuals is one of the most preferred stories amongst such food and beverages organizat ions. Whether we are talking about fast service, servicescape design, or cleanness of the restaurants environment; Al-Baik is providing exemplary services in all of that. Even more, Al-Baik is one of the few restaurants that introduced items to the menu based solely on customers suggestions. Al-Baik marketers are masters in choosing locations for their restaurants. One has never seen a branch of Al-Baik without it being packed with customers. The huge expansions they carried out in Jeddah have been built on population distribution analysis. That is why wherever you live in Jeddah now; there must be Al-Baik branch within your easy reach. Al-Baik has always been known for its socially related campaigns. They have a regular presence in Hajj seasons providing free meals to pilgrims and they are periodically campaigning for environmentally related causes like banning smoking in their restaurants or preserving the city clean image. Furthermore, their active participation in the aftermath of Jeddah floods by providing free meals to those devastated by the catastrophe is one shiny example of how organizations could be interacting with its society. Nevertheless, staying on the top is not an easy job. Al-Baik management has to deal with many issues to facilitate its growth. One of these important issues is on the mind of every fan who happen to live outside Jeddah; how much should they expand? Should they consider opening new branches in other cities at the Kingdom? What about being multinational or even global? Moreover, how Al-Baik should respond to the growing concerns raised by healthy and organic foods advocates. And most importantly, how its managers are going to maintain its competitive advantages and how are they going to nurture its sustainability strategy.  [3]   As conclusion, the best selling food in my view is KFC. People nowadays has less time to eat since they are busy working. Therefore, they would choose fast food restaurants as their choice. Thus, the managers of these restaurants need o ensure on cost leadership and make sure they can get the best way to keep the price reduced. This is a marketing strategy in a way to attract customers. More customers make the business more powerful and expand fast. (1505 WORDS)

Finance Minicase Essay

MINI CASE For your job as the business reporter for a local newspaper, you are asked to put together a series of articles on multinational finance and the international currency markets for your readers. Much recent local press coverage has been given to losses in the foreign exchange markets by JGAR, a local firm that is the subsidiary of Daedlufetarg, a large German manufacturing firm. Your editor would like you to address several specific questions dealing with multinational finance. Prepare a response to the following memorandum from your editor: To: Business Reporter From: Perry White, Editor, Daily Planet Re: Upcoming Series on Multinational Finance In your upcoming series on multinational finance, I would like to make sure you cover several specific points. Before you begin this assignment, I want to make sure we are all reading from the same script because accuracy has always been the cornerstone of the Daily Planet. I’d like a response to the following questions before we proceed: a. What new problems and factors are encountered in international, as opposed to domestic, financial management? When getting into international finance some problems and factors are added to the ones experienced within domestic finance. These problems come from exchange rate, cross border barriers and financing opportunities in the global market but they do not get rid of the typical Business and Financial Risks. Business Risks can be identified as the ones that come out with competition from other companies, reduction in sales or any other factor that may affect the activities of the MNC, and Financial Risk is related with the firm’s financial structure. The international trade and investment of a MNC requires the handling of foreign currencies which is sometimes translated as an Exchange Rate risk due to the volatility of the exchange rate. Added to this exchange risk, Multinational Companies deals with Political Risks due to the changing political systems of different nations among their legal resolutions, taxation procedures of movements in policies. b. What does the term arbitrage profit mean? Arbitrage profit means riskless profit, this is possible thanks to arbitrageurs who are individuals involved in the process of buying and selling in more than one country to achieve this riskless profit. c. What can a firm do to reduce exchange risk? In order for a firm to reduce its exchange risk some firms use forward-market and money-market hedges, nonetheless when these tools are not available MNC apply leading and lagging strategies which are practiced to defer income and thereby delay paying taxes and to create unhedged positions in order to speculate; cash managers may delay paying out currencies they expect to appreciate and accelerate paying out currencies they expect to depreciate. d. What are the differences among a forward contract, a futures contract, and options? ââ€" ª Forward contracts are agreements between two parties where the buyer agrees to purchase an asset (the foreign currency) and the seller agrees to sell the asset at a specific date at a price agreed upon now. ââ€" ª Futures contracts are similar but are standardized and traded on an organized exchange. ââ€" ª Options offer the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset (the foreign currency) at a fixed price up to or on a specific date. Use the following data in your responses to the remaining questions: Selling Quotes for Foreign Currencies in New York |COUNTRY-CURRENCY |CONTRACT |S/FOREIGN | |Canada-dollar |Spot |.8450 | | |30-day |.8415 | | |90-day |.8390 | |Japan-yen |Spot |.004700 | | |30-day |.004750 | | |90-day |.004820 | |Switzerland-franc |Spot |.5150 | | |30-day |.5182 | | |90-day |.5328 | e. An American business needs to pay (a) 15,000 Canadian dollars, (b) 1.5 million yen, and (c) 55,000 Swiss francs to businesses abroad. What are the dollar payments to the respective countries? We will use spot rates for calculations since time of payment is not specified. Canadian-dollar 15,000 = $12,675 USD = 15000 x0.845 Japan-yen 1,500,000 = $7,050 USD = 1500000 x0.0047 Swiss francs 55,000 = $28,325 USD = 55000 x0.515 f. An American business pays $20,000, $5,000, and $15,000 to suppliers in, respectively, Japan, Switzerland, and Canada. How much, in local currencies, do the suppliers receive? Japan = $20,000/0.0047 = $4,255,319 Yen Switzerland= $5,000/0.515 = $9,709 Swiss francs Canada= $15,000 /0.845 = $17,751 Canadian dollars g. Compute the indirect quote for the spot and forward Canadian dollar contract. The indirect quote indicates the number of units of a foreign currency that can be bought for one unit of the home currency. Indirect quote = foreign currency / home currency |Contract |S/ foreign | |Spot |.8450 | |30 days |.8415 | |90 days |.8390 | |Indirect quote |[pic] |$ | |Spot |[pic] = |1.1834 | |Forward | | | |30 days |[pic] = |1.1883 | |90 days |[pic]= |1.1918 | h. You own $10,000. The dollar rate in Tokyo is 216.6752. The yen rate in New York is given in the preceding table. Are arbitrage profits possible? Set up an arbitrage scheme with your capital. What is the gain (loss) in dollars? Data ââ€" ª $10,000 dollars ââ€" ª Dollar rate in Tokyo is $216.6752 yen per dollar ââ€" ª Yen rate in New York according to table: 1 yen /0.004700 dollar ââ€" ª Actual Yen rate in Tokyo: 1 yen/ 0.004615 dollar Arbitrage profits will be possible because the indirect rates are out of line (they are different). This is possible assuming no transaction cost. $10,000 dollars X 216.6752 = 2,166,752 Arbitrage scheme |Amount of money in yens = $2,166,752 | | |Table rate |Actual Rate | |0.004700 |0.004615 | |Amount dollars= $10,183.7344 |Amount dollars= $10,000 | |Difference= $183.7344 |Difference= $0.00 | (2,166,752 yen ) X (0.004700) = $10,183.7344 dollars (2,166,752 yen) X (0.004615) = $10,000.00 dollars Profit gain= $10,183.7344 dollars – $10,000.00 dollars= 183.7344 Profit gain= $ 183.7344 dollars i. Compute the Canadian dollar/yen spot rate from the data in the preceding table. Canadian Dollar/ U.S. Dollar Rate: 1 / .8450 = 1.1834 Yen/ U.S. Dollar Rate: 1 / .004700= 179.78 As we can see 1.1834 Canadian Dollar is equal to 1 American Dollar; meanwhile 212.76 Yen is the same that 1 American Dollar, it means that for each 212.76 Yen you have 1 American Dollar.

Compare and contrast the education system in Saudi Arabia with UK Essay

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) holds the principle that the best investment a nation can make is in its human resources. On the basis of this belief, the Kingdom has made tremendous efforts to devote all possible resources to the development and improvement of its educational system. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the right of education is guaranteed to everyone.in fact, the state encourages people to enroll in any part of the education system by providing financial aid and rewards to students. The change that has happened in the past few years have occurred up very much recently. The population in KSA has increased compared to the past years of my grandfather’s generation. Therefore, the economy of knowledge emphasizes primarily continues human development. The changes are effectively obvious through these years in KSA, even though compared with other countries for example, USA. Life style and other human needs have changed over time. Education of the past few years has c hanged because of the development my country is making. In addition, my grandfather’s stories were about how the class was, and how the education has changed very much since they were young until they saw the changed now. For example, in the past, the schools have one building and few classes all over the city, however the schools now have many buildings that are divided into elementary school, intermediate school, and secondary school building. In the classes there were few students and no chairs to focus. The development needs motivation from an individual and government. The Education system in the past was very difficult to understand, and the teachers got the basic information. Today the teaching is much easier, and the human mind were replaced with the new technologies we live on today. Statistically, the number of students has increased in KSA in the past 10 years by approximately 56 percent, especially for those who study Masters and PhDs degree

Definition and Examples of Digraphs in English

Definition and Examples of Digraphs in English A digraph in the English language is a group of two successive letters ​that represents a single sound or phoneme. Common vowel digraphs include ai (rain), ay (day), ea (teach), ea (bread), ea (break), ee (free), ei (eight), ey (key), ie (piece), oa (road), oo (book), oo (room), ow (slow), and ue (true). Common consonant digraphs include ch (church), ch (school), ng (king), ph (phone), sh (shoe), th (then), th (think), and wh (wheel). Importance Diagraphs are considered nearly equal to the letters of the standard alphabet in importance to learning to read and write in English. In Linguistic Tips for Latino Learners and Teachers of English, E.Y. Odisho, writes: [F]rom the pedagogical and instructional perspective, the digraphs should be given utmost attention in the teaching of almost all language skills of English because of the proportionally large number of digraphs in relation to the 26 letters; they are approximately one-fourth of the core letters. Other experts have indicated the difficulty that learning digraphs presents to English language learners. For example, according to Roberta Heembrock in Why Kids Cant Spell, the digraph ch can be pronounced at least four different ways: k (character), sh (chute), kw (choir), and ch (chain). Complicated System Some sounds can be represented only by digraphs. In Childrens Reading and Spelling, T. Nunes and P. Bryant offer examples such as sh (shoot), ay (say), and ai (sail). Still other sounds can be represented in some words by single letters and in others by digraphs, such as fan and phantom, which begin with the same phoneme but are written as one letter in the first word and as two letters in the second. This is a complicated system and probably, to young children at least, it may seem a capricious and unpredictable one as well, Nunes and Bryant write. Spelling Confusion Spelling words that incorporate digraphs is as tricky as reading them and determining the sounds that they create. For example, the six letters of the six-phoneme word strict are represented by six digraph units: strict. On the other hand, the six letters of the three-phoneme word wreath are represented by just three digraph units: wreath, according to Brenda Rapp and Simon Fischer-Baum in Representation of Orthographic Knowledge.  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹ The Past Tense ​Spellings A particular difficulty for children is learning to spell words that deviate from what they have come to expect in their learning process. This is often the case, according to Rebecca Treiman and Brett Kessler in How Children Learn to Write Words, with the past tense. As an example, they note that the past tense of mess (messed) sounds like mest and that of call (called) sounds like cald, each of which is still one syllable, while the past tense of hunt, which adds the ed sound to make hunted, has two syllables. Children are used to the latter pattern and find the former one odd.

Sculptures of the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks essays

Sculptures of the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks essays The Egyptians and the Greeks share some characteristics within their artwork. One area that was shared by the Egyptians and the Greeks was the fact that they both used high authorities such as kings and gods for their sculptures. The Egyptians mainly used their kings such as King Menkuare and his Queen from Giza. The Greeks mainly used their goods such as Hermes and the Infant Dionysos. Although they used high authority figures for their sculptures they used different techniques to make these sculptures. The Egyptians often used married couples for their sculptures. However, they use to portray the women as being very beneath the men. They used to have the women kneeling beside the king. Now over the years, they have started to portray the women as a little more equal of how the Egyptians started to show how the women are equal to the men in the sculpture King Menkaure and his Queen Khamerernebty. Even though the Queen is standing beside the King, you are still able to see that the King still has a higher authority over the Queen. You can tell this because the King is standing as if he is at attention and he has his left foot extended forward to show that he is still in power. However, the Queen also has her left foot extended, but it is not as far as the King's. Furthermore, the King's arms and hands are by his side with his fist clenched, while the Queens' arms are bent and placed with one hand around him and the other touching his arm. The Egyptians wanted to portray th e women as being a little more equal to the men but still wanted to prove that the men still had a higher authority. The Greeks also used high authorities such as their gods to make their sculptures. The Greeks had plenty of marble to use for the making of the sculptures, however; they did not like the fact that the marble was so cold and plain. To cover up the cold and plain marble the Greeks just painted over them. One of the Greeks most famous piec...

Mineral and Rocks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mineral and Rocks - Essay Example There is one universal physical property which is common in all the minerals i.e. all the minerals exist in solid form in nature and cannot be in the form of liquids. Moreover minerals have come into existence by the natural activities and the changes which took place during the evolution of the planet earth and human activities have no involvement in the creation of minerals, â€Å"Earth Science: A Scientific History of the Solid Earth†, Michael Allaby (2009). Chemical formulas depict the chemical composition of the chemical compounds and minerals are also classified as chemical compounds. The structure of most of the minerals falls under the category of the crystalline structured solids. The elements in minerals are arranged as crystals. According to â€Å"Earth Science: A Scientific History of the Solid Earth†, Michael Allaby (2009), almost all of the minerals are inorganic in nature. One of the examples of minerals is common salt (sodium chloride). Common salt has a ll the characteristics which have been identified for a mineral. Being solid, composed of chemical compounds, it is inorganic. Moreover common salt is created as a result of natural phenomena and its structure is crystallized. The chemical association of silicon and oxygen yields silicate minerals. These silicate minerals are then added on by other elements which give particular properties to the silicates. According to the elements and crystals which join the silicate minerals are iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), sodium (Na), and calcium (Ca). The structure of silicate minerals is the basis of their classification in different groups. The different silicate groups include Micas, Quartz, Amphibole group, Olivine group and Pyroxene group. Micas and Quartz contain Biotite and Muscovite groups. Moreover Feldspars which make half of the Earth crust are also silicate minerals and are further classified as Potassium Feldspar and Plagioclase. The mineral rocks have been classified into three basic groups on the basis of their origin; these groups are sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks, and metamorphic rocks. Certain natural processes resulted in the formation of these rocks. Magma is a molten material which is present deep inside the Earth and is molten because of the high temperatures inside the Earth. Magma is the source of formation of the igneous rocks which are formed as a result to freezing and thawing of the Magma. The molten material is pushed upward to the ground and is cooled by the natural processes. After cooling the resultant solid material is known as igneous rocks. The second type of rocks is the sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks as the name signifies are layered rocks with different layers of materials lying closely over each other resulting into a rock solid material known as sedimentary rocks. The weathering processes which includes erosion deposited various minerals from one place to other, these layers of minerals resulted into the forma tion of sedimentary rocks. When the same sedimentary rocks and igneous rocks are subjected to conditions of high temperature and pressure their structure changes somewhat and yield another category of rocks which is known as metamorphic rocks â€Å"Petrology: Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary†, Harvey Blatt, Robert Tracy, Edward Owens (2006). The three categories of the mineral rocks h

Racism in the NHS against BME nurses Research Paper

Racism in the NHS against BME nurses - Research Paper Example urses not born within the UK but the lack of historical awareness has led to the failure to address the discrimination this population faces (Snow & Jones 1). By 1949, nurses were being recruited from the Caribbean to fill the void created by WWII. The BME’s working lives have been structured by discrimination that includes racism and public and institutionalised stereotyping that has largely affected their relations with their managers and colleagues and resulted in their exclusion in training programmes and promotions yet they are equally qualified as their White counterparts (Dhaliwal & McKay 59). Historically, nurses from the BME group have not been offered equal opportunities as White nurses to enhance their individual leadership skills and be able to define their long-term career objectives. This has kept their numbers in senior posts at a questionable minimum. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has also shown that BME nurses have typically been working longer to achieve higher grades such as senior ward sister and also go through more harassment and bullying than White nurses. BME nurses are subjected to systematic discrimination that includes working hours that entail long working days and complex shift patterns as well as discriminatory pay and grading especially affecting those who have managed to rise within the hierarchy to senior posts essentially making their careers incompatible with their lives (Dhaliwal & McKay 4). Such discrimination has been made possible by the existence of unscrupulous ways of circumventing antidiscrimination Labour Laws. Further, since the discrimination hinders the potential of BME nurses, effective change can be implemented at the societal rather than regulatory level. It is therefore recommended that BME nurses strengthen their own networks and at the same time have confidence that they can be proportionately represented in the industry. As early as 1949, trade unionists made up of White nurses imposed a quota system