The Internationalization of KFC

After the fast-food industry was thriving in Asia and especially in China in recent years, Latin America is considered the future growth market for American restaurant franchises (cf. Bloomberg 2012). In China, KFC already encountered a stunning demand, dominating the market by far before McDonalds (cf. Mellor 2011). However, in 2012 KFC was represented by only 577 restaurants in 36 countries of the Caribbean and Latin American area (cf. CARIBLA 2012). As a consequence one can see that there is still a lot of internationalization potential for the Company in the future.
In order to be able to discuss KFC’s operations in the global market place, this paper will first give an overview of common strategic marketing concepts and management theories, before critically analyzing KFC’s international strategic approach to the global market place. Moreover, it will take a look at how -and if- KFC is able to manage the tension between globalization and localization, giving recommendations for the future development of the firm. In doing so, a critical evaluation of the Company’s pursued internationalization strategy in the past as well as the illustration of possible market entry strategies for KFC is required.