Marketing Reflective Journal
Reflective Journal 1: Reflect on KFC’s marketing mix in relation to its pricing strategy
As a global player, KFC applies a marketing mix of standardization and adaptation when it comes to placing its products on foreign markets (Zhou & Zhang, 2012, p. 8). Regarding the price component of the marketing mix, KFC pursues a skimming pricing strategy, which means that the company is entering the new markets by targeting the middle to upper class consumers introducing high prices, and gradually decreasing them, targeting the middle to lower class consumers, pursuing like this a double penetration on the market, both in the upper, as well as in the lower side (Ambler, Witzel & Xi, 2000, p. 171). In establishing its pricing strategy, companies should take into consideration the competition on various levels:
- the existent competition;
- the newcomers;
- the substitute products (Porter, 1980, p. 6).
In relation to these factors, KFC is pursuing the main selling point strategy (“KFC’s Marketing Mix”, n.d.). This consists in the fact that KFC is a globally renowned brand, highly appreciated for its crispy chicken receipts and therefore the customers pay for the brand, when they choose KFC over similar fast food products. These aspects should not underestimate, however, another competitive force, defined by Porter (1980, p. 6) as the customers’ bargaining power. Nevertheless, as Chu (2003, p. 2) shows, in the case of KFC, considering its fast food market profile, the bargaining power of the customers is relatively low, because although their number is numerous, separately their individual influence upon the company’s prices is low. Moderate low is also considerate the suppliers’ threat, because a company as KFC has the potential of operating its own farm, assuring its raw materials and to develop its own technologies (Porter, 1980, p. 6; Chu, 2003, p. 2).
Consuming KFC products in various countries where I travelled as a tourist, I observed that the company practices price standardization strategy, which implies that prices are the same, or very similar from country to country.
References
Ambler, T, Witzel, M & Xi, C, 2000. Doing business in China, Routledge, New York.
Chu, F 2003. Case analysis: Kentucky Fried Chicken and the global fast – food, viewed 24 July, <http://www.frank-clifford.com/Researches_files/KFC.pdf>.
KFC’s marketing mix, n.d., viewed 24 July 2013, <http://www.scribd.com/doc/24747285/kfc-four-ps>.
Porter, M, E 1980, Competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors, The Free Press, New York.
Zhou, L & Zhang, Q, 2012, Cultural adaptation pattern analysis of McDonald’s and KFC in the Chinese market, Uppsala University, Uppsala.
Reflective Journal Entry 2 – Job Description for a Marketing Manager for a medium sized organization
A Marketing Manager position implies both creative and organizational skills, both leadership and executive attributes (Lamb et al., 2010, p. 26). Companies around the world have various job description for their in – house Marketing Manager positions, depending on their activity domain or on the adopted business model and organizational values (McDavid, 2009, p. 100), but regardless of their job descriptions, through their coordination and motivational activity, the Marketing Managers contribute to meeting the companies’ organizational objectives (Ciletti, 2010, p. 59). At IFI, a medium sized European Fund Consultancy agency, the Marketing Manager’s attributes are varied and they are meant to reach the organizational goals. As a former employee of this company, these were the main responsibilities of the Marketing Manager at IFI:
- Assume the overall responsibility of the marketing activities for reaching the organizational goals, pursuing and promoting the company’s mission and its values;
- Actively pursuing the company’s positioning as an experienced and reputed business partner;
- Coordinate PR activity, by supervising the press releases and updating the corporate visual identity materials;
- Provide permanent evaluations, updates and upgrades for the company’s website, keeping pace with the technological breakthroughs;
- Pro – actively identifying new business opportunities and proposing strategies for establishing new partnerships (Strogoff Consulting, 2011);
- Identify innovative marketing strategies for increasing the company’s visibility in the industry, utilizing emerging technologies and social platforms;
- Creating marketing plans, advertising, trade shows, promoting and coordinating marketing activities;
- Periodically evaluating the market through developing market researches, for identifying the customers’ requirements in relation to what industry could offer;
- Maintaining close relationship with the company’s customers, as well as with the advertising suppliers (Prushan, 1997, p. 196);
- Create processes and procedures for coordinating the marketing team’s activity, establishing objectives, milestones, deadlines, as well as teambuilding activities to increase the team members’ efficiency (Judge, 2007, p. 22);
References
Ciletti, D, 2010, SE marketing yourself, South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason.
Echaore – McDavid, S 2007, Career opportunities in law and the legal industry, 2nd edn., Infobase Publishinh, New York.
Kotler, P, 2002, Marketing management millennium edition, 10th edn., Pearson Custom Publishing, Boston.
Lamb, C, W, Hair, Jr., J, F, McDaniel, C, Kapoor, H, Klaise, H & Appleby, R 2010, MKTG, Nelson Education, Ontario.
Prushan, V, H, 1997, No-nonsense marketing: 101 practical ways to wing and keep customers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
Strogoff Consulting, 2011. Director of marketing – job description, viewed 24 July 2013 <http://strogoffconsulting.com/recruitment/marketingdirector.pdf>.
