KFC in India Case Study

Question 1: Since its entry in to India in1995, KFC has been facing protest by cultural and economic activist and farmers. What are the reasons for these protests and do you think these reasons are justified? Explain.

There are many reasons for the protest KFC has been facing since its entry into India. Firstly, the KFC does not concern about animal rights, the chickens served by KFC are being given hormones, antibiotics and arsenic to fatten them. Secondly, the activists said that junk food like KFC would create many diseases like obesity and heart attack, and that the chicken served by KFC was full of chemicals. Thirdly, foreign fast food chain would deplete India’s livestock, which would affect the agriculture and environment. In addition, KFC would encourage Indian farmers to shift from growing basic crops to animals feed and meat causing the poorer section of society couldn’t afford for the food. Furthermore, the economist also said that fast food joint like KFC would create more trash in the cities.

In my opinion, I agree with the reasons given by the protestors of KFC. This is because KFC could pose threats to Indian people and society. Chicken served by KFC is full of chemicals such as hormones and antibiotics; in addition, the consumption of fast food like KFC could bring many diseases. Unlike tradition food in India, which is more nutritious, resulted in Indian people has relatively low disease. Therefore, I think India is one of the healthy countries and should not be harmed by fast food that can bring many diseases like obesity and cancer. Apart from that, larger part of the societies has relatively low income and would not be able to afford to buy meat and products from KFC, so I believe that if KFC still continue their business in India, they will encourage more farmers to produce more meat instead and this would be a problematic to people who cannot afford to buy meat. In addition to that, the livelihood of more than 70 % of Indian population depend on agriculture, if more fast food business like KFC comes in, more farmers may not be able to sell their crops and more would shift to produce meat. Furthermore, I think producing meat would need some specialized knowledge and initial investment, therefore some farmers may left jobless because they may not be able to sell their crops anymore and do not have basic elements to start producing meat. Moreover, I agree that opening more fast food restaurants like KFC, would create more trash and this could ruin ecological system in India.

Question 2: PETA has been protesting against KFC in India since late 1990s. What are the reasons for PETA’s protest against KFC and how did KFC’s management react to hem. Do you agree with PETA that KFC has been cruel toward the birds and hence it should leave India?

The reasons for PET’s protest against KFC because they said they will not tolerate the cruel multinationals that KFC was extremely cruel to the chickens and provide poor hygiene for the birds at its factories. PETA said that the chickens have very poor welfare, suffering from overcrowded warehouse, pushing each other for food, and injured chicken never received any medication. Furthermore, the KFC’s chickens are slaughtered before they are six weeks old and they have not received any treatment, they use hot blade to cut the beaks with out giving anesthesia. The KFC’s chickens are genetically engineer and overfed to get fatter causing them to suffered from many diseases. Moreover, the young chickens face inhuman conditions by the staff that carelessly grabbed their legs and put them into crates for transportation. In addition, the mode of transportation are not followed the legislative provisions for animal transportation and the birds were shackled upside down at the slaughterhouse.

In response to the protest by PETA, the KFC management announced that KFC was committed to the “well-being and humane treatment of chickens” and that KFC required their supplies to follow the regulations of welfare guidelines developed by YUM. Furthermore, the KFC emphasized that KFC guidelines respected the Indian laws.

I agree that KFC has been cruel toward the animals. This is an ethical issue that KFC should concern and solve the problem this is because animals like chicken also have their right and should be threat more peacefully before they are killed. However, I do not think that this would be a major problem causing KFC to leave India because I believe that KFC in other countries also treat the chickens the same standard as they treat in India. So I think from the PETA’s protest, the protest should give a lesson for the KFC to raise their ethical standard and concern for the chicken’s right in every where they operated in order to solve the problem and continue their business in India and other countries peacefully.

Question 3:What is the importance of ethics in doing business? Do you think in the face of fierce competition, business organizations are justified not to support ethical values at the cost of making profits? Why or why no? Justify your answer giving examples.

I think it is importance to concern about ethical values while doing business. This is because if all shareholders and business process are treated within the right ethics and moral, the companies can create added value and run business peacefully. For examples, if the employees are fairly treated, working within the appropriate working hours, providing the safe working condition and hygienic, the employees may feel concern and motivated by the company ethical standards, result in higher productivity and employees loyalty to the company. In addition, demonstrating the ethical practice can be a good condition for tendering the contact with large customers who need to ensure the integrity of their supply chain.

In my opinion, at the face of fierce competition, business still needs to support the ethical values at the cost of making profit. Profit comes from customers and the customers have ethics. So if the company concern about the ethics along the value chain, the ethical value will deliver to the customers, but if the companies are not, customers may be dissatisfied and stop buying or doing business with the companies result in lower profit. Even though in a competitive world, may firms are seeking to lower their cost in order to lower their price or raise their profit, the companies still need to concern about the ethics. For example, if the toy company wants to lower the cost of production by using the cheaper material that contain some chemicals that harm the kids, the company is said to be unethical and if the customer find out, they will stop buying the product form the company and eventually the company will lose profit. Also, as we can see, an ethical practice can help to create value for the business as well and this can also be a way to differentiate the business itself from the competitors in a competitive world. For example, nowadays, many company promote green business by doing business that do not harm environment, this is one of the way to show their ethic as well as helping them to create value and revenue for the business.