Kentucky Fried Chicken Today Every day, more than 12 million customers are served at KFC restaurants in 109 countries and territories around the world. KFC operates more than 5,200 restaurants in the United States and more than 15,000 units around the world. KFC is world famous for its Original Recipe® fried chicken, made with the same secret blend of 11 herbs and spices Colonel Harland Sanders perfected more than a half-century ago. Customers around the globe also enjoy more than 300 other products -- from Kentucky Grilled Chicken in the United States to a salmon sandwich in Japan. In my paper I will be reviewing KFC in Japan and explaining the following: 1. KFC’s History 5. The Culture 2. Management 6. Economics 3. Legal Practices 7. Geography 4. Political Structures 8. Competition

KFC is a predominant franchise that’s nationwide. KFC is part of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants, with more than 36,000 locations around the world. KFC is ranked #239 on the Fortune 500 List, with revenues in excess of $11 billion in 2008.

KFC’s History Colonel Harland Sanders was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 1952 the Colonel begins actively franchising his chicken business by traveling from town to town and cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and employees. In 1960 the Colonel's hard work on the road begins to pay off and there are 190 KFC franchisees and 400 franchise units in the U.S. and Canada. In 1964 KFC reached all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, Japan, Jamaica, Mexico and the Bahamas. Today KFC Corporation is the largest fast-food chicken operator, developer, and franchiser in the world. KFC, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc. until late 1997, operates over 5,000 units in the United States, approximately 60 percent of which are franchises. Internationally, KFC has more than 3,700 units, of which two-thirds are also franchised. In addition to direct franchising and wholly owned operations, the company participates in joint ventures, and continues investigating alternative venues to gain market share in the increasingly competitive fast-food market. In late 1997 the company expected to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., to be formed from the spin off of PepsiCo's restaurant holdings. Management KFC‘s headquarter is in Louisville Kentucky. At KFC the structure of the corporation start with each element of the business. KFC starts with team members. There are customer service team members and food team members. Customer Service team is responsible for working the service areas and ensuring quality product, service and cleanliness is delivered to all customers at top speed and with a smile! The food team members are responsible for preparing and cooking the irresistible KFC product. The cook must also maintain the cleanliness of the cooking area as the quality of product and speed of preparation. Then there are trainee managers, assistant managers, general managers and area managers. The trainee managers are responsible for assisting the Restaurant General Manager and Assistant Managers in creating an energetic and valuable work environment. Trainee Managers help with day-to-day running of the restaurant, and need to ensure that all operations, customer service, cash handling, marketing, purchasing, human resources, administration and training & development policies are followed (Apte, Karmarkar, Pitbladdo1994). The assistant manager is responsible for assisting the Restaurant General Manager (RGM) in creating an energetic and valuable work environment. Assistant Managers are also responsible for ensuring all Company policies and procedures are followed in relation to operations, customer service, cash handling, marketing, purchasing, human resources, health & safety, administration, training and development (Apte, Karmarkar, Pitbladdo1994). The general manager reports directly to an Area Manager and is accountable for successfully implementing and maintaining all Company policies and procedures in relation to operations, customer service, cash handling, marketing, purchasing, human resources, health & safety, administration, training and development. Area managers are accountable for providing coaching, leadership and operational support to 8-10 KFC Restaurants within a defined Area. Managers for KFC come from all over the world. They are interviewed on the measurement and management of service quality. Initially, KFC Japan's overall strategy was simply to bring its American product to Japan intact, with the same store design, menu and management style as existed in the United States (Apte, Karmarkar, Pitbladdo1994). The Japan country manager had little experience in international operations and hired a Japanese manager from a printing company after six months. The unwillingness of KFC Japan to begin its strategy by examining the market and determining what would (and would not) be acceptable in terms of product at the outset, and the failure to use its joint venture partners in any type of serious senior management capacity, contributed to the poor operating results which the company has seen( Howell, W 2000). Legal Practices
Kentucky Fried Chicken is very keen about ethical standards both within and without the company as asserted by their company representatives. For instance the company is strict about is vendor engagements. Before a supplier can secure a contract with KFC they have to comply with similar ethical standards as KFC. This means that the supplier must not utilize under age labor to producer their commodities; they must pay fair wages and must also avoid placing harmful chemicals in their commodities. (Montgomery, 2003). These concepts have governed the way KFC chooses other business partners too; they include contactors and manufacturers. By doing, this, the company is protecting human rights. (Montgomery, 2003). The company also looks out for the health and safety of their workers. Since KFC is a fast food chain, then its workers are very busy, the company’s representatives affirm that they are always trying to protect their respective employees from detrimental hazards in the workplace. In line with this, KFC always ensures that their employees work for them voluntarily. This means that the company detests forced labor. They also believe in according their employees justice in case of any eventuality. Their disciplinary measures have always been fair and few employees complain about how their administration handles such unusual occurrences. It is a known fact that some employees in the corporate world utilize mental punishment as a way of repressing their employees and keep them subservient. However, this is not the case with KFC as no cases have been reported in the media.
Political Structure Political power is held mainly by the Prime Minister and other elected members of the Diet. Sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people by the constitution. Though his official status is disputed, on diplomatic occasions the emperor tends to behave as the head of state (with widespread public support). Japan's judicial system - drawn from customary law, civil law, and Anglo-American common law - consists of several levels of courts, with the Supreme Court as the final judicial authority. The Japanese constitution, which went into effect on 3 May 1947 includes a bill of rights similar to the United States Bill of Rights, and the Supreme Court has the right of judicial review. Japanese courts use a modified jury system, and there are no administrative courts or claims courts. Because of the judicial system's basis, court decisions are made in accordance with legal statutes. Only Supreme Court decisions have any direct effect on later interpretation of the law. In Japan, the five types of Courts are present–Supreme Court, High Court, District Court, Family Court and Summary Court. Despite an increasingly unpredictable domestic and international environment, policy making conforms to well established postwar patterns. The close collaboration of the ruling party, the elite bureaucracy and important interest groups often make it difficult to tell who exactly is responsible for specific policy decisions. For many years, export promotion was a large issue in Japanese government policy. Government officials recognized that Japan needed to import to grow and develop, and it needed to generate exports to pay for those imports. The current tax rate in Japan is 5%. While tariff rates are subject to regulation and may change depending on who or what organization handles the importation, as a general rule, most imported goods are subject to one or more types of tariffs. The general rate is a basic tariff, while the temporary rate is applicable only for a certain time period in which the general rate does not apply. Products imported from certain developing nations may be subject to preferential rates. These rates are lower than the most-favored-nations tariff rate and any World Trade Organization-mandated rate. Finally, there is a simplified rate for personal belongings which allows individuals to combine customs duty, the consumption tax and other internal fees. Culture The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America. The inhabitants of Japan experienced a long period of relative isolation from the outside world during the Tokugawa shogunate until the arrival of "The Black Ships" and the Meiji period. The Japanese language has always played a significant role in Japanese culture(Kelly & Kelly, 1991. The language is spoken mainly in Japan but also in some Japanese emigrant communities around the world. It is an agglutinative language and the sound inventory of Japanese is relatively small but has a lexically distinct pitch-accent system. Early Japanese is known largely on the basis of its state in the 8th century. Japanese customs are very important, and though they stem from ancient Japanese culture, they are followed to this date, of course with a few adaptations to modern times(Kelly & Kelly, 1991). We've all heard about important social conventions and customs in Japan. However, it is time to take a look at what these conventions are, and how knowing them will effect the perception of Japanese people for you, as an outsider. Though some customs in Japan are regional, the customs mentioned here are generally and widely accepted all over Japan. The language barriers are better now. In Japan there are lots of signs in English or using romanji characters so you can read them. In these modern times technology makes everything easier. Economics The economy of Japan is the third largest in the world after the United States and the People's Republic of China but ahead of Germany at 4th. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country's per capita GDP was at $32,608 or the 23rd highest in 2009. For three decades from 1960, Japan experienced rapid economic growth, which was referred to as the Japanese post-war economic miracle. With average growth rates of 10% in the 1960s, 5% in the 1970s, and 4% in the 1980s, Japan was able to establish and maintain itself as the world's second largest economy since 1968, until supplanted by the People's Republic of of China in 2010( Cragg, W 2002). However, in the second half of the 1980s, rising stock and real estate prices caused the Japanese economy to overheat in what was later to be known as the Japanese asset price bubble. Japan is 34,022.94 per capita. The economic bubble came to an abrupt end as the Tokyo Stock Exchange crashed in 1990-92 and real estate prices peaked in 1991. Growth in Japan throughout the 1990s at 1.5% was slower than growth in other major developed economies, giving use to the term Lost Decade. Total return of 7.9% (including 2% dividend yield) is commendable thanks to: (i) KFC's strong expansion drive in terms of the number of restaurants, locally and regionally; (ii) new market penetration in India, which is expected to boost KFC's revenue growth; (iii) encouraging consumer sentiment outlook underpinned by higher disposable income thanks to tame inflation; and (iv) strong economic outlook for 2010 and 2011 (BIMB Securities 2010 GDP forecast: 6.7%; 2011: 5.7%)( Cragg, W 2002). KFC has a fully integrated business model with operations and market reach spanning the entire country. Its integrated business model includes: (i) poultry processing plant, (ii) feed mill, and (iii) chicken farm. KFC announced last March that it is going to invest about RM10 million in a farm in Sedenak, Johor (Cragg, W 2002).

Geography
Japan consists of several thousands of islands, of which Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku are the four largest. Japan's closest neighbors are Korea, Russia and China. The Sea of Japan separates the Asian continent from the Japanese archipelago. Japan's area is comparable to that of Germany or California. Japan's northernmost islands are located on similar geographical latitude as Milan or Portland, while her southernmost islands are on similar latitude as the Bahamas (Kelly& Kelly,1991). More than 50% of the country is mountainous and covered by forests. Japan is politically structured into 8 regions and 47 prefectures. KFC is in Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya lies on the Pacific coast in the Chuuba region. It is situated at a distance of over 350 kilometers from Tokyo and from the other important cities like Shinkansen and Osaka are one hour and two hours respectively.
The Nagoya belt forms the Nobi Plane that is considered one of the most fertile places in Japan. Three large rivers course across Nagoya; there are few smaller rivers as well. Nagoya's area may be divided into 185 sq. km of privately owned area, 17 sq. km of agricultural land and 143 sq. km of agricultural. Nagoya's proximity to the Pacific Ocean has resulted in its experiencing a pleasant weather most time in the year, except during the months of January and February when it receives snow.
The hottest month in Nagoya is August when the temperature reaches the over 35 degree centigrade. January is the coldest month, the temperature in this month dips precariously below the freezing point. Nagoya receives rainfall most time of the year; it is most rainy during the month of June and September. The average temperature for Nagoya is 15.7 centigrade, with a maximum temperature of 36.7 centigrade and a minimum of -3.1 centigrade. As far as tourist season is concerned, Nagoya may be visited anytime of the year barring the snowing season (Kelly & Kelly, 1991).

Competition Demographics, consumer tastes, and personal income drive demand. The profitability of individual companies can vary: while QSRs rely on efficient operations and high volume sales, FSRs rely on high-margin items and effective marketing. Large companies have advantages in purchasing, finance, and marketing. Small companies can offer superior food or service (Howell, W 2000). The industry is labor-intensive: annual revenue per worker is less than $50,000. Restaurants compete with companies that serve meals or prepared foods, including grocery stores, warehouse clubs, delis, and convenience stores. In addition, restaurants compete with home cooking. KFC’s top competitors are Church’s Chicken, Chick-fil-a, AFC Enterprises which operates the Popeye’s restaurant chain. KFC remains the largest player in the growing segment of fast-food chicken, its share continues to drop, according to Technomic ( Howell, W 2000). KFC's market share tumbled six full points since 2005 to 30% in 2009, while the category grew from $14.5 billion to $16.1 billion. has built a cult-like following with high-quality sandwiches, better-for-you options, excellent service and clean stores. It now commands 20% of the market with just 1,500 locations. That's less than one-third of KFC's 5,200-store U.S. presence. And Chick-fil-A operates on a six-day week, as its restaurants are closed on Sundays( Howell, W 2000).