their pricing strategy. Their primary market upon entry was the middle-to-high income families,
positioning themselves as a novelty, special occasion food option. This strategy worked for a
significant period of time, but recently the need to appeal to the masses as cultivated lower-
priced menus and different messaging helping to educate the average consumer on more price-
effective options (Friend, 2013).
Avoiding Pitfalls
Self-reference criterion is when a customer unconsciously relies on the tendency
to use the standard of their culture or society to evaluate that of another culture or society
(Perner). Self-reference criterion is an obstacle many companies have to overcome when
entering a new market. This can range from the way the customers in the new market perceive
the company’s logo or the way the food tastes and appeals to the customers purchasing the items.
KFC has spent a lot of time and money into branding their products to fit the culture that they are
in. KFC uses terms like “wicked” and “fancy” in their ads in London (Rothkrug). In Singapore,
4
MARKET ENTRY SUCCESS
KFC has many porridge style dishes. KFC’s in Australia has a sandwich that incorporates a
typical chicken parmesan dish for a handheld sandwich. KFC has even incorporated other
American brands like Krispy Kreme. For instance, the KFC in the Middle East offers ten mini
Krispy Kreme donuts on their menu (Rothkrug). Customers are going to have different tastes and
different views on menu items. KFC has done extensive research to understand how customers
will react to certain things.
This wide variety of menu items gives KFC the flexibility needed to
avoid this self-reference criterion.
Recommended Future Strategy
The organization should focus on solving the cultural problems that arises in India due to
protest against celebrities. According to the national culture, the populace of India is motivated
by celebrity marketing. Company should invest on celebrity marketing which would prove to be
fruitful. Historical examples show that some of the other global companies like Coca Cola have
invested on similar type of marketing strategies. It helps in reaching out to the lower middle class
population which would attract them to walk into the store and increase traffic. Secondly, India
has the 2
nd
largest population of the world, which results in less market space for the stores for
implementing drive through facility. In the other hand the company can choose to implement the
