A company’s brand image that’s generated through its long history of operating is undoubtedly a treasure, a core competency that has to be protected. Hao Yi Huang’s blog “China KFC brings in fishball soup to outcompete rival franchises” illustrated such a case. In the blog, Hao disagrees with KFC’s decision to introduce Chinese fast food into a Western fast food restaurant like KFC. She claims that doing so “defeats the purpose of why customers even visit KFC in the first place- to get a foreign experience.”
Personally, I don’t agree with what Hao believes. When KFC first went into market in China, its value proposition might be to offer a Westernized food experience. However, as more of the similar firms such as Pizza Hut and Dicos (we can consider them substitutes in this case) enter the market, KFC’s initial value proposition is not as powerful and unique. That’s when product differentiation becomes necessary. Besides, as customers no longer see KFC just as a Western fast food restaurant, but rather, a quality-guaranteed restaurant providing freshness and convenience, KFC should introduce products that actually meet today’s customers’ needs – healthy fast food – instead of blindly insisting in its out-of-date value proposition as to provide fried chicken only.
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