Burger King - International Marketing Planning

Résumé du document

According to Omahe (2005), over the past 20 years, we have been gradually noticing the emergence of a global village. The world is becoming increasingly global: major examples are the trends, the way of thinking and the needs. Nowadays, it is easier to have products and services from other countries due to this globalization. The competition was never so hard, or the price war so fierce. Companies had to change strategies. According to Porter (1987), a global company is one in which competitive advantage can be achieved by integrating and leveraging operations on a worldwide scale. There are many reasons for a company to be global. Worldwide expansion brings new and more profitable areas, encourages a boost of the firm's competitiveness and helps access to new creations, manufacturing innovations and the latest technology (Hollensen). The company has to find and satisfy global customers' needs, better than other competitor companies, and coordinate its activities according to the global environment.

This essay will focus on the American fast-food company, Burger King. We will examine if there is an opportunity for the company to be setup in the French market. Before starting the analysis of the market and opportunities to be set up in France, we need to explain the particularity of Burger King in France. The company used to be in France in 1980 for 17 years. But in 1997 they decided to leave the French market. There are many reasons behind this failure: firstly because Burger-King restaurants were mostly around Paris and secondly because they were few and small in comparison to its competitors. Burger-King was not enough strong against its competitors so it had to leave France. But, in business, we say that nothing is impossible. Through this essay, we will see if Burger-King could be able to return to France.


Burger King is an American company, the world's second largest company of fast food hamburger restaurant chains. It employs 39.000 employees, in about 76 countries. It is worth noticing that 2/3 of Burger King Restaurants are located in North America. In addition, in 12,174 restaurants across the world, 10,787 are owned by independent franchisees (Datamonitor). Burger-King is located in many countries in the world. This globalization brings many advantages such as demand spillover, global customers and scale economies (Johansson, p. 443, 2009).

Burger King's revenue (global) was $2,502.2 m in 2010. We can notice that this is less than 2009. This can be explained by the global crisis, which affected all activity sectors. People have less money than before to spend on eating-out, and for this reason they prefer to eat at home (cheaper, in general). Burger King is the second worldwide largest fast-food company, followed by Subway and Yum! Brands. The leader is McDonald's Corporation (Datamonitor).

Extraits

[...] Its competitors are in train stations, famous places in cities, airports ; in general, close to the customers. Burger King should follow this trend, and be in the biggest cities in France (such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Bordeaux) in order to built a brand image. Promotion : For a company entering in a new market, image is very important. The company has ta have a good image in consumers mind. By that, the company can famous by many ways. [...]

[...] Burger King was in France 15 years ago. Unfortunately it had to leave the French market because of a defective marketing strategy. The reasons are the following: firstly, restaurants were only concentrated at and around Paris. Secondly, these restaurants were at the outskirts of the cities, and were very few. Nowadays, the trend is to be and live in cities. That's why Burger King has to consider this fact. Mc Donald's French strategy has literally changed because of one man and his motivation: his name is José Bové and he is a farmer. [...]

[...] Burger King has to be very careful with what had happened 10 years ago in France. The company shouldn't do the same mistakes as Mc Donald's did. Burger King will have to find French suppliers, with high quality products, if they want to succeed in French market. As we observed previously, power of suppliers is low. This means that Burger King will be able to choose the more efficient supplier. The company had some difficulties with regards to its suppliers in US with the PETA according to the way of producing its meat, and the treatment of animals. [...]

[...] Burger-King's revenue (global) was m $ in 2010. We can notice that this is less than 2009. This can be explained by the global crisis, which affected all activity sectors. People have less money than before to spend on eating-out, and for this reason they prefer to eat at home (cheaper, in general). Burger King is the second worldwide largest fast-food company, followed by Subway and Yum! Brands. The leader is McDonalds Corporation (Datamonitor). Burger-King's source of revenue is mainly consisted of the production and the sale of hamburgers with fries and a drink. [...]

[...] Burger-King prices are middle range price. The company follows its competitor's prices (around 7 to 10 $ for a meal). As we saw before, most of Burger-King restaurants are owned by independent franchisees. According to Hollensen (2007), “Franchising is a marketing oriented methods of selling a business service”. According to Saleh and H. Kleiner (2005), “franchising is one of the most popular and successful strategies for businesses to enter new markets and expand operations. Franchising enables the franchisor to enter a new market with very low risks and initial investment”. [...]