International Marketing Planning - An Analysis of Burger King

ANALYSE

According to Doole and Lowe (2008), International marketing involves the firm in setting up manufacturing or processing facilities around the world and coordinating marketing strategies across the globe. This essay will explain how Burger King’s strategy will respond to the needs of Bangladeshi customers and moreover discuss if there are any opportunities available for Burger King to establish itself in Bangladesh, given the attractive environment of Bangladesh.

Burger King, which is known as BK is the second largest fast food hamburger chain in the world. It is operating in more 12,200 places and serving over 11 million customers daily in 76 countries and territories worldwide. In addition, almost 90 percent of the Burger King restaurants are possessed and operated by independent franchisees. (Burger King Website, 2011)

Figure1: Burger King Limited evaluation of Profit and Loss before Taxation

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Source: Burger King (United Kingdom) Ltd., FAME

The revenue of Burger King for 2010 is $ 2502.20 million during 2010. It has decreased of 1.40% from the 2009 (Yahoo Finance, 2011). The revenue of it was $2537.4 million during 2009. It was increased of 3.2% over 2008. The operating profit of this company was 339.4 million in the 2009 which decreased of 4.1% from 2008. (Datamonitor, 2010)

Burger King is acquired by the investment firm 3G capitals more than 90% of the company during 2010. (Yahoo Finance, 2011)

According to John Chidsey, chairman and chief executive officer, Burger King carried strong revenues even with escalating economic and consumer uncertainties by profitably executing on various growth strategies, marketing leadership, including net restaurant growth, product innovation, longer competitive hours and operational excellence. (Burger King Website, 2011)

If we look at Bangladesh market, then we find that there are some leaders that already exist in the fast food industry of Bangladesh. These are – KFC, Pizza Hut, A&W, BFC (Best Fried Chicken), Helvetia, etc.

A group of customers with some special characteristics are known as a market segment, which is important for marketing strategy. A single product cannot satisfy all customers, so the market needs to be segmented. Furthermore, Segmentation increases the profit opportunities because various groups of customers attach different economic or psychological values to the solution offered. Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic, Behavioral are the most common profiler used in the consumer market segmentation. (Doyle, 2006).

In addition, comparable sales of Burger King were fueled by strategic pricing as well as a strong mix of high demand, indulgent and value product offerings and promotional tie-ins. It is also relevant to analyze that if the target market of Bangladesh will be suitable for Burger King as well as the growth opportunities are in favor of Burger King.

Moreover, the results are geared by regionally based offerings, for example, the successful beginning of an innovative and healthy kid’s meal, which includes BK(TM) Fresh Apple Fries and nutritionally prepared Kraft(R) Macaroni and Cheese in the U.S., and Whopper(R) sandwich limited time offers in both Europe and Latin America. (Burger King Website) So, Burger King furthermore needs to think of regionally based offerings in Bangladesh.

Table 1: characteristics of Burger King’s strategy to define the basic of Burger King’s target market

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