Burger King Case Study

Burger King

The flamed broiled hamburger and the one they call " the Whopper" is Burger King's core competency. They are considered the world largest flame broiled hamburger restaurant of its kind. There is currently no other food restaurant that can imitate that type of flame broiled hamburger. Keeping the flame broiled hamburger keeps them different than any other food chain; therefore, this is why I believe they are still in the restaurant business today.

Before 2011, Burger King had always held the number two position in the domestic sales, but in 2011, Wendy's replaced Burger King. Even though I feel the core competency is the special skill that they have; the flame broiled hamburger. I think they have forgotten it. There strategy over the past couple of years does not concentrate on this at all, but concentrates on several different things such as: introducing 10 new food items; the most ever done in history. They changed their focus to families, moms and Boomers instead of young men who are always hungry in my household (Horovitz, 2012, p. 1). Between Burger King and the franchisees, they will spend $750 million to fix the menu, revamp their marketing, change operations slightly, and update the look for 7,204 stores that are located here in the United States over the next three years (Horovitz, 2012, p. 1).

In the beginning Burger King's value chain activities were simple. They sold flame broiled burgers, fries, sodas and shakes. They created a theme "have it your way" and they had a bright yellow and red logo to catch your eye and their focus was on the young, hungry guys. But because they are in the restaurant business, it would be very difficult to see the value chain ever really be set in stone; it is ever evolving (Daniels, Radebaugh, & Sullivan, 2011). As a consumer I change all the time. I have change in taste, change in clothing, and change in cell phones, because products are ever evolving; sometimes for the better or sometimes for the worse.

In April 2012, the current value chain for Burger King is there new marketing strategy, newly expanded menu items, and their new look. Burger King introduced some family favorites like, chicken wraps, crispy chicken strips, garden fresh salads, and real fruit frappes and smoothies ("Home of the Whopper," 2012, p. 1). Their marketing strategy used celebrities such as Jay Leno who actually kicked off the new campaign, David Beckham who mesmerizes the cashier when he orders a fruit smoothie and Mary J. Blige who sang one of her songs and changed the words that was about chicken wraps ("Home of the Whopper," 2012, p. 1). On an international level Burger King's marketing strategy looked for the right fit by looking for countries that had a large population, consumed a lot of beef, growing shopping venues, and the potential for franchises (Daniels et al., 2011).

There were advantages and some disadvantages for Burger King to enter the international market at a later time. Some of the advantages included creating the infrastructure needed to supply fast food restaurants. By the time Burger King arrived fast food was in demand and they got to avoid paying probably a lot of initial cost to start a fast food supply network (Daniels et al., 2011). The disadvantage that Burger King could run into is trying to build their supply contacts. Depending on the country, supplies could be very limited and maybe they could only handle one fast food restaurant (Daniels et al., 2011). Building your customer base could also be difficult. People are afraid change, and depending on how willing they are to try new things, will depend on how well Burger King could get their foot into the door. Their taste in the flame broiled hamburger is quite different than the McDonald's flat grilled burger. They may be so use to McDonald that they will not like Burger King's.

If Burger King was to enter a country where they have not experienced hamburgers, and they were only competing with the local market, there would be some advantages and disadvantages there also. To their disadvantage they would not really know the local people, and may not understand or be very familiar with the local customs. Local restaurants would be serving the types of foods that the local people want, and most likely be their favorites. They will never really know for sure if the local people are going to like the flame broiled hamburger. It could be a total disaster if you think about it. But to their advantage, I could see Burger King bringing jobs to the country, and because they are so different than the local restaurants, I believe the local people would want to work for them. I could also see businesses that sell supplies would want Burger Kings business, the more supplies they sell the more profits they would make; that could create an advantage for them.

Burger King should defiantly think about expanding their business more internationally. If they bring back some of their basic core values and concentrate on the "Whopper" they could have a chance in growing