Category: Fast Food

Introduction

The prices of food have soared due to its limited supply and people have started exploring other cheaper and quicker ways for survival. Fast foods have become popular, especially in urban centers because they are cheap, affordable and take less time to prepare compared to whole meals. Schools should not offer fast foods because they lead to the development of bad habits, long-time health complications and influence students to spend money unnecessarily.

Reasons Why Schools Should Not Offer Fast Foods

Fast foods are likely to influence students and make them lazy. It is easy to develop a craving for fast foods, especially among students. Parents and teachers should work together to encourage students not to develop cravings for fast foods. Moreover, fast foods are sold in most restaurants and food joints and this means that their availability makes people lazy. It is wrong to rely on fast foods as the cheapest and easiest meals. Students should learn to manage their time properly and avoid eating fast foods that are available and prepared quickly.

The availability of fast foods in shops near schools should not influence learning institutions to introduce these foods in their menus. Most students prefer fast foods to whole meals, but this should not influence the menus of learning institutions. Schools should encourage students to eat fruits and drink fresh juices instead of fast foods.

Fast foods are associated with health complications because of their poor nutritional values. First, most fast foods contain refined sugars and fats that have high levels of cholesterol. In addition, most of them are derived from genetically modified foods. Therefore, these foods do not contain all the essential nutrients required for the proper functioning of the human body. Schools should train students to live healthy lifestyles and avoid foods that may put their health at risk.

These foods do not undergo complete breakdown during digestion and the excess energy produced by them is stored under the skin as fat. Blood pressure and diabetes are health complications that occur in individuals who consume fast foods without exercising. Obese individuals cannot live normal lifestyles because of the health and social challenges they experience. Therefore, schools should not offer fast foods to students because they are unhealthy and may cause blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.

Most people think that fast foods are cheap because they are available in small quantities. However, the truth about the prices of fast foods is that they are expensive if a person develops a habit of eating them regularly and for a long time. A plate of fries costs less than that of a whole meal, but a person eating the former cannot get the satisfaction and nutritional benefits of the latter. Individuals who consume fast foods use more money compared to those who eat whole meals. Schools should not introduce fast foods because they will spend a lot of money in the long term. In addition, parents will be forced to pay extra money to cater for meals in schools.

Conclusion

People should avoid fast foods because they promote the development of bad habits that are unacceptable in the modern society. Moreover, these foods may cause health complications and interfere with the social lives of students. Lastly, they are expensive and yet do not contain the nutritional requirements of a balanced diet. Schools should shun attempts to offer students fast foods.

The concept of fast food has always been taken with a grain of salt since the first fast food outlet was opened. However, despite the low value of fast food, people are still willing to consume it, which can be attributed to the sophisticated marketing strategies and the companies’ ability to create a façade of sustainability and health-oriented manufacturing. “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!”, a movie by Spurlock, has shown that fast food has direct negative implications on people’s health due to low quality of products used for cooking fast food.

The efforts that fast food chains make to represent themselves as sustainable and health-oriented have been perceived as questionable, at best, up until recently, when the introduction of innovative tools has allowed making fast food seemingly healthier. Due to the inability to fact-check the information that fast food companies provide, buyers tend to take the statements made by these companies for granted, which leads to a drop in their ability to question the quality of the food. The described causal relationships are particularly evident in the movie: “Let’s have a conversation of how healthy our sandwiches are” (Calogero LM, 2020). As a result, low quality of McDonald’s food has direct implications on people’s health. Obesity is the primary outcome in this cause-and-effect relationship, the choice of meals being the main cause, and weight gain among customers representing the key effect on their health (Calogero LM, 2020).

Another obvious cause and effect relationship portrayed in the film concerns the rise in the threat of diseases such as diabetes as the effect of the food choices that McDonald’s provides to its customers. Although the direct connection between the development of diabetes and the consumption of McDonald’s food specifically is yet to be proven, indirect facts point not only to correlation but also to causation in the food that McDonald’s offers and the increase in health risks such as diabetes type II (Tong & Wong, 2016). Therefore, there is an ostensible and highly probable cause-and-effect relationship between the specified issues, which is why McDonald’s policies regarding food quality and production process require more detailed scrutiny.

Finally, one should mention the obvious connection between the quality of the product offered by McDonald’s, as well as its affordability and availability, and the increase in the threat of cardiovascular diseases in customers. As the video shows, since McDonald’s uses products with high fat saturation, the probability of consumers who purchase McDonald’s products frequently to develop cardiovascular issues increases exponentially (Calogero LM, 2020). In turn, the solution to the dilemma that McDonald’s has created, namely, the choice between the taste of the product and its health-related value, is rather complicated. Although Spurlock’s idea of becoming a part of the problem may imply complicating the relationships between customers and fast food organizations even more, it leads to unraveling the truth, thus contributing to the resolution of the conflict.

The movie has demonstrated that, due to the ability to balance between the brand image of a sustainable organization and the focus on minimizing production costs, organizations operating in the fast food industry have been using low-quality raw materials to produce the food that causes people to experience health complications, which is a prime example of cause-and-effect relationships. In turn, the rise in the amount of negative publicity that fast food organizations receive could produce a greater impact if customers remained more skeptical about the claims that fast food organizations provide. Thus, a combination of marketing efforts and the attempts at sweeping adverse effects of fast food under the rug leads to multiple health issues.

References

Calogero LM. (2020). Super size me 2: Holy chicken. [Video]. YouTube.

Tong, C., & Wong, A. (2016). The effects of corporate social responsibility of fast-food restaurants on corporate reputation. Journal of Marketing and HR, 3(1), 126-144.

Nowadays, there is not a single person left in this world who has not heard about fast food. At the pace of modern life, people often do not have time to dine fully, and then fast food comes to the rescue. A famous folklorist Margaret Visser explains this phenomenon in her article “The Ritual of Fast Food.” According to her, preordained rules, high common standards, and a family-oriented approach create the whole culture of dining out, which is now an essential part of the world’s daily life.

However, the non-chain restaurant industry is flourishing, in part due to people making the conscious choice not to visit fast food places. This essay will analyze the culture of the Surf Club Restaurant in Miami, Florida, to determine its attractions.

The name “Surf Club Restaurant” does not immediately evoke a particular image in most people’s minds when they hear it. However, it implies that the restaurant tries to follow the theme of the previous century when organizations similar to the one in its name were the most active. The location’s interior confirms this idea, starting with its generally semi-modern interior that diverges from the classical style without embracing modernity fully and ending with its peculiar water glasses that are available at every table. The restaurant offers a familiar environment to those old enough to remember the fifties and lets younger people experience it. In doing this, it comforts the former and excites the latter at the same time.

The food uses a similar approach, attempting to replicate traditional Continental cuisine and bring the customers into the period’s atmosphere. However, it has been adapted for better suitability to modern palates by the renowned chef Thomas Keller. He added a unique touch by having some dishes be finished at the customer’s table, which lets them appreciate the food. A long list of various wines and other beverages is available to complement the experience and make it unique.

The prices are much higher than they would be at a fast food location, but the Surf Club Restaurant is getting customers consistently. This tendency proves that customers are willing to pay more to avoid the fast-food experience.

Fast food businesses and restaurants such as the one just described relying on different categories of customers. Some people appreciate regional and expertly prepared food, which one cannot get at a fast food location. The food there is standardized and made as similar as possible to avoid straining the often-inexperienced kitchen staff. Others want a relaxed and classy environment for their meetings, whether for work or personal life. Fast food places tend to be busy and have customers move through them quickly, leaving little time for a relaxed conversation. However, the Surf Club Restaurant aims to provide its customers with the best possible experience. To obtain it, people are willing to go out of their way to find locations such as that one and pay the premium on the food.

Overall, while fast food is extremely popular among the American public and worldwide, it serves a different demographic than the people who visit traditional restaurants. As Visser notes, fast food aims to feed families with children who need to eat quickly and without worries. Their primary concern is relieving hunger quickly and inexpensively, a frequent desire in modern society. Meanwhile, restaurant-goers want to have an excellent experience and are willing to pay a premium for it. They have no interest in going to a fast food location because it does not suit their needs, and while these customers exist, so will traditional restaurants.

Introduction

Fast food is an American institution. When traveling, tourists are likely to find a chain restaurant almost everywhere, even in the most exotic locations. The quick service and low prices have become synonymous with such companies. This paper will provide an overview of the history of fast food, its spread and impact on the world as well as speculation about its future.

Background

Fast food is defined by its mass production and quick service. Today, fast food restaurants are present in almost every country on Earth, and their influence has stretched far from the food industry. The earliest examples of fast-food restaurants can be traced back to the early 1900s. Depending on the definition of fast food, the earliest chain was either Automat in 1912 or White Castle in 1921. Their service systems differed from each other. Automat allowed customers to buy pre-cooked meals through coin-operated boxes, while White Castle was a more traditional restaurant. Nevertheless, the White Castle was the first chain to standardize the look and method of food production among its restaurants. It was the first chain that spread across multiple states, and its systems were later adopted by the majority of other companies (Helstosky 250).

The popularity of fast-food restaurants at the time could be associated with the increased numbers of people moving to the city centers during the Great Depression. Fast food restaurants often provided a cheaper meal with an exciting gimmick. The popularization of cars also played a part in their success, with drive-in restaurants becoming places for social interaction among teenagers (Helstosky 249).

Assembly Line

The biggest impact on the popularity of fast-food restaurants was the assembly line method of production. In the 1940s, Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a walk-up stand that offered a very simple menu of hamburgers, fries, and non-alcoholic drinks. Unlike traditional restaurants, the food was prepared continuously, without waiting for customers to order it. This allowed the food to be served immediately. Each employee at the diner was tasked with a simple assignment, which allowed anyone to be hired, instead of professional cooks. However, it also reflected on the pay that the employees received. By saving money on the service, the restaurant was able to sell burgers at a much lower price, than a normal diner. This concept was quickly adopted by its competitors (Lang and Heasman 199). By the 1960s, restaurant equipment manufacturer Prince Castle bought out the business from the McDonalds brothers and established the modern McDonald’s Corporation.

Globalization

In 1971, the McDonald’s Corporation announced that it had restaurants in all 50 states of America. During the early 1970s, a major push for expansion has created thousands of new restaurants across the country, and many companies started seeking options to spread internationally. The first international McDonald’s stores were opened in Japan, Holland, and Australia. Initially, only a few restaurants were opened, but the early success enabled the further spread of the business. The first South American McDonalds was opened in 1979 in Brazil. By 1992, the company opened a restaurant on every populated continent of the world, and currently, it operates in more than 110 countries.

The effect of its globalization was not without controversy, however. The work practices provided by such restaurants were often lower than the country standard. The unhealthy food and the American image of the majority of fast food companies have also gathered a lot of negative attention in countries that suffered from the international policy of the United States. Fast food became a symbol of Americanization and cultural chauvinism (Malik and Ahmad 1). At times, this image has led to violent acts of protest against the corporation. For example, in 1999, Jose Bove assembled a group of activists in France and destroyed a McDonald’s location that was under construction (Northcutt 326). His actions were seen as heroic by the public, despite their illegal nature.

The impact of the international success of these restaurant chains has gone way beyond the food industry. Due to the international nature of McDonald’s a popular business magazine The Economist started publishing a global ranking of the currencies’ purchasing power based on the prices at international McDonald’s restaurants. The so-called “Big Mac Index” allows people to compare the cost of products and labor in various countries due to all the restaurants using the same ingredients and work practices. Unfortunately, a much more dangerous trend has developed along with fast food. The McDonaldization of other industries has become a major problem. The focus on low-skill labor, quick but intentionally uncomfortable service, minimal quality of the product, and its expendable nature have led to a dramatic shift in focus on efficiency over quality in many industries. Such companies often rely on the number of customers served, rather than job satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

Future

Over the years, the fast-food business has gone from drive-in to drive-through restaurants. Their menus have changed many times, with either simplified or expanded selections based on popular trends or cultural differences. Most recently, the negative image of unhealthy fast food forced many of the chains to include healthier options such as salads, vegetarian sandwiches, and others. Whether this will be enough to satisfy the demand for healthy food is too early to tell, as the competition from food trucks and health-oriented restaurants is currently having a significant effect on the profits of fast food companies. However, the brand power of McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King is likely to carry these companies into the future with little loss of market share.

The future for such companies is one of the most concerning issues at the moment. The assembly line foodservice allowed anyone to become a fast-food employee with no skilled labor required. The constant expansion of these companies meant that a lot of people became dependent on them for jobs because they did not require any work experience or education. This situation is likely to change shortly due to the introduction of automated service. Currently, some locations are already experimenting with such systems, and it is only a matter of time when people start losing jobs due to redundancy. After all, the expendable nature of the employees has been a staple of the fast-food industry since the 1940s. With the service industry being one of the top employers in the United States, automated fast-food restaurants are likely to cause a massive wave of unemployment that no economy will be able to withstand (Ford 37).

Conclusion

Fast food was created to feed American cities. Its business practices allowed for cheaper products and easier employment for low-skill laborers. Subsequently, it spread all over the world with more than a hundred countries experiencing the same service with slight regional differences. Shortly, all of the positive aspects of fast food may become negative due to the introduction of affordable and reliable automated service systems that could replace millions of people.

Works Cited

Ford, Martin. “Could Artificial Intelligence Create an Unemployment Crisis?” Communications of the ACM, vol. 56, no. 7, 2013, pp. 37–39.

Helstosky, Carol. The Routledge History of Food. Routledge, 2014.

Lang, Tim, and Michael Heasman. Food Wars: The Global Battle for Mouths, Minds and Markets. Routledge, 2015.

Malik, M.Shoukat, and Naveed Ahmad. “Impact of Brand Credibility on Consumer Loyalty : A Case Study of Fast Food Industry in Dg Khan , Pakistan.” Oman Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, vol. 34, no. 2343, 2014, pp. 1–10.

Northcutt, Wayne. “José Bové vs. McDonald’s: The Making of a National Hero in the French Anti-Globalization Movement.” Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, vol. 31, 2003, pp. 326-345.

Executive Summary

Deli depot is a chain of fast food restaurants and experiencing some difficulties in penetrating the market. Losses have been recorded in the past financial year, all being attributed to poor marketing strategies, sub-standard services offered and poor pricing of the food amongst other factors.

There is need to strategise on how the business can be accepted within its area of operation and this can be improved by increasing the depot’s reputation within the specific competitive environment. The business should make more use of the media to improve on its publicity and also improve on the quality of its services.

Introduction

Market research refers to the process where there is systematic gathering of reports about consumers, competitors and the market after which they are analyzed to produce the expected results.

The research always help in doing various things such as launching new product or service, improving on the existing products and services and expansion of new markets. It is also used for identifying the potential places where a particular product can do well. This is usually generated on the basis of age, gender, location and most importantly the level of income (Hair et al, 2008).

Market research consequently helps companies when it comes to decision making on development issues and new products, it basically represents the consumer in relation to the company’s products. It is used by business owners in day to day basis. It is used basically to find sellers and in making crucial business decisions.

It is used to find out the need of the market and whether the items already in sale need some modifications to meet the market requirements and vice versa. The goal here is to come up with the best approach that can help in the process of acquiring, distributing and supporting supplies and services (Hair et al, 2008).

Market research plan

Defining the research problem

The Deli depot recorded a loss in the past financial year; the business has increasingly lost customers from far distances and also experienced low sales. The business wants to set out programs that will enable it cut down on expenses and at the same time increase the volume of the sales in all their centres of operation. The business needs some strategies on how to overcome the competition posed by other related business in the market.

Objectives

• To improve on the sales of the business hence increasing the profit margin
• To strategise on how to take over the market from other competitors
• To come up with a good team of employees with the right attitude towards the business.

Research Design

The descriptive research was used where the consumers were approached to answer some questions concerning the business and the market. Research questionnaires were used both structured and un-structured to obtain the primary data.

Collecting and analyzing data

The raw data was collected from the questionnaires distributed to 150 respondents, was verified, corded, tabulated and then recorded on the excel sheet for analysis.

Results

SECTION 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

Gender 0 – female 1- male

Statistical Analysis

Findings covering analysis of the Market research plan

The amount of money spent on marketing the business reduced in 2007. The new shopping centre recorded a loss despite high sales in 2007. The customers streamed in during the massive advertisements on the launching date then suddenly the number went down, this was due to poor marketing strategy, Deli Deport has used the same brand and methods for fairly a long time.

There is need for change in advertisements to match the current taste of the generation (Hair et al, 2008). According to the questionnaires the public revealed that there has been a drop in the quality of interaction between employees and the customers. The food prices are not that affordable to most consumers.

The employees have been competent enough in their service and have offered the customers satisfactory quality food. The depot has not offered the consumers with a wide variety of food, their menu is rather restrictive. The consumers always prefer to dine in restaurants that are hospitable, having friendly and competent employees.

They also like where they are offered wide variety of food and the service prompt. There is also the decline on the number of people that dine in hotels, the level of satisfaction has declined thereby customers rarely recommend the restaurant to others. The business spent less in marketing the company through advertisement in 2007, there was also a decline in the public relations. This can be attributed to low sales realised in the 2007 financial year (Hair et al, 2008).

The data on the SPSS shows that there were more female heavy users than male and higher percentage of male light users than female. The percentage on usage indicated that Deli deport attracted more heavy users than light users this might be attributed to the food prices. Deli deport need to strategise on how to get hold of the light users by offering variety of food and making good use of advertisement.

In the issue of area coverage the deport has attracted only those within its locality i.e. those living at close range, this is contrary to previous years when it received customers from further distances most of which were female (Hair et al, 2008) .

Majority of the customers spend averagely $10 to $20 most of them being female. This shows that Deli depot attracted mostly the middle class earners. Higher percentage of people that drive to the deport come from within 1 km range and most spend averagely $10 to $ 20.

The number of friendly employees within the depot is moderate tending to attract averagely, excel data X1. The number frequenting the deport due to prices is on the decline as shown by excel data X2. The high number of competent employees has also boosted the depot’s validity Excel data X3. Majority prefers wide variety of food and fast service X5 and X6.

Strategies and Recommendations

Deli depot lacks some theoretical and practical framework that can enable them to check and study the relationship existing between the structure of the behaviour of the employees and its ability to attract constituent support (Hair et al, 2008). The research has shown that most people rely on the reputation of business organizations when making decisions on who to purchase from and sometimes where to seek employment (Jones et al, 2000). By looking at this the depot can improve on its ability to attract and retain customers.

The Marketing officer can rely on corporate reputation in times of decision making in the areas such as purchases of products, recruiting employees and deciding on the business operations in different towns and shopping centres. Corporate reputation also influences the ability of a company to attract and retain consumers (Yoon et al, 1993; Fombrun and Shanley, 1990).

The depot generated a lot from its new outlet during the first days of launching because of the publicity it was accorded. This clearly indicated that business organizations can only manage their good name by investing a lot in individual images through advertisements in the media and information intermediaries (Balmer and Gary, 1999: Ruth and York, 2004).

This will help in availing the identity of the business to the public. The individual experiences should also be given a priority and the public relation department allocated more funds (Alessandri, 2001; Cornelissen, 2000).

The marketing research is always open to bias arising from statistical analysis and many other sources. The errors related to statistical analysis are realised from the failure to use appropriate statistical methods. This ranges fro the failure to adjust for confounding variables, or failure to appreciate the assumption of normality and equality of variance underlying the parametric significance tests.

To avoid the bias, the market researcher must first of all try to understand the research problem from the perspective of the consumers. This is so as to avoid the lack of sensitivity and the understanding that may arise from the consumers cultural behaviours. The other measure that the business can take is to hire researchers from different cultural back ground so that the different facets of the research problem can be well handled (Hair et al, 2008).

The business also needs to include rigorous study design and hence employ various techniques especially in the quantitative research. The observers need to be recognized as research instruments and the information obtained should be considered tentative till corroboration by information collected through other means possible (Hair et al, 2008).

The restaurant also needs to evaluate the research on the basis of economic condition. The researcher should evaluate the restaurants in terms of the region where they are situated. This will give the researcher a good sample to work with.

Other factors such as market potential index, population, inflation, unemployment rate social class should be considered when deriving the questionnaires. The cultural factors must also be considered for this will give the business the know how on particular dishes preferred in a particular area. This may include the people’s attitude, differences in lifestyle, religion, language, literacy, values, gender roles and role of family.

There is the need to improve on the brand name, that is to say include data on both local and foreign consumers consuming their dishes so as to give an impression that their food is of international quality. The marketing manager is therefore under obligation to ascertain the consumer segment and the food offered in order to produce a preferable strategy that would convey their brand name effectively to the targeted market.

A new brand positioning strategy should be designed to enable the marketing manager strengthen their brand’s equity in the market competition. Another strategy that they can adopt is the use of the local consumer culture positioning (Hair et al, 2008). This helps in associating the brand name with the local cultural meaning reflecting their norms and identities. This depends on the locality and can well be used in the shopping centres. This also calls for need to understand the consumer evaluations of the brands.

Market analysis need to be done on the target market first. This is especially in shopping centres before any new branch is launched. The information on the competitors, consumers and the kind of food stuff preferred should be obtained first. The techniques to be employed include; customer analysis, competitor analysis, risk analysis, product research, advertising research and e-mail survey.

The use of the internet in the modern technology can easily make the restaurant to be in touch with its customers i.e. the use of face book. It easily generates more business from the already identified customers since no mailing and printing costs are involved. It ensures instant delivery which save quite on time (Hair et al, 2008).

Conclusion

The current business organization behaviours based on reputation quotient may not as much indicate the attractiveness of a business to consumers when basically compared to the potential employees and consumers (Fombrum et al, 2000). The product or service branding has a lot of implications in the marketing of any business.

Findings have shown that the consumers always are willing to pay higher prices for products that are from the highly reputable business organizations (Devine, 2001; Landon and Smit, 1997). The economic and the social performance of the company should be improved for this to be realised (Fombrun and Van riel, 1997; Kiriakidou and Millward, 2000; Vergin and Qoronfleh, 1998).

The marketing research provided a very good link between the business and its future markets. The inclusion of the activities such as specifications, the gathering if data, analysis, and the interpretation of the information helps the management to understand better the market.

It also helps in identifying the market problems and the opportunities arising which aids in the formulation of the courses of marketing action. A successful marketing research must be able to recognize the specific diversities in terms of culture, demographics, economy and other factors.

References

Alessandri, S. W. (2001).Modelling corporate identity: a concept application and theoretical explanation. Corporate communications: An international Journal, 6(4), 173-182

Balmer, J. and Wilson, A. (1999).Corporate identity and Corporate communications: creating competitive advantage. Corporate Communications: An international Journal, 4(4), 171-176.

Cornelissen, J. (2000). Corporate image:an audience centred model. Corporate communications. An international Journal, 5(2), 119 – 125

Devine, I. ().Implicit claims: The role of corporate reputation in value creation. Corporate Reputation Review, 4(1), Fombrum, C.J., and Van Riel, C. B.,(1997). The reputational landscape. Corporate Reputation Review, 1(1/2), 5-13

Fombrum, C. J., Gardberg, N. and Sever, J.M., (2000). The reputation quotient: A multi-stakeholder measure of corporate reputation. The Journal of Brand Management, 7(4), 241-255

Hair, J. F., Lukas, B.A., Miller, K.E., Bush. R.P., & Ortinau, D.J. (2008). Marketing Research. North Ryde, NSW: McGraw-Hill.

Jones,G.H.,Jones, B.H., and Little, P. (2000).Reputation as reservoir: Buffering against loss in times of economic crisis. Corporate Reputation Review, 3(1)

Kiriakidou,O., and Millward, L.J. (2000).Corporate identity: Internal reality or external fit? Corporate communications: An international Journal, 5(1), 49-58

Landon, S., and Smit, C.E.(1997). The use of quality and reputation indicators by consumers: The case of Bordeaux wine. Journal of Consumer Policy, 20(3), 289-323

Vergin, R. C., and Qoronfleh, M., (1998). Corporate reputation and stock market. Business Horizons, 41(1), 19-36

Yoon, E., Guffey, H.J., and Kijewski, V. (1993).The effects of information and company reputation on intentions to buy business service. Journal of Business research, 27(3), 215-228

Introduction

Strategic management and planning are concepts that have become conventional applications in the management of any organization. Strategic management plays an important role in formulating strategies that will enable the organization to develop and sustain practices that will enable the organization to achieve its goals and targets and more so to anticipate the future.

Therefore, in its nature, strategic management requires cooperation and liaison from all levels of the organization from the top-level management to the factory floor managers. In addition, strategic management has adopted ways and means of gaining control of the supply chain, whereby management goes beyond the factory and managers begin managing suppliers and distributors of the product.

John is the general manager of Fast Freeze Foods Ltd and this task is a challenge he has to face. This paper focuses on the successes of his management in managing the performance of the company to ensure success in such a turbulent industry as the company is operating.

Nature of operations

In understanding the nature of operations that occur within the company, this paper chooses to focus its attention to the internal environments that characterize the organization. The aspects of internal environment that are of importance in this study are the technological, management, marketing and the physical resources (Christensen, 1997).

The first important aspect of the organization is its board of directors. The organization’s board of directors consists of individuals with concrete management skills in their respective capacities. The factory manager, John has vast experience in the factory management given the long period of time he has worked with the company.

Secondly, the marketing manager has shown his extemporary capabilities through his work in marketing which has given the company a hedge over its competitors who unlike the company, rely on the open market for selling their products (Bandrowski, 1990). The management of the company is strong and efficient thus giving the company an added advantage.

In addition to strong management, the company has an advanced processing machine, i.e. the blanching machine that has improved the company’s ability to satisfy customer quality demands.

In this case, the company has a competitive advantage over the competitors whose technology appears more primitive compared to that of Fast Freeze Foods Ltd. Another strength that this company enjoys is that it has gained control over the supply chain enabling it to control its source of raw materials (Bandrowski, 1990).

Additionally, the company enjoys an efficient communication system with the customers and therefore, it is able to know the customers’ requirements and tailor the products to suit the customers’ needs.

Despite all strengths that the company enjoys, several weaknesses face the company. Chief among the weaknesses is the fact that the company lacks enough capacity.

This means that the company is unable to meet short run increases in demand and therefore it stands the chance of losing some of its customers (Christensen, 1997). Again, the factory experiences some internal inefficiency that result to the wastage of processing time.

Main stages in the processing

The first step in the processing involves feeding the pods into the segregation batches, which have three lines. The first and third lines have a capacity of twelve tones per hour while the second has a capacity of ten tones per hour.

The peas go into bulky feeders up to the weighing belt then to the ‘pod and stick machine’ where they are cleaned by removing the pods and other extraneous substances. The peas loose approximately 10% of the weight and another 10% is lost when converting these clean peas to frozen peas. At this stage, the segregation of batches is important since it enables the separation of grades.

The next step is blanching. This step comprises of small hoppers known as ‘scacos’ which enhance the smooth flow of the peas into the blanchers. The batching process includes heating the peas for approximately 90 seconds at 98⁰c.

The next step entails a cooling process followed by a quality analysis of the peas. It involves sampling of the cooled peas and determining the quantity of the starch present in the peas.

The next step involves freezing whereby the peas are fed to three freezers with a capacity of 10, 7.5, and 10 tons per hour respectively. The freezers lower the temperature of peas to levels below 18⁰c before they are emptied to bulk pallet containers, each of about one tone capacity.

The final stage in the processing involves packaging and labeling the peas for traceability before they are transported to the cool store. The three main processes are cleaning of the peas to remove unwanted materials, blanching process and the freezing process.

Design & effective capacity

The first important step, segregation, is carried out in equipment, which have an operating capacity of 12 tons for line 1 and 3 and 10 tons for line 2. Cumulatively, this is the operating capacity of 34 tons an hour. The operating capacity (design capacity) is equal to the effective capacity and therefore at this stage, the factory is operating at full capacity.

In the second step, blanching, it is assumed that its operating capacity is the same as the operating capacity of the preceding step. The first and third blanching machines have a capacity of12 ton each while the second machine has a capacity of 10 tons.

However, the effective capacity of these is 9.6 tons for 1 and 3 and 8 tons for machine 2. This is because of the 20% loss in weight the peas loose in stage one. Therefore, the blanching machines are operating below capacity by 2.4 tons for the first and third machines and 2 tons for the second machine.

The design capacity of the freezers is 10 tons per hour for freezer 1 and 3 and 7.5 tons per hour for freezer 2. However, the supposed effective capacity for the freezers to ensure efficiency in the process is 9.6 tons for freezers 1 and 3 and 8 tons for freezer 2.

This shows that freezer 1and 3 operate under their capacity while freezer 2 is operate at its capacity but does not service its requirement. All factors held constant, the efficiency of the firm’s operations is 98.9%

Graphical presentations:

Figure 1: Stage-by-stage actual output compared with designed output.

Figure 2: cumulative design capacity compare to effective capacity.

Figure one shows a stage-by-stage analysis of the effectiveness of the operations. From the graph, it is clear that the stage two and three are experiencing inefficiencies whereby the capacity of the firm is underutilized except for stage three where freezer 2 is designed below capacity.

Figure 2 gives an overall picture of the design capacity and the effective capacity where, generally speaking, the company is operating below capacity.

Summary and Conclusions

The first problem that John has to address is dealing with the supplier who has gained a better bargaining power through the operation of the work groups. The company needs to find a means of having absolute control over the raw materials, which might be purchasing the farms.

Secondly, the design capacity of the factory will need to be increased especially that of the segregation lines and freezer 2. This will enable the factory to run at its full capacity without lags or excess.

Lastly, the management will need to address the aspect of employee turnover since it enhances a low output of the firm-inefficiency. This may include automation of some processes, which will enable the firm to retain most of its employees.

Reference List

Bandrowski, J., 1990. Corporate Imagination Plus. New York: Free Press.

Christensen, C., 1997. The Innovator’s Dilemma. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Introduction

Environmental analysis is an important process when establishing a business, especially in a foreign country. The process involve gathering and evaluating information that would help in making decision about a new venture and building a solid plan for the business that include prospects for growth and investment. The analysis entails consideration of a number of factors. In this paper the following will be discussed: political risks, legal environment, economic analysis, cultural analysis and demand estimation.

Political Risks

According to Kobrin (1979) political risk is most often conceived in terms of the host government interference with business operation. In simple terms, a political risk refers to the possibility that political decisions or events in a country will influence the business climate such that business loose money or fail to reach to their expectation.

The viability of the restaurant will depend, in a large part, on the stability of the host government as well as the strength of the host country’s political system. Kobrin (1978) noted that political instability and direct foreign investment have a negative relationship. In addition, the attitude of the government towards foreign investments is a factor to consider in establishing the restaurant. Expropriation and nationalist in most cases have negative result for foreign investment. Moreover, discriminatory taxation, limits to foreign employment, and lack of patent protection has crucial effect on foreign business. In addition, international relations of the host country, in particular Australia and the United States, will have an influence on the operation of the restaurant.

Legal Environment

Legal environment refers to the legal requirements that the restaurant will have to fulfill. In this regard, the registration and licensing process will determine the time taken to acquire a license for operating the restaurant in Australia. Besides the licensing requirement, other legal requirement might include taxation and patenting.

Economic Analysis

The core purpose of a business is to make profit. Therefore, it is important to explore general economic conditions that would affect the restaurant performance. The typical issues that are in consideration include growth rate of the gross national product; rate of inflation; and exchange rates. These factors will determine the cost of establishing and operating the restaurant. In addition, factors such as availability and affordability of raw food items will dictate the operation cost of the restaurant. The restaurant could be viewed as a competition to other players in the industry or an opportunity to the population. However, the competition aspect presents some other requirement in capital expenditure expenses.

Cultural analysis

In considering the cultural aspect, one critical point to note is the cultural acceptability of the investment by Australian population. That is, it is of essence to establish the traditions, beliefs, values and religion of the Australian people before deciding on the services that the restaurant will offer.

Demand estimation

In demand estimation, some factors that are in consideration include the price of the service and food items, competitors and their offer price for similar items, the population’s tastes and preferences in regard to the restaurant’s services.

Market Segment and position the service

Market Segmentation entails identification and breaking up of the entire market into categories of potential customers with similar needs, characteristics or motivation that are expected to have homogenous purchase behavior. In Australia, the general market segment is the entire population of sixty one million people. The market segment is further divide geographically into geographical regions which are almost similar to the political boundaries of the country. Moreover, the population is divided into age, gender, income occupation. There is a higher ratio of the employed to the unemployed where the employed represents a third of the population. Moreover, the persons between the age of 16 and 25 represent the largest number of the population. The market segment is further characterized by a higher number of female citizens. Male population represents only 35% of the whole population.

The Australian population is diverse in regards to values, attitudes, social class and lifestyle. The rich and the wealthy represent the highest spender in per capita. However, it represents also the smallest percentage of the population. The market segment is largely not opposed to foreign investment and the government encourages foreign investment in all types of industries. The buying behavior of the Australian population is dependent largely on income.

To position the first step will include identifying a specific attribute that would distinguish the restaurant from competitors. In this regard, the restaurant would aim at the middle income earners. It would create an image as a restaurant of all Australian irrespective of class, race, region, or origin.

References

Day, G. (1980): Strategic Market Analysis: Top-down and bottom-up approaches, working paper, 80-105, Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge, Mass.

Kobrin, Stephen J. (1978): When dose political instability result in increased investment risk? Columbia Journal of World Business. Vol.13, fall. 113-122.

Kobrin, Stephen J. (1979): Political risk: A review and reconsideration, Journal of International Business Studies. Vol.10, 67~80.

Kobrin, Stephen J. (1980): Foreign enterprise and forced divestment in the LDCs, International Organization. Vol.34.

McKenna, R. (1988): Marketing in the age of diversity, Harvard Business Review, vol. 66.

Pine, J. (1993): Mass customizing products and services”, Planning Review, vol. 22.

Ries, A. & Trout, J. (1981): Positioning, The battle for your mind, Warner Books – McGraw-Hill Inc., New York.

Steenkamp & Ter Hofstede (2002): International market segmentation: issues and perspectives, Intern. J. of Market Research, vol. 19, 185-213.

Trout, J. and Rivkin, S. (1996): The New Positioning: The latest on the world’s #1 business strategy, McGraw Hill, New York.

Trout, J., (1969): Positioning is a game people play in today’s me-too market place, Industrial Marketing, Vol.54, pp.51-55.

Introduction

Writing is a very sensitive presentation of facts, ideas, or opinions as the author is challenged to provide not only a clear picture of an issue, event, or occurrences but also give a deeper meaning to what is visible. Many and different writers use various techniques that either appeal to their readers or impress a message with a stronger impact, such as the production of opinion or even mass action.

Failure of one writer to provide an impact to his or her reader spells not only wastage of print and editorial materials but also effort. Further damage includes readers’ frustrations and disappointments.

This essay shall try to evaluate Eric Schlosser’s technique in the book Food Nation using the excerpt “Behind the Counter”. It will try to present how the author did a good or a bad job in providing a view on the opportunist nature of fast-food chains.

Discussion

At an initial view, the author began this chapter by providing a bird’s eye view of the people and their engagements with their work. It delivers the present phenomenon on fast food chains that have taken over the majority of the global foodservice industry and how these impress customers and outsiders of the clean, efficient, healthy, and ideal place to dine and add a little of social life. With vast capital on building, machinery, and impressively designed interiors and furniture, customers and the public are easily swayed and encouraged to patronize such.

A closer look done by investigative writer Schlosser, the public — with or without close encounters with the people, the system, and everything about fast-food chains — are immersed in a different world of abuse, opportunism, as well as feeding the consumer with thrash.

The excerpt opens with one crew member named Elisa waking up to start her day as a crew member. It uses a descriptive narrative as it was an essay about one ordinary day of a person. It is, as it describes how Elisa gets to her work from her quaint and silent-at-dawn neighborhood in suburban America. It just happens that the person at hand was a crew member at a Macdonald’s Colorado Springs branch.

The narrative went on to describe how many few workers — from a manager to a general all-around couple who maintains legwork of preparation, cleaning, and maintenance —maintain the fast-food chain without special skills needed but trained to follow orders by the book to assemble food, clean counters, create milkshakes, etcetera. “They turn the ovens and grills […] get the paper cups, wrappers, cardboard containers, and packets of condiments […] frozen hash browns, the frozen pancakes, and the frozen cinnamon rolls…” (Schlosser, 2001, p 788).

The chapter also provided an exposition on how the fast-food system developed using “throughput” using system and machinery to allow few workers to deliver a massive output. The system was credited to Fred Turner, a Macdonald’s executive in the 1950s. “Turner put together an operation and training manual for the company that was seventy-five pages long, specifying how almost everything should be done. […] Known within the company as “the Bible”… (Schlosser, 2001, pp 789-790).

His description and narrative provided the robot-like structure within the premises of the fast-food chain’s operations, how fast food companies cast an enormous amount of power over their employees as each becomes dispensable and may be replaced at any time the employee no longer wants the job, or when the employer finds the employee no longer of any advantage for the company. Sociologist Robin Leidner was quoted in the book noting, “When management determines exactly how every task is to be done … and can impose its own rules about pace, output, quality, and technique, [it] makes workers increasingly interchangeable,” (qt. from Schlosser, 2001, p 790.)

Other opportunist examples cited by Schlosser include the hiring of unskilled workers comprising mostly of teenagers, paid at a minimum level as contractual workers with limited working benefits. “As the number of baby-boom teenagers declined, the fast-food chains began to hire other marginalized workers: recent immigrants, the elderly, and the handicapped… Many know only the names of the items on the menu; they speak “McDonald’s English,” (p 790). The fast-food chains employ the most disadvantaged members of the American society and provide only training on basic job skills such as getting to work on time.

However, the book provided a very fleeting view of individual franchisees who are also concerned about the welfare of their workers. It showed how the fast-food giants remain unbent on their convictions to churn out the most from their established systems of operations further developing a helpless scenario to cast a negative shadow on the giants.

Using narrative, descriptive, and even historical or chronological presentation of facts and ideas (Rainer, 2004), Schlosser effectively provided a clear picture of the evils of fast-food chains. As presented clearly, the many advantageous positions of fast-food giants against their workers provide a tilting balance with one end standing way up and the other end exactly on the opposite.

Conclusion

The writer presented not only a clear but in-depth view of the fast-food system. Consequently, Schlosser has a very convincing essay about the negative forces being practiced by these multinational giants that take on the lowest and most marginalized members of society, dress them up a few fast-food chain uniforms to have their small place in the economic system.

It is then conclusive that the public needs investigative writers like Schlosser to open windows on popularly accepted norms and practices so that the stakeholders from consumers to workers may be provided a safety net against abuse and gross neglect. In this way, a fair playing field will continue as well as freedom of expression, choice, and individuality are maintained and championed.

Reference

Rainer, Tristine (2004). ‘The New Diary: How to Use a Journal for Self-Guidance and Expanded Creativity. Tarcher.

Schlosser, Eric (2001). “Behind the Counter” from the book Food Nation. Houghton Mifflin.

Introduction

Branding products is an essential part of fast food industry player success; it requires a healthy foods as well as a good corporate social responsibility. Currently not much has been done on this topic and hence it becomes of critical necessity in the present trends of corporate social responsibility and demand of healthy foods. It is imperative to develop sound and strategic brand and maintaining those factors that affect brand of a product to have an effective selling. The product needs to be marketed with forceful plan of action.

MacDonald has used the strategy of acquiring powerful brands as a tool that has kept them market leaders. By having control over the power brands they have managed to expanded internationally. A good brand image should be consistency, of good quality, be sustainable and Innovative. In other words it should be easier to set the product at functional level and be able to maintain it, to be able to co-exist; being able to produce combination in the market that speaks high volumes. It should be able to sold in difficult situation when there is an economy slump where people can’t afford to buy luxury items for example making a loss in the first quarter and coming back strongly in the second quarter by making profit and paying dividends to the shareholders, would boost the confidence and trust of the shareholder in the Company’s brand.

According to Thomson and Rampton (2006) the brand image should be able to provide customers with a degree of excellence and comfort, making them outshine from the rest of the group that is they provide a unique material, there should be diversification in the Products of the brand, so that it is not just dependent on just one particular item. The company should adapt creativity that is diversification in/of the product would be needed to give verity to the customer; an option that would give them a chance to look for something better than the rest of the market could not achieve it’s par excellence or excels to take advantage to that items.

For MacDonald to be able have such a good brand image should consider to critical issues; corporate social responsibility and healthy food. According to Price (2007) corporate social responsibilities includes, the ethical practices that the firm must follow, how environmentally conscious is the firm and over and above how they are responding to the stake holders of the firm. Change in views now demands a firm to be looked upon as a corporate citizen rather than just a business unit. So like a citizen the firm is now equally responsible for the welfare of the society as well as the organization itself. This means when the firm starts operating from the first day onwards they are making a contract with the society to follow the above mention obligations. The degree or extent to which a firm will indulge it to these activities depends upon various aspects like, how critical or important is the role of the stakeholders, what is their financial strength, how had been their past economic performances and also most importantly what is the true intent of the firm towards the social issues. In brief the practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs are viewed as a marketing strategy by the companies as the main focus of the business remains the same that is to retain and increase their current level of consumers. So CSR as a tool in the hands of the firms are serving the dual functions like fulfilling their social responsibilities as well as generating indirect or direct awareness to the consumers.

Methodology

The research with relevance to the above stated aspects was conducted by reviewing secondary data which is readily available. The various sources of secondary data that have been reviewed as part of this research are – a large number of international journals, books and obviously the World Wide Web. Research is the process of finding a solution to a problem or a question through the use of scientific tools and techniques.In a nutshell, research is a methodical and purposeful study conducted to obtain solutions for specific problems. Research is a process of collection of data in an organized manner with subsequent recording and analyzing of such data that will help in an effective decision making process argues Kumar, Aaker and Day (2002).

According to Proctor (2003) there are basically two types of research methods that are prevalent. They are primary research which can further be classified into qualitative research and quantitative research and secondary or desk research. If a qualitative research method is adopted, it is possible to explore various attitudes and perceptions. This method also helps in understanding how such attitudes and perceptions were formed.

According Kumar, Aaker and Day(2002) quantitative research, on the other hand, is descriptive in nature and helps in obtaining hard data by way of surveying a set of sample population to find out the kind of behaviors, attitudes etc, that are exhibited by the selected sample. Secondary research can be defined as the combination and analysis of readily available secondary data. Secondary data is the data which already exists and can be published information.

According Kumar, Aaker and Day (2002) this research is based on the data provided and categorized into two groups with the corporate social responsibility and healthy foods. The survey instrument is the data provided which is analyzed to give meaningful detections about food and eating habits. The use of a questionnaire and optional questions will also be enhanced and the participants will be picked randomly as they shop in this spots, for their foods of choice. The context and eating preferences displayed created the measure in which the information collected could be related to the date in hand to the actual market place. The consumers perception on food and eat, including feelings and behavior when deciding what to food to eat was determined by the age group class and the time factor. Also the study established the cost factor as a determinant on the consumers’ preference of food which prompts them to opt for particular products and not the other ads Kumar, Aaker and Day (2002).

It is important to use the brand image to lead to increased exposure as well as to attract more people to specific brand, which will increase the number of business for the company and enhance the branding of the company and its products argues Ries and Jack (2000).The methodology applied is critical survey and analysis of extensive literature review on the topic of brand image and corporate social responsibility, and Healthy food with the objective to provide comprehensive review of literature and analysis of data collected.

In this report I depended on secondary sources of data and market research, the primary survey was conducted in MacDonald. The first objective of the study was to find out the influences of corporate social responsibility and healthy food on brand image. For this the first important step was to find out the list of customers patronizing MacDonald to interview them. When the list is obtained, weight is observed and his opinion is sort the issue of CSR and healthy food. With those figures a Histogram and regression graph can be plotted. This Histogram and regression graph will give visual implications of which factor is influencing with great dominance. These data will distinctively show the percentage of influence of each factor on brand image. With the findings the company can match their product range and can identify whether their brand is competitive in the market because of CSR, healthy foods or both.

Discussion

The participants were asked why they bought food based on the health factor. There is consumption of foods that contains high-calories like for example fast foods and the increase in the portion sizes also add to the gaining of weight. There is density in the calories to those foods that are considered to be high-fat. The loading up on soft drinks, including candies and desserts may promote the so-called gain weight. The foods as well as beverages of high sugar and at the same time eating away from home may definitely increase the intake of calorie.

Overweight are labels for weight ranges that are greater than what are generally considered healthy for a given person’s height showed. Similarly, these terms are related to weight ranges that have been shown to increase the chances of acquiring certain diseases and other health problems. By taking a person’s weight and height to calculate a number called the “body mass index” (BMI), overweight ranges for adults can be determined. On the eating preference the consumers preferred foods that were eaten by all and which was easily available. It all bulled to the personal desire for a particular product.

CSR

It describes the process and outcome to enact CSR. (Kerr, and Johnston, 2008, p. 2) It is the degree by which the firm makes use of its socially responsible processes. It is the measure of the firm’s actions policies in the social ground. This can be measured in the way of the Principles of social responsibilities that was with the firm, the Process of social responsiveness, that is the action which the firm have taken to adapt the policy and finally the Outcome that is response or the social impact of the policies that resulted from the Process.

according to Price (2007) though there would be change and difference in outlook and constant modification of idea and theories, but no one can ignore the fact that CSR as a practice is gaining its importance. A company’s role is becoming more important and prominent in the society. One may say a company is using its CSR practices as an effective direct marketing tool or to create brand awareness, but the fact is there is an effort on the part of these firms to indulge itself in social and philanthropic activities. The companies have realized that their performance cannot be judged by a single yardstick. Corporate performance, especially for the global companies are measured in different dimensions. Their contribution to the society, the environmental issues and their participation in the global development and welfare are also strictly scrutinized now. As we have observed from the various theories that in the short run though consumers and investors look at the economic performance of a company but in the long run, the other performance comes into picture. So with the increase in competition and expectation from a company, it’s about time they should start acting. It is not necessary that the companies have to invest a huge amount in these activities or do something which does not match their present business scenario, but what is expected is very simple. They should be environmentally and socially responsible in whatever way its suits their business.

Results

Both quantitative and qualitative data were used to establish the relationship between corporate social responsibility, healthy food and brand image because the ticked answers could not solely be used. The qualitative information about the influences of CSR and the reasons behind the choices of MacDonald taken provided an extra check for reliability. In the factor of social concerns, the participants did agree on some of the items like saying that CSR contributed to their patronizing MacDonald. These results however, indicated that most people prefer those eating places that are had healthy foods because health concerns and it means that there is a vanity to eat as well as fresh foods at all times.

Health concerns are popular when one wants to eat not unless he or she is unwell on under a strict diet. Creativity in foods was a preference to, 70% of the participants agreed to being consumers of these foods while 40% said that they only buy these foods for their young ones. Time limitation showed that 80% of the affected consumers want to the fast foods whole 20% want to fast foods because they like the food adds Elfhag and Rssner(2008).

Analysis I

Corporate Social responsibility was found to be a great influencing factor that influenced patronizing of Macdonald as is related to the global influence because most people like feeling that they are eating what others can easily identify with while creativity in food is mainly used to boost the appetite and tempt one to buy. Most food companies know this and thus advantage of this factor to get people to consume their products by creating togetherness that paints picture of a people who are sharing that eating values and preferences. The reason as why most people count on this season is that the foods are easily available, affordable and popular. Also one can count on the nutrition value of the food influence one to buy particular food stuff. It can be noted that CSR and healthy foods factors influenced brand image the same way. However CSR played a major role as shown in the charts below.

This research shows showed the corporate reputation to depend on the social responsibility more than the type of food. Ignorance of social responsibilities was also found to be harmful for the company as evident from the punishment by the consumers. Consumers have been found to be expecting more socially responsible acts from the companies and pressurizing them in this regard. As a result the general global trend for the companies is to take more socially responsible actions to please the consumers as well as the investors.

CSR and Healthy food are intended to produce increased consumption at MacDonald through this brand image is created. For these reasons, at times, implant their convincing message with truthful information through.

To counter this fast foods are taking idea of making their precuts better- there is the organic food with the some companies going organic and getting down on plans to turn lunch spots which mainly fast food joints into places where office workers can have a meat loaf sandwich made with organic beef. The health concepts of whole meals are enhancing the health concern element into the people food preferences without necessary changing the design of the food.

The health factor when eating takes a back seat as long as one is not unwell with most people opting to have their preferred foods. Big companies take a big scoop of the consumers who want to recognize with their success with a larger population preferring to buy their products adds Elfhag and Rssner(2008).

Analyze II

The factors that determine the foods consumed are steady because of it being counteracted on the basis of being affected by the price, time, proximity, marking stature and the health of an individual.

According to this research weight is influenced by Healthy food. In order to avoid such worst health issues, the physical practitioners recommend that obese adults should adopt habits of well-balanced dieting along with regular exercise for the physical maintenance. It is recommended by the experts that the obese individuals should try to adopt moderate ways of dieting for the reduction of obesity-related health problems.

• Price:-The people who are influenced by the social element that comes with eating a certain food find themselves in the dilemma of having to choose the social class in which they can afford to buy food.Fast foods are affordable and even without the time limitation some consumers just buy it because of the financial limitations.
• Time:- This is an element that affect food consumption even though someone may have a preference for the healthy food, he or she may not be able to go for it due to lack of time and thus just rush to a fast food against his or her personal preference.
• Proximity:- When one is hungry most people tend to buy what is within their reach, the creative foods are usually available thus proximity affects what one eats. When one is unwell he or she is inclined to go for the health conscious products even though sometimes this fact takes a back seat for some lessons.

Implication

Food and eating preferences are personal exceptions which can be influenced by modes of adverts and the mindset created by the marketing lines. Social indirections can be as a result of peer pressure as well as the global influence. This so because eating habits and food preferences are subject to change with time due to the external factors that influence us.

A fast food consumer can change his or her preference and start going for the health conscious meals due to changes in his or her health. Creativity in food mainly attracted the young one and this can change when one outgrows it. Time also determines what we eat- on day when one is haste he or she can go into a fast food whole on less busy day there is enough time to go to the social places.

List of References

Elfhag, K., and S. Rssner..(2008) “Who succeeds in maintaining weight loss? A conceptual review of factors associated with weight loss maintenance and weight regain.” Obesity Reviews 6.1 (2005): 67-85. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.

Keller, K. L 2002, Strategic Brand Management: 2^nd Edition- Prentice Hall Kumar, V., Aaker, D.A. and Day, GS 2002, Essentials of Marketing Research. New York. Wiley & Sons Price, T 2007, Corporate Social Responsibility: Is good citizenship good for the bottom line? CQ Research, 17 (28).

Proctor, T 2003, Essentials of Marketing Research, London: Pitman Heinneman Ries, A. & Jack, T 2000, Positioning- The Battle for Your Mind- 20^th Anniversary Edition: McGraw-Hill Thomson, C. & Rampton, L 2006. Putting Your Customers First, Market Research. Melbourne press, New York.

Employment relations can be defined as the existing affiliation between an employee and his employer or between employees. This is a relationship that is categorically witnessed in all organizations despite their levels or mode of operations.

It is however a challenge to always uphold good employment relations between people in an organization because disagreements are by nature inevitable and are usually expressed in different ways. Nonetheless, conflict can both be positive or negative and thus generating different kinds of consequences on the work environment.

Positive conflict can be a motivation for higher productivity as well as breed creativity and better decision making practices among the workforce. Negative conflicts on the other hand can increase the obstacles to both individual and organizational efficiency. The inclination to conceal disparities within a company rather than tackling them, more often than not results in negative effects.

This is because differences often cause no or poor communication and when viewpoints and other information is not sufficiently shared, the possibility of unveiling errors and taking risks is considerably lowered. In addition, there may also be a loss of interest in work and thus increased stress, lack of motivation and sometimes can result in absenteeism or disruption among employees.

Employees are very essential for the flourishing and survival of an organization because no company can run without them. It is therefore imperative to ensure the comfort of employees and for good employment relations to be built and extended there are certain advantages and legal constitutions that have to be established for the sake of the workforce (Bamber, Lansbury and Wailes 2004).

Every company has its own dynamics of employment relations that work for both its employees, employers and the whole organization. As for the fast food industry globally employment relations remains quite essential. This paper is concerned with the employment and work relations in the fast food industries in Germany and United states as compared to those of Singapore.

Fast food restaurants are a great convenience for the modern person and have been for many years. The first fast food chain which is McDonalds was initially opened on April 1955 and to date many other fast food chain restaurants have entered the market all over the globe.

In addition to McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza hut and Wimpy are some of the other examples of fast food restaurants that are in the global market. As the number of fast food restaurants increased, the job opportunities increased as well. Thus, with the coming on of such a large labor force the industry at that instant faced the responsibility of coming up with models of labour management in order to handle the workforce (Royle and Towers 2002).

Being the pioneering fast food chain, most of the fast food industries chose to assume the McDonald’s model of labour management. There are two sides of argument on the labour management policies and practices. The critics usually depict employers as offering low-wage work that is often unchallenging and monotonous to the workers.

On the other hand, the supporters of the management policies argue that the fast food industry offers young workers training and preparation opportunities as well as the prospects of building up a career and course into employment. Although this interpretation portrays that fast food work does not signify a long-term career for most of the people who do it, either of these two standpoints is a clear indication of the kind of alliance that exists between an employer and his/her employees.

Industrial relations, work organization and human resource management can be referred to be the main points of focus in labour management and employment relations.

In connection to the same, there are also numerous themes identified, which relate to the alignment of preferences in the fast food employment relations. These are such as the personnel not having enough knowledge on industrial relations or they do not like certain features of work management, yet they react positively to other aspects of human resource management policies and practices.

They could also be the issue of the personnel lacking sufficient information of general labour management issues. In addition, as they get older, most of the young workers seem to grow an aversion to the aspects of fast food labour. Luckily, there are a few of them with particular unique characteristics who seem to continue liking the McDonalds approach even as they age.

With Singapore being in the Southeast Asian region of the Asian Continent, and Germany and United States being in the European and North American continents respectively, there are obviously bound to have differences in all aspects of operations including the employment industries as well as the characteristics of work and employment relations and labour management.

However with McDonalds, which is an American franchise, being the current market leader of the fast-food industry in Singapore and Germany, similarities in employment relations are also highly expected.

Generally, employers in America have a great deal of freedom on establishing the conditions of employment in their companies as compared to other employers in the other industrialized nations. In relation to the fast food industry, its progression was largely based on the promise of low prices and quick services. As a result, the profitability is greatly reliant on keeping the labour and operation costs down.

However, the increasing number of fast-food restaurants and chains has led to sturdy and competitive pressure in a background that allows employers significant discretions and yet does not guarantee the employees to have a say in control of the working conditions. This in turn attributed to low paid wages, negligible benefits, stretched recruitment of staff and added efforts to increase labour. On the other hand, Germany has its own model known as the model of co-determination.

It is based on indirect participation with selected worker representatives and formal organizations with rights that are supported in law. There are three pieces of legislation that cover private businesses and one of them is the 1952/1972 Works Constitution Act, which concentrates on co-determination at the workplace through various forms of works councils and one form of co-determination at board level for limited liability companies that have over 500 employees.

This Act presents for a works council in any business that has five or more employees who are beyond 18 years of age. The works councils have certain responsibilities and powers and thus can make proposals to an employer and in fact, in some areas where the works council has co-determination rights, an employer cannot go against the decisions or wishes of the works council.

However, in the case of Singapore, there was a consolidation of various labour laws and policies by the government in 1968 which led to the introduction of the Employment Act and the amendment of the Industrial Relations Act. By leaving out matters such as promotions, transfers, retirement, retrenchment, dismissals and work assignments the latter Act gave a lot of authority to the employer as it left such concerns to be negotiated between the employers and employees.

However, unlike in the United States, the Singapore government has incorporated some laws which counter the pro-employer bias and afford basic safety to the employees. This law grants a 44-hour working week, 7 days paid annual leave, eleven public holidays, 28 days paid sick leave, two months paid maternity leave and an overtime rate of time as well as a half and double time on Sundays and public holidays (Perry et al,. 1997, p. 55).

Singapore’s government intentionally designed the employment laws and polices so as to regulate the labour market and despite an overwhelming manifestation of the state being pro-employer in the employment relations system, it is not easy to argue that workers have been meeting inadequate treatment. In the United States, various features of the fast-food industry have made organization of unions to be a challenge.

For example, there is decentralization whereby workers are usually employed by franchisees rather than direct employment by the fast-food companies. In addition, the characteristics of jobs as well as the nature of the jobs create more obstacles to the process of unionization. Conversely, union membership is very high in Singapore as the most significant measure that the government launched was to give employees the right to choose whether or not to join a union.

There was intentional build up of hawker centers in all the public housing estates by the Singapore government after the national independence in 1965, which was meant to accommodate both the merchants as well as the patrons.

However, in the 1990s, many of these hawker centers began to renovate themselves in order to bear a resemblance to the ‘food courts’ originating in American shopping malls. Despite McDonald’s Restaurants having a high degree of centralized control, it was unexpectedly, not the first American-styled fast-food restaurant to be founded in Singapore. Before it was A & W’s Restaurants and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises, which were introduced in Singapore through a structure of local franchising that was there in the 1970s (Royle and Towers 2002).

In the United States, the fast-food industry predominantly employs young people of about 20 years or younger who mostly view their jobs as temporary with plans of moving on to other fields of employment. When McDonalds was initially established in Singapore, the most significant event is that the headquarters team was filled with experienced and highly qualified professionals with most of them being university graduates who had worked as managerial level executives before joining McDonalds.

Restaurant managers on the other hand were mainly secondary school leavers while the crew workers had low levels of educational credentials. Like in the United States, most of the crew employees were part-time workers and most especially individuals who had other full time commitments such as young people in full-time education or mothers with school-going children.

The extreme routinization of work is a common feature observed in the fast-food industry in these three countries. Routinization of work refers to when each worker repeatedly executes a limited number of errands and does it according to the directives that are given by management.

Routinization is especially made easy when an industry is dominated by a workforce of young, inexperienced part-time employees who do not settle on the job for long. This ends up minimizing if not virtually eliminating, as in the case of the fast food industry, the need or opportunity for workers to exercise diplomacy.

Most of the fast-food restaurants have adapted this sort of standardization due to the several benefits it affords them. Managerial control over the operation is dully increased and wage costs are cut through the elimination of the need to hire skilled workers who demand higher salaries. Simplified jobs are easy and quick to learn thus making employers less dependent on experienced skill and workers.

Routinization also proffers the competence to uphold consistent results or products. Since the advertising campaigns always promise fast-food customers to provide a particular standard of food and services, they ensure the delivery of those promises by propagating clear-cut instructions that specify every detail of the food preparation as well as the customer service (Bamber, Lansbury and Wailes 2004).

Technology has also changed and greatly influenced our lives immensely. This includes the introduction of the internet, electronic mails, which have drastically affected the working environment and employment relations as well. Over the years, there has been progressive introduction of several technologically advanced machines that have standardized the work of crew workers and minimized the amount of skills required.

These are such grills and fry vats that have lights and buzzes to guide workers, food products that only require heating, rehydration or assembling, computerized cash registers that can calculate tax, give change and monitor work. There are also computerized systems which help in scheduling work shifts, handling payroll, ordering supplies and monitoring of sales, inventories and waste.

In Singapore, the unions criticized fast-food companies for the pay levels, conditions of employment and their negative reactions in regard to the election of work councils.

However, the establishment of a human resource management program that fostered corporate values and discouraged employee resistance. In Germany there was an establishment of a new employers’ federation known as the BdS (Bundesverband der Systemgastronomie) to provide a lobbying vehicle, which negotiated with the NGG for a collective agreement (Royle and Towers 2002).

In conclusion it is evident that employees are the backbone of the fast food industry and proper labour management laws and regulations should be put in place to address their needs. In return for getting profits from products and services sold by the company, management should employ staff to carry out tasks and responsibilities according to job specifications and pay the employees for their services. This is a practice that should be upheld in all sectors including the fast food industry.

Furthermore even with the constantly changing workforce, proper training should be given to all and new employees so as yield the orderly and quick service that every client expects. Royle & Towers (2002, p. 85) opines that “this could be done successfully using an effective employee manual to train new employees on what is expected of them in regard to the general practices and procedures of proper employee conduct.”

Reference List

Bamber, G. Lansbury, R. & Wailes, N. 2004. International and comparative employment relations: globalisation and the developed market economies. London: Sage.

Royle, T. & Towers, B. 2002. Labour relations in the global fast-food industry. New York, NY: Routledge.