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前言
随着世界经济的蓬勃发展,消费者对于食物和服务与以往相比，有更多的选择。与此同时,市场上的竞争，从能源到建设到零售也变得更加激烈，已经不同于几十年前的市场竞争。如何在竞争激烈的市场中发展成为一个充满竞争力的组织已经成为一个严重的问题,一个公司能否生存，一个企业能否在激烈竞争中脱颖而出，不是由一些传统的因素决定的。导致一个公司成功，变得不同的重要因素,与此同时也会使一个公司不断提高他们的竞争力，以在激烈的市场竞争中谋得一席之地。因此,许多公司和行业试图提高他们的竞争能力。例如,一些公司将以持续升级和改进他们的产品或服务作为他们的信条,其他一些公司通过价格战打击竞争对手。然而,随着各种营销工具的使用,道德问题一直是一个严重的问题，并且已引起了社会的极大关注。本文将首先讨论肯德基公司的背景及其伦理问题。此外，将参照文献简要讨论肯德基公司的道德问题。最后,得出结论，表明在这一问题上的立场。
Introduction
With the flourish of the world’s economy, consumers have much more options of food or service than ever before. At the same time, the competition in the market from energy to construction and retail is also becoming fiercer than it's been in decades. How to survive in the competitive market becomes a serious problem，and whether a company can survive in the strongly competitive marketing or not, is not decided by some traditional factors any more. And with the factors that contribute to the success of one company become various, at the same time the way in which one company increase their competitive ability also become various. As a result, many companies and industries have sought to improve their competitive ability in every way. For example, some companies treat continuous upgrading and improvement of their products or service as their credo, and some other companies fight against their competitors through price war. However, with the using of a variety of marketing tools, the ethical issue has been a serious problem which has been a cause of concern for some time. This essay will firstly discuss the background of the KFC Company, and its ethical issue. Following this, it will give a brief discussion of ethical issue of the KFC Company with reference to the literature. Finally, it will come to a conclusion of the discussion of the ethical issue, which is also my standpoint on the issue.
Main body The Background of the KFC Company
The KFC Company has a very long history, and it is famous for its chicken food. As an international company, KFC has already spread all over the world with thousands of stores, though it has a lot of very strong competitors such as McDonald's Corporation, Faircloth Food Services, Inc, Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits. KFC’s specialty is its various forms of fried chicken, and it has two lines of hamburgers, one is the regular chicken sandwiched and the other is its Snackers. In some other places, KFC also serves other types of fast food such as pork ribs or fish. Although KFC have been popular since its establishment, it has some ethical problems. For example, in the process of making fried foods, KFC uses partially hydrogenated oil which has relatively amount of trans fat, which can increase the risk of heart disease. Although the CSP, Center for Science in the Public Interest has took action to let KFC in the United States use some other type oil or be sure the customers know trans fat when they buy KFC foods, some other places continue to treat the hydrogenated oil as their first choice. Besides the production of food, the advertising slogans of KFC also have some ethic problems. KFC used “Finger lickin’ good” as its advertising slogans before 2006, and used “Follow your taste” between 2006 and 2010, and “So good” from 2010 to resent today, all of those can be realized from the appendix in the final part of the essay. It can learn that all of KFC’s advertising slogans avoid talking about its nutritional value, which has not given a warning when its customers buy the KFC fast food. Another issue definitely can not be ignored, that is, animal rights. Just like what Adele Douglass, who was a member of the KFC Animal Welfare Advisory Council, stated that KFC has never ask advice for animal things, the Council was just poorly coordinated even had never got going.(Securities and Exchange Commission, 2006)All of those things of KFC are related to ethic problem, but what is the meaning of ethics? Ethics is a kind of knowledge of philosophy, which we will follow its principles such as the idea of Good when we deal with our life things. (Louis & Pojman, 2011) However, KFC, the fast food giant, has been ordered to pay $8.3m to a poisoned girl’s family. (BBC News, 2012). It makes us question the ethics in the producing of KFC’s fast food. Ethical Issue of the KFC Company
KFC Company has faced with ethical issues in some aspects in recent years. It can say that the process from the products’ design to the consumption is closely related to the ethical issues. However, the design plays a key role in the process. Just like what Adrian Forty stated “Far from being a neutral, inoffensive artistic activity, design, by its very nature, has much more enduring effects than the ephemeral products of the media because it can cast ideas about who we are and how we should behave into permanent and tangible forms”. (Forty, 1986) KFC uses hydrogenated oil in the producing of its fried chicken, and it does not seriously care about whether the kind of oil will hurt the customers’ heath. In this way, the action of the KFC Company dose not confirm to ethical principle—the idea of Good. If the thing goes on like this, people will believe the design of one company’s products is to create some spurious value, cynical manipulation, and try proving the inflated price of the product through its creating false impression of status and exclusivity. (Conran, 1996) Although different people have their own different design standard, the KFC Company should pay much more attention to its products’ design. The so called ethical product put the product safety, consumer privacy, and employee welfare, fair pricing in the first place and fight against the purchase decision. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) Today, advertisement is a dispensable part of one product’s promotions. In the field of product’s promotion, there are also some ethical issues such as advertise false information of the company’s products, mislead consumers to buy its products. However, different people hold different opinion to advertisement. Some people think that advertisement is a great art in the twentieth century. (Marshall & Robert, 1976) But some other people hold a totally different opinion. For example, Stephen Butler Leacock stated that advertising can be described as a kind of science in which the potential of human wisdom will certainly be fully tapped in order to get money from it. (Stephen, 1982) it is true that company advertise for its product widely without having any reference to nutritional values. For example, the KFC Company is famous for its specific food, the fried chicken food. However, the advertising slogans, no matter the past ones, “Finger lickin’ good”, “Follow your taste” or the present one, “So good”, all of them have no reference the fast food’s nutritional values at all. It is confirm to business ethics. The so called business ethics is “the study of business situations, activities, and decisions where issues of right and wrong are addressed”. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) When it comes to the right and wrong, it just means the activities of the company are morally right and wrong, which is opposed to such aspects as commercially, strategically, or financially right and wrong. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) Obviously, the KFC’s action in the filed of food safety does not follow the principle of business ethics.
There are several approached to marketing ethics such as normative marketing ethics, positive marketing ethics and debating between the above two positions. In recent years, some new approaches have developed rapidly such as critical theory, feminist ethics and postmodern approaches. All of those new approaches developed as a kind force instead of the traditional ones. However, although the new ones have some obvious advantages over the traditional ones, the latter has its speciality. For example, according to the basic principle of the normative marketing ethics, ethical marketing should put people in the first place. (Laczniak, & Murphy, 2006) In other words, normative marketing ethics means ethical and socially responsible marketing in normative perspectives. No matter what the roles of people in the marketing, for example, costumers, workers, they should be treated in an ethical way, and they can receive the real social benefit in the marketing system. However, it can say that the basic principle—put the people first is not expressed in some aspects of KFC’s operation such as food safety. The case of Australian KFC poisoned girl is still in suspense, because the KFC Company says it will appeal against the decision—KFC must pay $8.3m to poisoned girl. In this case, it can see clearly that the function of marketing managers in the marketing ethical system. As a very important leader, the marketing manager must make sure that the source material is good. In the case of the Australian KFC poisoned girl, the family’s lawyer told the Australian court that the KFC restaurant would use chicken that had already been dropped on its floor at some busy times. (BBC News, 2012) Obviously, the thing that happened to KFC will definitely lead a great damage to KFC Company’s reputation. However, it can say that this matter's subject matter puts the blame on the manager's fault. It is him who has not required a close attention to healthy sanitation. Just as what Peter Drucker stated a manager of an organization served as a very important member of a leadership, he plays his role under the demands of professional ethic, and the demands is one of the ethic of responsibility. (Drucker, 1954)With the fast development of globalization, more and more companies are paying much attention to reputation of their products, because there are more and more other options can be available. So the term “sustainability” has a specific meaning to one company’s development. Today the sustainability usually includes three main elements namely economic component, social and environmental aspects, so sustainability can be viewed as the systems’ long term maintenance, which must take the three components into consideration. (Crane, & Matten, 2007) From this definition of sustainability, it can realize that sustainability is also playing a key role in the business ethics. Just like what have stated above, the KFC Company has already several strong competitors in the world, if it still continues its original management instead of taking action in food safety and environmental issues, it will have to face with the sustainability problem.#p#分页标题#e#
Conclusion
In conclusion, the KFC Company has been an international firm today with its specialty food, and it has thousands of stores spreading over the world. It can say almost all of the customers who have ate the fried chicken which is the specialty of the KFC Company, would be full of praise to it. However, it is not at all perfect such as in the aspects of food safety, environmental problem and advertising honesty. All of those are related to the marketing ethics. In the marketing system, the ethical concept in the design of one organization plays a key role, because the design of one product can be viewed as the original starting in the process of marketing operation. Another important aspect in the maintenance of business ethics is advertising ethics. Advertisement is a tool of one company to advertising its products. However, when one company advertising its products, it must give the customers the true and full information rather than just the merits of its products, and it must have the ethical concern with products and have ethical responsibility to its costumers.. From the advertising slogans of the KFC Company, both the slogans of the past and the present, one can not find the warning of food safety and environmental cares, even animal right. All of those aspects lead to one of results, that is, it has to face with many ethical issues today. From the case of the Australian KFC poisoned girl we can realize that one company should pay much attention to its marketing ethics. In the marketing system, there are traditional ethical approaches and modern ethical approaches. Among them the normative ethical approach is a humane and efficient method, because it put the people in the first place. Ethical concern in the sustainability of one company is playing more and more important role. So if a company wants to survive in the stronger and stronger competitive market, it must make sure its action follow the three components of sustainability in an ethical way. It is the time that the KFC Company needs to pay much more attention to its operation in ethical aspects.
Reference Crane, A & Matten, D. (2006), Securities and Exchange Commission, “Relating to an animal welfare Standards Report-Shareholder Proposal” EDGAR Online, Inc. Retrieved October 28, 2007. Louis P. Pojman & James Fieser, (2011). “Ethics: discovering right and wrong” seventh edition Cengage Learning Forty, (1986). “Objects of Desire”, Pantheon Books, p6 Conran, (1996). “Terence Conran On Design”, Overlook Press, p17 Crane, A. & Matten, D. (2007), “Business ethics; managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization”, Oxford University Press p362 Marshall, M. & Robert, A. (1976) “the Routledge Dictionary of Quotations”, (1987) Routledge and Kegan Paul p5 Stephen Butler Leacock, (1982) quoted in “Michael Jackman,Crown's Book of Political Quotations”, Crown Publishing Inc., p. 1 Crane, A. & Matten, D. (2007), “Business ethics; managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization”, Oxford University Press p5 Laczniak, G.R & Murphy, P.E. (2006), “Normative perspectives for ethical and socially responsible marketing”, Journal of Macromarketing, 12, (26), p157 Drucker, Peter F, (1954) “the practice of management” New York Harper and Row—1974 “Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices”. p368
Crane, A & Matten, D. (2007) “Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the age of Globalization”, Oxford University Press, p23
Appendix
KFC, founded and also famous as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants. It has been a brand and operating segment. And it got the mane Yum! Brands, when KFC was spun off from a restaurant in 1997. The founder of KFC Company is Colonel Harland Sanders, who served his fried chicken in 1930 in the midst of the Great Depression at a gas station he owned in North Corbin, Kentucky.
The spatiality of KFC is fried chicken served in various forms. The primary product of the KFC Company is pressure fried pieces of chicken made with the original recipe. KFC has two lines of burgers or sandwiches. One is its regular chicken sandwiches or burgers, and the other is its snakers line. The regular sandwiches are served on either a sesame seed or corn dusted roll and are made from either whole breast fillets, chopped chicken in a sauce strips and various toppings.
A variety of finger foods, which include chicken strips, wings, nuggets, and popcorn chicken, and potato wedges.
In some other places of the world, KC may serve hamburgers, pork ribs or fish. And they are also the specialty of KFC.
KFC has partially used hydrogenated oil in its fried foods. However, the kind of oil contains very high levels of trans fat, which can increase the risk of heart disease. And in the United States, there are some agency having giving warning to KFC or having filed court cases against KFC with the aim of making it use other type of oil. The KFC in the United States said it would fry its chicken food in trans fat free oil, however, it would still use this kind of oil in its biscuits, macaroni and cheese, and other types of food.
The advertising slogans of KFC Company have changed over years. Before 2006, the advertising slogan was “Finger lickin’ good”. “Follow your taste” was the one it used from 2006 to 2010 and “So good” it the one that used from 2010 till present.
KFC also has environmental concerns such as the animal rights. And another one is its use of soy for chicken food. The principal competitors of KFC in the field of fast food, including McDonald’s Corporation, Faircloth Food Services, Inc and Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits. |
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