1.

Introduction
1.1. About Company
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who
began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great
Depression. Sanders identified the potential of restaurant franchising, and the first "Kentucky
Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in
the fast-food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of
the hamburger. Branding himself "Colonel Sanders", the founder became a prominent figure of
American cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising. The
company's rapid expansion made it too large for Sanders to manage, so in 1964 he sold the
company to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown, Jr. and Jack C. Massey.
KFC was one of the first fast-food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets in England,
Mexico and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, KFC experienced mixed
success domestically, as it went through a series of changes in corporate ownership with little or
no experience in the restaurant business. In the early 1970s, KFC was sold to the spirits
distributor Heublein, which was taken over by the R.J. Reynolds food and tobacco conglomerate,
which later sold the chain to PepsiCo. The chain continued to expand overseas, and in 1987 KFC
became the first Western restaurant chain to open in China.
In 1997, PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as Tricon Global Restaurants, which changed
its name to Yum! Brands in 2002. Yum has proved a more focused owner than Pepsi, and
although KFC's number of outlets have declined in the US, the company has continued to grow
in Asia, South America and Africa. The chain has expanded to 18,875 outlets across 118
countries and territories, with 4,563 outlets in China alone, KFC's largest market.
By 1956, Sanders had six or eight franchisees, including Dave Thomas, who eventually founded
the Wendy's restaurant chain. Thomas developed the rotating red bucket sign, was an early
advocate of the take-out concept that Harman had pioneered, and introduced a bookkeeping form
that Sanders rolled out across the entire KFC chain. Thomas sold his shares in 1968 for US$1
million (around US$7 million in 2013), and became regional manager for all KFC restaurants
east of the Mississippi before founding Wendy's in 1969.

In 1956, Sanders moved the company headquarters from Corbin to Shelbyville, Kentucky, which
offered superior transport links through which he could distribute his spices, pressure cookers,
take-out cartons and advertising material to franchisees.
KFC popularized chicken in the fast food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the
established dominance of the hamburger. In 1960 the company had around 200 franchised
restaurants; by 1963 this had grown to over 600, making it the largest fast food operation in the
United States.
There were 5,800 KFC outlets worldwide by 1983, located across 55 different countries.
Reynolds had to contend with the introduction of Chicken McNuggets across the McDonald's
chain in 1983; KFC introduced its own brand of chicken nuggets, called "Kentucky Nuggets" in
1985. In 1984, Reynolds dedicated $168 million for capital expansion at KFC.
In March 1991 the KFC name was officially adopted, although the chain was already widely
known by that initialism. The early 1990s saw successful major products launched throughout
the chain, including spicy "Hot Wings" (launched in 1990), popcorn chicken (1992), and, outside
the US, the "Zinger", a spicy chicken fillet burger (1993). In June 1991, Singapore was chosen
for the launch of the first ever KFC breakfast menu. Products included chicken, omelettes and
scrambled eggs, sold under the "Colonel's Country Breakfast" banner. Singapore was chosen for
the launch due to the growth of the breakfast market in that country.
While the US division struggled, becoming the weakest part of PepsiCo's restaurants division,
elsewhere sales boomed, with particular success in Japan. By 1993, KFC in the Asia Pacific
region accounted for 22 percent of all KFC sales. John Cranor announced, "We're looking at
almost unlimited opportunity for growth in Asia". By 1993, KFC was the leading Western fast
food chain in South Korea, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, and was second to
McDonald's in most other Asian markets, including Japan and Singapore.
Today, KFC Malaysia continues to serve finger lickin' good, succulent pieces of chicken. The
flavourful blends of 11 herbs and spices give KFC's delicious aroma. With the chicken's natural
juices sealed-in, leaving a special mouth watering taste that cannot be replaced. KFC prides itself
as a fast-food restaurant that give customers great tasting chicken with a selection of home-styled
side dishes and desserts to make a wholesome, complete and satisfying meal.

2. Abstract
This research aims at studying cross-cultural in management. There are areas in management
whereby differences towards attitudes, behaviors, functioning, communication issues and
cultural implications can be seen. Cultural varieties may be witnessed in the workplace, and there
are other factors introduced such as reaching sales targets, meeting deadlines, working on tight
budgets, which may cause conflict. Because of the differences in cultures, there might be some
kind of misunderstanding among people working in the same organization due to their different
values, beliefs, backgrounds, etc. For a successful management, any person should be able to
work with people from different cultural backgrounds no matter what their cultural orientation is.
Evidence on this is the successful management of many western companies operating in different
parts of the world such as the Asia Country and they come up with good managerial results.
3. Determinants of Terms and Meaning
3.1. Culture
To start with, there has to be a good definition of the expression culture which can be
defined as the inherited values, concepts, and ways of living which are shared by people of
the same social group. To make the definition clearer, culture is divided into two kinds; the
first is generic culture which is a shared culture of all humans living on this planet. The
second is local culture which refers to symbols and schemas shared by a particular social
group. As is known, the world is becoming nowadays a global village, in the sense that the
technological achievements of this modern time have brought people closer together. This
also means that people from different parts of the world and with different cultural
backgrounds are working and communicating together. This fact is in a way interesting, but
dealing with people from different cultures requires knowing the cultural diversities; for
instance the way we deal with them, what we say and what we should avoid saying, how to
communicate and to be aware of the cultural taboos because what is accepted in one culture
might not be accepted in another. What applies to every day communication among cultures
applies to communication in the workplace. Working with people in an organization requires
dealing with certain issues such as motivating employees, structuring policies and developing

strategies. In this case, there has to be a kind of understanding of the cultural diversities in
order to apply the afore-mentioned issues in the workplace.
As Marshall McLuhan called it in 1989, we are now living in a global village (McLuhan,
1996). New technologies, information, and even tastes travel all around the world in a split
second. This fact creates both opportunities and threats for industries in many diverse areas,
such as operations, management and leadership styles, and others. Overcoming these
challenges requires focusing on the local customs and conditions of each region. More
specifically, international companies and marketers should take advantage of different
cultures as they play an important role in consumers perception towards preferences in
purchasing a product or service (Shafi et al, 2014; Lim & Park, 2013).
To give a broader definition of the word culture, the word comes in two meanings. The first
meaning is civilization which entails arts and crafts, education and manners. While the
second meaning refers to the way people think, feel and act in accordance with the values
and norms dominant in their society. According to Hofstede Geert, culture is defined as the
collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of
people from another. In simple words, culture refers to the values known to a certain ethnic
group of the same social background.
3.2. Cross-Cultural Management
According to Nancy Adler (2008), she gives a good definition of cross cultural management:
Cross-cultural management explains the behavior of people in organizations around the
world and shows people how to work in organizations with employees and client populations
from many different cultures. The importance of cross-cultural management lies in the ongrowing co-operation between companies in different countries where difficulties may arise
because of the different cultural backgrounds. One of the well-known researchers in the field
of culture and management is Geert Hofstede (1980). Therefore, Hofstedes work is
considered indispensable to any study on culture and management. He developed what is
called a dimensional approach to cross-cultural comparisons.

4. Elements of Culture
Malaysia, located in a strategic position in the South East Asia, has a relatively open market to
the world. The number of companies entering Malaysia to serve the market has grown over the
years; therefore, the need to know the best practices of gaining the market is essential.
Comprising different ethnic groups - Malays, Indians, Chinese- and a wide range of religious
Islam, Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu-, Malaysia would be considered among the multinational
countries with different cultural issues. An international marketer must take this diversity into
account. Culture, is defined as the sum total of learned beliefs, values and customs that serve to
direct consumer behavior in particular country market (Doole & Lowe, 2001, p. 85). Usunier
(1993) believes culture has three essential components:
4.1. Beliefs: A large number of mental and verbal processes reflecting our knowledge and
assessment of products and services.
4.2. Values: The indicators consumers use to serve as guides for what is appropriate behavior.
They tend to be relatively stable and enduring over time and widely accepted by
members of a particular market.
4.3. Customs: Modes of behavior that constitute culturally approved acceptable ways of

behaving in specific situations. Examples of customs are birth, marriage, death, and at
key events in the year like Hari Raya or Christmas Eve.
These components directly affect consumption behaviors and patterns of purchase. They send
messages to the consumer about the selection of the good or service. However, Doole and Lowe
(2001) define eight other elements of culture, which form an easy understanding framework for
examining a culture in an organization. These elements are: religion, values and attitudes,
education, social organization, technology and material culture, law and politics, aesthetics, and
last but not least, language. One framework for a clear understanding of the influence of culture
on international marketing is the Hofstedes (1983) five cultural dimensions; Power Distance
Index (PDI), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS)
versus its opposite femininity, and Long-Term Orientation (LTO) versus Short Term Orientation.
According to him the way people in different countries perceive and interpret their world varies
along these dimensions. Another framework to understand culture is what Hall (1960)

introduces: high and low context cultures. Higher context cultures prefer using high-context
messages over low-context messages in routine communication. Low-context cultures rely on
spoken and written language for meaning while High-context cultures use and interpret more of
the elements surrounding the message to develop their understanding of the message. In highcontext cultures, knowledge and the social importance of the person add extra information to the
message; and this will be perceived by the message- receiver. Since this research focuses on the
cultural dimensions of Malaysia and their effects on marketing activities, especially on
promotion of international companies, there is a crucial need to study Malaysian cultural
dimensions.

5. Malaysian Culture
Malaysians are from many different ethnic origins. Over the years, each of these ethnic groups
has been able to keep its own unique culture and they all live in harmony in multicultural
Malaysia. Abdullah (1996) points out that while Malaysians differ in many symbolic
expressions, their common denominator lies in their deep-seated Asian values, some of which are
respect for their elders, collectivistic orientation, Harmonious relationships, a concern for face
saving, and a religion orientation. At intracultural level they adopt a communication style that
would enable them to relate with members of their ethnic groups. At intercultural level they
want to build rapport and understanding between their own and other ethnic groups within
Malaysia. At cross-cultural level they learn to communicate with foreigners. In her book
Going Glocal: cultural dimensions in Malaysian Management, Abdullah (1996) states that
based on studies done by the Malaysian Institute of Management and other scholars on values,
Malaysians, whether Malay, Chinese, Indian or others have the followings as values:
5.1.1. Collectivistic: Malaysians tend to have a high concern for others, keep other
people in mind, promote a sense of oneness with other people and consider the
group as a basic unit of survival.
5.1.2. High context: This means that both verbal massages and the circumstances
surrounding the communication event are playing a role in interacting with others.
More detailed information is often transmitted through continuous and imprecise,
sometimes non-verbal formats among networks of friends and relatives.
5.1.3. Hierarchical: In Hofstedes studies (1983) Malaysia is identified as having the
highest power distance (the score is 104). This means that Malaysians are willing to
accept the fact that inequality in power is considered normal. This also means that
Malaysians would expect their elders to take the lead and be regarded as significant
role models and wise elders. Their authority is often unquestioned especially by
their subordinates, for to do so would be considered as rude and improper on their
part.

5.1.4. Relationship-oriented: Malaysia has high context culture where it is not so easy to
separate the person from the events surrounding him. Therefore, there is a need to
build relationships before doing any business.
5.1.5. Face saving: Another characteristic of high context cultures is the concept of face.
It means keeping a persons dignity by not embarrassing or humiliating him in front
of others.
5.1.6. Religious: Most Malaysians identify with a particular religion. For all Malays,
Indians, and Chinese, the religious practices are important sources of contentment
and spiritual health, which affects their life style and decision-making processes.
Malaysias religious demographics are as follows: 60.4% Islam, 19.2% Buddhism,
9.1% Christianity, 6.3% Hinduism, and 2.6 % Confucianism, Taoism and other
traditional Chinese religions (Population and Housing Census 2000).

5.2. KFC Malaysia Culture

5.2.1. Collectivism and Relationship-Orientation
As Hofstede (1991) ranks Malaysia, this country has a collectivist culture where people
from birth onwards are integrated into strong, unified groups and families. Malaysians,
being relatively high collectivists, usually keep other people in mind and have a high
concern for others. They tend to consider the group as a basic unit of survival. Individuals
in a collectivistic society tend to participate more in in-group activities, be more
concerned with in-group interests, and feel compelled to conform to in-group opinions
(Hui & Triandis, 1986). Therefore, Malaysians generally prefer togetherness.
In 2010, this attention to family and relationship- orientation of Malaysians could be also
observed in the KFCs Malaysian website (http://www.kfc.com.my). Unlike other
countries KFC websites in that year (such as France - http://www.kfc.fr -, the USA
http://www.kfc.com or Australias - http://www.kfc.com.au ), that emphasized more on
the product and menus, this website contained a wide range of links related to family,
teen, and kids activities. Previously also, KFC had activities towards relationship-

oriented promotion as well. In 2009 KFC had a campaign called Good things come
together with KFC in which friendship and close relations were the main theme of the
advertisement. Nevertheless, KFC website in 2014 does not feature any of these elements
any longer, and is more alike other countries websites with more focus on menus,
promotions and products.
5.2.2. High Context
The important of high or low context elements is due to its significant influence on
choosing the correct approach to deliver the desired message. Based on what
anthropologists and sociologists such as Hall (1976) and Abdullah (2005) believe
Malaysia has a high- context culture. This fact brings this notion along with itself that in
Malaysia most of the information in the message is in the physical context or is
internalized in the person, and only very little is in the coded (in form of words), explicit,
and transmitted part of the message. Furthermore, signs and symbols are important means
to accentuate certain meanings (Fink and Laupase, 2000). In this culture, what is said
suggests a limited amount of the meaning, and instead how and where the message is
being said, as well as the body language and the status of the speaker has a greater
impact.
In 2010, this aspect of Malaysian culture was well demonstrated in KFC Malaysia
website in order to differentiate and become able to build relationship with customers, the
layout of these websites relied mostly on nuances, pictures and other non-verbal cues. In
2014, KFC Malaysia still keep the strategy of being high-contexter oriented. In Malaysia,
like any other high-context cultures, relationships must be built before doing any
business. Moreover, it is very difficult to separate business from Malaysians private
lives as they are often well integrated in the social fabric of ethnic-based relationships
(Abdullah, 2005).
5.2.3. Religion
Religious beliefs add another level of complexity to communicating and they must be
handled very carefully. When it comes to this cultural dimension, since Malaysia has a
mixture of various ethnic groups and religions, an international marketer should pay a fair

attention to the companys target market. As the major religion and the official religion in
Malaysia, Islam has a major implication in an organization in this country. The most
important factor to consider regarding this issue is, the stress on the requirement for the
food to be Halal, which means to be permitted by Islamic law. Considering the
importance of Halal industry in Malaysia - especially in food KFC Malaysia has shows
the proof of Halal certificates in their outlets.

6. Conclusion
The most commonly discussed issues about the Malaysian culture are the elements of
collectivism and relationship orientation, high context, and religion. Each of these elements
has impacts on the way firms influence the management. It is important to adapt cultural
elements when investing in overseas companies. A company has to choose the degree of
adaptation based on the cost effectiveness of that adaptation. However, it is obvious that local
culture can influence the management of the company in achieving its strategic success.

References
Adler, N. (1983) Cross-cultural management: Issues to be faced. International Studies of
Management and Organisations, 13(1), pp.7-45.
Asma, A. (1992) The influence of ethnic values on managerial practices in
Malaysia. Malaysian Management Review, 27(1), pp.3-15.
Asma, A. (2001) The influence of Malay cultural values on management in Malaysia. An
unpublished Ph.D thesis. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia.
Abdullah, A. (1992). The Influence of Ethnic Values on Managerial Practices in Malaysia,
Malaysian Management Review, Vol: 27, No.1 page 30.
KFC from http://www.kfc.com.my.
Cross-cultural Research in Malaysia
http://library.perdana.org.my/Digital_Content/Journal&Papers/000003/1A/1360100205.pdf