Making the Burger Fever of Smashburger a Global Phenomenon, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Being in the fast food lane of industries, it is important to know one thing, the market served by such organizations have specific craving for certain food choices and are specifically driven by one thing ‘fast food’ or food served in a fast manner with high quality and good taste along with it. Smashburger could still be considered ‘young’ in the industry because of the fact that most of its competitors are already long running in the industry. This basically means that they have already established a name and a remarkable reputation to the market as providers of good comfort food. Most of these competitors also have one thing in common, they operate around the globe; in fact at least 78% of the overall players of the fast food industry are playing for the top position in several key regions in the world. Is Smashburger ready for such a wide operation?

Like any other organization in the business industry, Smashburger’s growth could be better defined by the instance of getting out of its comfort zone and trying out the chance of playing in a larger field of serving global customers. The stakes are high, but the chances of becoming successful in the system of international business operations offer several points of benefits for the organization. In the discussion that follows, providing a brief implementation plan regarding the possibility of expanding business handled by Smashburger in a global scope shall be presented.

Issues and Problems Addressed

The current issue that is supposed to be addressed is the desire of the company to expand. Knowing that several branches of Smashburger have become a hit in several states of America, it is safe to say that the organization is ready to branch out. Although the acceptance of their menu is still centralized to provide satisfaction to the American taste bud, it could be realized that the company is already geared up to take more challenges in exchange for much better recognition and more possibility gaining higher profit from an expanded operation. The primary problem of this approach would be that the entire implementation of a new plan would be dependent on the desire to expand. This means that the business would be involved in more complications involving political issues [such as legal clearances with international boards on customs and trade policies], cultural differences among workers and menu-choices along with a whole set of distinctive management issues that could be relatively changing the entire setup of the organization’s local operation.

Implementation Plan:

• Objectives
• To create an internationally-defined business strategy that would bring the Smashburger fever in America towards the different regions of the world
• To establish a reputation that is well defined and is easily recognizable in the face of international market operations
• To make a distinctive condition of operation that would unite all international branches when outside operations have already been set
• To create a unified culture among workers and authorities of Smashburger which is dedicated to a hundred percent customer satisfaction worldwide
• Functional Tactics

The primary functional tactic to be used in this plan is based on the desire to make sure that the local markets to be served would love what Smashburger has to offer. To this aspect, there are three conditions to give attention to. One is the establishment of a ground basis of what Smashburger offers, another is the consideration over the society’s established norms, and third is the recognition of the organization’s responsibility towards the environment.

These three conditions of operation are expected to make a great impact on how the business and its food shall be accepted on the other regions of the world. It is then suggested that the management be careful enough in providing a good source of competence for their franchisers that no matter how new their name is, they would be accepted by the public thus making profit a lot easier to accomplish.

• Action Items

The creation of a target map is essential. This particular approach would determine what particular regions would the business first venture on. The choice of regions should be based on three specific categories: (a) location; (b) performance of local and international competitors; (c) openness of possible menus to offer.

The need to consider if the menu the business offers would be suitable to the market it serves is that there are some nations that might not be that accustomed to eating meat. For instance, India may have some reservations in eating meat especially that they are known to be a religious country and that meat for them is holy. Relatively, in cases like this, the company should be able to create a new menu that would not totally change what they are known for (delicious burgers) but would offer the local market with what they would want and would accept.

• Milestones and Deadlines

The creation of a target map could be accomplished within three months including research and feasibility study reports. The documentation on the target regions should be accomplished along with the legal contract needs, a detail on the culture of the people in the area, and a report on the performance of the competing industries and businesses in the country. This would allow the administrators of Smashburger to see the possibilities of growth and avoid instances of jeopardizing any chances of expansion in the future.

• Tasks and Task Ownership

Who would be the franchisers? How would they be connected to the main headquarters? And what would the role of the main headquarters be when it comes to deciding on the international stores’ performance, appearance and marketing?

Considering that it aims to be unified organization amidst the distance of the branches aimed to be established, franchisers should know the hierarchical arrangement of operations hence making it easier for them to become one with the decisions of the headquarters. Huge fast food companies have already done such an approach to modern business campaign and are relatively gaining much benefit from the said process. McDonalds for instance is gaining much popularity among people [wherever they go] because of the “I love it” motto that the company uses internationally. The said term is translated in different local languages and is continuously gaining attention and market appreciation at present. Learning from this example could best benefit the goal of Smashburger to establish a global name and a global culture that its branches would recognize.

• Resource Allocation

When it comes to opening branches outside the country, a relative amount of investment is expected to be released. It could be realized that it is through this that a beneficial source of confidence when it comes to profit earning shall be established. Considerably, through this, such amount of investment could be easily returned to the board of members of the company.

Conclusion

Based on this particular documentation, it could be observed that Smashburger needs to become more distinguishably recognizable especially when it comes to brand marketing. Beyond the internet defined marketing that the business already gets involved with, Smashburger needs to specifically put its effort in researching more on what the international market wants and what could actually make the entire approach to international operation work for the company. Making an assurance on how the local market would respond to what the business has to offer is a specific need that must be given particular attention to. Specifically allocating budget for such expansions is necessary. Creating budget schedules is a very important aspect of the matter hence balancing the expenses with the supposed earnings becomes a strong basis of whether or not establishing new branches in specific locations would be best for the company’s interest.