antage of the Japanese company's experience in the market and industry.
Additional market research should have been conducted ahead of time to determine what changes would be necessary to the product (including store design and menu items) in order to succeed in Japan. It is naive to assume that a product which is as culturally specific as food and eating out would be able to be transferred "wholesale" to a culture as different from the United States as that of Japan.
A strategic plan should have been developed ahead of time based on the market research which would make clear to all parties what the various roles and responsibilities would be, as well as what types of financial performance would be expected and what type of reporting would be required. Such a plan would be subject to revision as changes in the market dictated, but would also form the baseline "plan" from which changes could be made. Lacking such a formal plan, KFC Japan was left to drift aimlessly and make changes without necessarily considering their long term effect.
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