Environmental Regulation And Western Food Culture In India Commerce Essay

Environmental Regulation And Western Food Culture In India Commerce EssayEnvironmental regulation and western diet culture in India was almost non-existent. In pursuit of economical development, the Government of India liberalised the economy in nutrient sector and kept environmental regulation of multinational corporations to a stripped-down in order to attract foreign direct investment. Multinational corporations have often been blamed for taking advantage of weak enforcements in India however, in late categorys, many of them have started to self-regulate and often set their environmental standards supra the minimum compliances enforced by the Government of India.Advancement of foreign culture in India in the diet attention has given many multinational companies (MNCs) an opportunity to grow and flourish. MNCs that set up operations in India or do business with Indian companies find that managing Indian manoeuverforce requires understanding Indian work culture that has evo lved over several centuries. therefore there is a need to topic the difference of opinion in the culture of Indian pabulum industry. Many socio economic factors and opposite influencing factors ar responsible for setting a invigorated trend. These factors form the independent variables on which the preference of selection of nutriment will depend i.e. dependent variables. These lits are classified based on-(a) Studies corresponding to major influencing factors governing selection and expect of ready-made nutriment items.(b) Studies corresponding to the socioeconomic factors affect the demand for ready-made viands items.(c) example for examining the environmental management of MNCsThe conclusion expected from the research is that the socio economic factors and other influential factors play an important role on consumers preference in feed industry. Based on the finding, few suggestions and limitations affecting influential factors to Indian food industry for future rese arch will be provided. Andmy research will withal investigate the change in environmental managementin food industry.Globalisation and the Indian food IndustryA vignette into the contraryiate factors influencing consumer behaviour in the Indian food industry.A comparative study of aside and open culture and environment in Indian food industryByRounak GoenkaG0759654KProject submitted to University of Bradford School of ManagementIn whileial purpose of the requirementsFor the Degree ofBSc. (Hons.) in Business ManagementBBMD20932ACONTENTSPage No.Abstract1Chapter 1 Introduction ..4Objective of the explore4 apostrophize to the Research5Chapter 2 belles-lettres Review6Influencing factors affecting choice and demand6Influence of Socio-economic factors9Influence of Global flows..11Framework for examining the environmental management of MNCs..13Chapter 3 An overview of culture in Indian food industry14Chapter 4 Study of globalized food culture evolving in India16Chapter 5 Pe psiCo18Chapter 6 KFC21Chapter 7 McDonalds.22Chapter 8 Analysis and Conclusion.24References26Chapter 1 Introduction Objective of the ResearchFast-food is not an alienate concept to Indians roadside shops have offered snacks-to-go since time immemorial and the country has a long tradition of indigenous sporting-food served by a variety of street vendors.With the cursorily growing middle class population and changing lifestyle, India is blessed with one of the fastest growing fast food markets in the world. The fast food industry in India has evolved with the changing lifestyles of the young Indian population. There are many factors that makeIndia an attractive market for Western consumer goods. With one-sixth of the worlds population,India is the second most thickly settled countryin the world, following China. The purposesof this research is to compare the attitudes intimately sweet food purchases between innovators/earlyadopters and non-innovators and as well is to by tri al and error substantiate if the forces of globalization are affecting consumer culture and behavioural traits in a developing country (India).The Indian fast food market has been witnessing rapid growth on the back of overbearing developments and presence of massive investments. Currently, market growth is largely fuelled by the rising young population, working women, hectic schedules, and change magnitude disposable income of the middle-class households. Some of the anomalous properties of fast food corresponding quick served, personify advantage, etc.are making it highly popular among the masses. Thus, India offers enormous opportunities for both domestic as well as international players.In the past, the overwhelming majority of Indian consumers had little purchasing might, and spent almost all of their income on the basic necessities. Industrial growth and increasing affluence of the middle classes, however, have led to important increasesin consumer demand and spending power. Regardless of this compulsory Indian input, as yet, these western companies cannot match the popularity of topical anaesthetic Indian chains much(prenominal) as Nirulas or the corner shops selling indigenousfoods. To compete, they are not only changing their business models simply also their identity. There has been a drastic change, as seen in past, in taste and preferences of the consumers in India. India has taken a step forward in adopting western culture. Thus foreign firms have been adapting Indian culture while running their business here. In past there were many restrictions in the culture of consumers in India, but now many of them has moved forward with the taste of new generation. But some of them are still genuinely conservative towards the food sector.Approach to the ResearchOn the back of rising disposable income, changing consumer behavior, huge population base, India is witnessing a tremendous growth is its fast food industry over the past few years. Other reasons like rising number of nuclear families, exposure to western cuisine and increasing number of employed women are also having a operative impact on the eating out trends and growth of the fast food industry in the country. As a result, all the international players like Pizza Hut, Dominos, McDonalds and KFC, etc. are investing huge amount of money to grab a share of this highly lucrative market.Three big food companies have been taken in consideration for this research. And their case studies are been discussed below, which shows us how did the company manage to change its heathen environment to adjust with the country requirements and good issues. This paper focuses on determining afoodchoice model in wake of changingfoodand eating habits in India, using literature reviews, exploratory surveys and reliable data sources.This case study focuses on growing trends towards organicfoodand green consumerism in viewofrising global fleshiness with fastfoodconsumption in Western countries and squarely very less in India despite obesity universe an epidemic in India.Literature review used in this research is-Influencing factors affecting choice and demandInfluence of Socio-economic factorsInfluence of Global flowsFramework for examining the environmental management of MNCsWith the help of above literature review we can discuss how the taste of Indian consumers has been changed and also we can analyse how the companies by changing its strategy has achieved their goal in Indian market. Findings Based on literature reviews and exploratory surveys, the key determinants impacting consumersfoodchoice are passion for eating out, socialize, ambience and taste for school and college goers and convenience for dual-income families in urban India. Findings indicate that fastfoodcompanies can no longer rely on convenience as USP in India, unless the implicationsofsame on consumers health are given equal importance in the years to come.Chapter 2 Literature ReviewInfl uencing factors affecting choice and demand -A households demand for food away from home also may depend on the ages of family members. One reason is that the tastes may change as people progress with their age. The empirical study conducted by Byrene et al, (1998) observes that the households with younger members tend to spend to a greater extent money on fast food restaurants, while households with older people tend to spend more money on full service restaurants. In this scene, Blisard (2001) while, stating the significance of age in the demand for food items prepared out-of-door home, observes standardisedity in the behaviour by the members of different generations at the same points in their lives. According to Friddle et al., (2001) the sensitivity of taste buds diminishes with age and hence, they observe that the older people may demand foods with bolder flavours.In addition to the taste factor, certain textural properties are also intrinsic in judgments of qualities like crispness, crunchiness, and freshness all of which are important in the selection of food items. Barthes (1975) has suggested that there is a general symbolic opposition between crisp, brisk, and sharp foods and soft, soothing, and sweet foods in Western cultures. Texture and flavour may also be associated with palatability and digestibility. Firth (1966) observed that people some quantify use these descriptive characteristics to distinguishing between preferred and less preferred foods and those consumed under normal or starvation conditions.The possible action of household production proposed by Becker (1965) relieves how prices, income, demographics, and time constraints can all set a households purchases of items like food. He extended the classical demand theory to explain these aspects more elaborately. According to this economic model, the cost of food purchased includes the cost of consumption, cost of preparing the equivalent food in the home and also the cost of cleani ng up after a meal or snack. In the context of the Beckers model, a household manager can be outlined as the person to begin with responsible for shopping, cooking, cleaning, and other household chores.In the study of food choices on Native Americans Galloway and Gibbs (1976) concluded that inadequate nutrition levels were the result of lack of purchasing power rather than the lack of nutrition knowledge. Similarly, DeWalt and Pelto (1976) conducted a study on food rating with factor analysis- as the basis for analytical construct. In the context of this study, the respondents in a Mexican village were asked to rate food according to taste, healthfulness, and economic value, and found that people had accurate notions of nutrition. Also, this study found that people chose food chiefly on budgetary considerations. The factors related to food choice in this study were identified through factor analysis from sets of food choices provided by respondents. In similar line of thought Schu ftan (1979) stated that the real problem in malnutrition is lack of food-purchasing power from the buyers and hence, he suggested that the nutrition programs should address malnutrition in economic rather than nutritionary terms that is, they should measure deficits in the purchasing power of the households and give priority to nutrition programs that generate income, new employment opportunities in food production, and food-related services.The impact of circumstantial economic and demographic characteristics of a household, in its demand for ready-made food items are considered very important. In this context, McCracken and Brandt (1987) analyzed the relationship between some key household characteristics and expenditure at different categories of restaurant. The empirical analyses of their study have shown the influencing pattern of economic and demographic characteristics of households in their demand for restaurant made food items. Also, they stated that an inverse relationsh ip could be observed between the number of people in the household and its requirement for food prepared outside home. The significant finding indicated in the above study observes decrease in the expenditure of large households for food items prepared outside home. This is understandable for the simple reason that cost of cooking in terms of fuel expense is less, if food is prepared for more number of people. Based on the household survey data from the year 1970s and 1980s, Nayga and Capps (1994) studied the relationship between a households characteristics and its frequency of dinning at each category of food selling enterprises. Hiemstra and Kirn (1995) analyzed the impact of household characteristics on expenditure by eating occasion and market segment.A specific household may demand more restaurant made food items if both husband and wife work outside. In such situations food prepared outside home will form a convenient meal survival of the fittest if the sellers are reasonabl y accessible. Two studies conducted by Popkinn and Solon (1976) and Popkin (1980) identified deficiencies in the food intake of children who have their mothers with employment. Further, these studies confirmed no such deficiencies in the food intake of the children who have their mothers without employment. According to Byrene et al., (1998) the spending for fast food is increasing along with the number of hours, the household manager works in the labour force. In this context, Rajmohan and Panchanatham (2002) reported that the female employment in IT jobs makes women to struggle a lot in terms of fulfilling the domestic responsibilities like preparing food items at home. This practically kernel that more office responsibilities for women will cause increased demand for ready-made food items in the market.Influence of Socio-economic factorsThe booming Indian economy (Lenartowicz and Balasubramanian, 2009) and the huge Indian consumer market (Enderwick, 2009) is encouraging many res earchers to study the various socio- cultural dimensions influencing the Indian consumers behaviour (Kopalle et al., 2010). Another stream of study that is luring leading researchers (Craig et al., 2009 Yaprak, 2008) is the influence of forces of globalization on the changing consumer culture of a society. Such influence, according to Ger and Belk (1996), would be more intensive on the consumers in the developing economies of the world, India being one of them. In fact, Durvasula and Lysonski (2008) and Mathur et al. (2008) have empirically shown how forces of globalization are bringing in changes in the culture of Indian consumers. One such culture based dimension of consumer behaviour is materialism.The current work studies materialism, a construct defined by Belk (1984) and Richins (1987) giving importance/being attached to worldly possessions, and its influence on consumer culture, which encompasses the prevalent cultural influence among consumers, in the Indian context. Extant research suggests that globalization is rapidly influencing consumer culture in India with people showing increasing predisposition towards foreign brands (PTFB), a construct defined by Bandyopadhyay (2001), Batra et al. (2000) and Kinra (2006) as admiration of foreign brands and intention to purchase them vis- a-vis home countrys brands. Such cultural influences are also likely to impact Indian consumers purchase behaviour, e.g. credit card usage (Chibber, 2010), impulse purchases (Datamonitor Report, 2010) and consideration of shopping as an enjoyable behaviour (Ghosh et al., 2010). Although marketing scholars (Cleveland et al, 2009 Richins and Dawson, 1992) have already established the impact of materialism on these important consumption traits, studying the same in the Indian context would provide interesting insights for both scholars and practitioners alike. The paper thus makes an bowel movement to study extent of materialistic values (MV) amongst Indian consumers difference s in such values based on demographics whether such values impact various purchasing behaviour traits of Indian consumers and are itself being impacted by the onslaught of forces of globalization.Materialism among Indian consumers has been studied by Chaudhuri and Haldar (2005) and Cleveland et al. (2009). These studies brought forth the relationship that materialism has with cultural adherence and regional differences with-in India (Chaudhuri and Haldar, 2005) and materialisms impact on various purchase behaviour like purchasing frequency of luxury products, etc. (Cleveland et al., 2009). Though Cleveland et al. (2009) also attempt to study the relationship between materialism and various demographic variables like age, income, gender and educational qualification for the Indian sample they could not get significant results on any of the relationships. Both Cleveland et al. (2009) and Chaudhuri and Haldar (2005) used student samples in their study, which could limit the generaliz ation of their findings. Further, neither of these studies attempted to operationalize globalization as an antecedent impacting the MV of Indian consumers. These studies also did not empirically study the impact of other demographic factors (besides age) like income, educational qualification and gender on the MV of Indian consumers. The present study addresses these existing gaps in the extant literature.Pettys and Balagopal (1998) are of the view that since individual attachment in India is seen as temporary and as an illusion, Indians are very non-materialistic. They also believe that an inherent risk of westernization is that the Indian consumers might become more materialistic. On the other hand, Venkatesh (1995) states that Indians are not averse to materialism because in Indian culture spiritualism and materialism are not considered opposites, instead they belong to the same realm of experience and hence there is no confrontation of beliefs if both are adopted together. Still , compared to other certain nations like USA and New Zealand, Indians are relatively less materialistic (Ger and Belk, 1996). This might be due to conservativism preached by the Indian culture. The results of Chaudhuri and Haldars (2005), empirical study on Indian respondents showed that there is a significant negative correlation between the degree of materialism and the potency of cultural adherence. In other words the more a person moves away from the Indian culture, the more are the chances that materialism will manifest itself in him.Influence of Global flowsGlobalization is leading to various types of global flows across the world. According to Appadurai (1990), there are five types of global flows mediascapes (flows of image and communication), ethnoscapes (flows of tourists, migrants and foreign Students), ideoscapes (flows of political ideas and ideologies), technoscapes (flows of technology and know-how) and finanscapes (flows of capital and money). Considering the infl uence of these global flows, Craig et al. (2009) observe that in todays world, cultural products and lifestyles from the developed world are spreading across developing countries. This is the result of trace through traditional media such as TV and films, as well as through new media such as the internet, electronic social networking, blogs, etc. (Craig et al., 2009).This phenomenon, according to Craig et al. (2009), is changing the cultural fabric and patterns of a society as products, icons, lifestyles and rituals of one culture are being adopted by another (Craig and Douglas, 2006). Further, its permeant influence on consumer behaviour is affecting consumer tastes, preferences and purchase behaviour (Douglas and Craig, 1997). Venkatesh and Swamy (1994) state that Indian consumers, even if they have not travelled abroad, are still being influenced by the consumerism (or consumer culture) brought by foreign influence through media and products (foreign brands). Ger and Belk (1996 ) state that the reason for this is that with the coming of globalization and westernization, developing countries consumers emulate the lifestyles and consumption patterns of more economically developed nations. Many studies (Batra et al., 2000 Kinra, 2006 Maxwell, 2001) have shown that Indian consumers have a very high PTFB. According to Eckhardt and Mahi (2004), these foreign brands are also bringing foreign cultural influence with them in the Indian market place.Since 1991, India has witnessed a dramatic increase of multinational corporation activity, giving rise to tremendous economic development of the country (Emde, 1999). From readiness of services to manufacturing, multinational corporations (MNCs) play a big role in almost all the economic sectors in India. Consequently, their business operations impact the personal environment of the country on a large scale. In the post-industrialized era, MNCs in the developing world are changing their environmental management in the context of various sexual and remote drivers. These changes often lead to an introduction of new strategies, systems, and practices across the environmental management of MNCs (Moser, 2001). Despite significant environmental policies introduced in India, such as the Water Act (1974), Air Act (1981), and Environmental Protection Act (1986), its environmental quality has continued to deteriorate (Reich Bowonder, 1992).Indias Industrial Policy of July 1991 radically pushed for an open economy by globalization, liberalization, and privatization. The policy opened up Indias economy to foreign direct investment by providing facilities to foreign companies to invest in different fields of economic activity (Goyal, 2006). The economic policy reforms of India removed constraints for entry of MNCs into India, allowed Indian companies to form joint ventures with the foreign companies, and encouraged a free inter-country permute of technology and labor (Goyal, 2006). An open economy, large manpower, and a weak environmental regulatory framework reduced the cost of doing business in India as compared to other developing countries such as Brazil, Mexico, China, and Indonesia (Jain et.al, 2006). Therefore, these factors made India a preferred destination of MNC activity from developed countries.Framework for examining the environmental management of MNCsThe project draws from the framework indoors organization theory and specifically on Andrew Pettigrews famous work on the management of strategic change (Pettigrew, 1987). His framework has been widely adapted to study how changes in the management of environmental and social issues by MNCs operating in less developed countries can lead to sustainable development (Moser, 2001). Pettigrew offers a framework -consisting of trey dimensions context, content and bear on. He suggests that organizational change process and decision-making can be understood in terms of these three inter-linked dimensions. The context of change is concerned with how an MNCs internal context and aspects of external environment promote or inhibit the change process. Internal context refers to characteristics of the MNCs internal organization its structure, culture, and politics, and how these have material bodyd/continue to shape its environmental management (Moser, 2001). The external context can be sub-divided into formal and informal components. The formal or institutional component of context consists of factors such as headquarter policies, host countrys (India in this case) regulatory framework, investor pressure, standard industry codes of conduct, international regulations, international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and media comment. The informal or socio-political component consists of factors such as brand image, risk management, competition, eco-efficiency (cost intensity with reduced environmental impact), and pressure from local or domestic NGOs, public, and local communities. The content dimension of the framework refers to the economic, social and environmental impacts (both positive and negative) of current MNC practices and operations. The process dimension refers to how change at bottom an MNC is effected over time. The adoption of environmental management changes can also be understood in terms of the unified dimensions of context, content, and process. This research focuses on the content and context dimensions as they apply to the case study. In the context dimension, only the external aspects containing formal and informal institutions are studied. These external aspects play the role of drivers that change the environmental management of MNCs. The content dimension is studied to direct the second research question about the implementation of new environmental strategies, systems, and practices to incorporate the changes driven or impeded by the contextual factors listed above.Chapter 3 An overview of culture in Indian food industryDue to the cultural and personal attitudesof Indian consumers about food and the perceived importance of fresh food, processed food is anew concept to this population, and thus should be viewed as anew product and an innovation. Countlessnew products are introduced on world markets only to fail and to be taken off the market within a few months. Usually, the failureof anew product is accompanied by substantial financial losses to manufacturers, middlemen, and retailers. Market researchers, therefore, need to examine carefully the relationship betweenproduct and marketing innovation, and other important variables that make the introductionof aproduct successfulin new markets.Food miscellanea is an implicit characteristic ofIndias diversified culture consisting of different regions and states within. Indians like to have home-cooked meals a concept supported religiously as well as individually. However, with times due to increasing awareness and influence of western culture, there is a shift infoodconsumption patt erns among many Indian families. It started with eating outside and moved on to accepting a wide variety of delicacies from world-over. Liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s and the subsequent entry of new players set a significant change in lifestyles and thefoodtastes of Indians.Fast foodis one which gained acceptance of Indian palate after the multinationalfast foodplayers adapted the basic Indianfoodrequirements viz. vegetarian meals and selected non-vegetarian options excluding beef and pork totally from their menu.Multinationalfast food outlets initially faced protests and non-acceptance from Indian consumers. This was due to primary perception that thesefast foodplayers serve only non-vegetarian and do not serve vegetarian meals. In addition,fast foodis perceived high-priced besides being out-of-way meals in Indian culture.Today,fast food industry is getting adapted to Indianfoodrequirements and is growing inIndia. It is gaining acceptance to begin with fr om Indian youth and younger generations and is becoming part of life. Keeping in view the Indian habits and changing preferences towardsfoodconsumption, this study has its focus to understand the factors affecting the perception of Indian youth, in the age group of 20-30 years, towards consumption offast foodas well as towards making choice offast foodoutlets. All the popular fast food chainshave chalked out massive plans forexpanding theirbusiness and presence throughout thecountry. Moreover, foreign fast-food chains are crisply increasing their presence in the country. international fast-food chains such as McDonalds, Dominos, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) are doing brisk businessin Indias ready-cooked meal fastfood segment.Chapter 4 Study of globalized food culture evolving in IndiaSome traditional attitudes of Indians, however, have created gainsays to foreign companies that attempt to make a successful entry into the country.Food is believed to be an effective and tangible differentiator of consumer preferences among different cultures. Indian consumers tend to be traditionalin their approach to food products, thus, unlike many countriesin the developing world, Westernfood is not widely consumedin India.The highly distinct tastes of Indian consumers are a challenge for many multinationals seeking to enter the Indianfood market. Unlike citizens of other rapidly industrializing countries, about 40 per cent of Indians are vegetarian, according to reportsin The economist (1997). Even among Indian meat eaters, many consumers have an aversion to beef and/or pork and dislike frozen meat and fish.Despite these challenges, the US International Trade Administration (2000) estimated that the processed food marketin India was worth over US$22.2 millionin 1999. However, marketers need to develop a very high level of expertisein tapping into this potential market since importedfood products are not widely accepted by the general Indian population.Rese arch has demonstrated that younger Indian consumers are more open to novelfood products and are more likely to perceive importedfood as high quality as compared with locally producedproducts.Direction of business globalization it has to be not only about uniformed customization of the economies of the different countries and charitable need, but also about sensitive and understanding approach to local and national values and principles. In practise the most mistakes are made alongthis chain of management processes.The success of the foreign business is not only determined by a good quality of the products but a straightforward preparation, search for adequate businesspartners, market knowledge, attentive acquisition of local staff and a well-founded business concept. For success of fast foodrestaurant the store image isvery important. Firstly, they are functional qualities of a store (assortment, store layout, location, price-value relation). Secondly, psychological attributes ref er to the consumers perception of the store attributes, such asfriendliness, kindliness of store personnel or attractiveness of decor.For kids market segment and market segment of young people students the emotional material as a part of store image is of great importance. Shoppers differentiate one store from another by the images of each project. The simplest approach to such image projection is likely to be based solely onprice-quality relation.After the liberalization policy that came in force in 1991, fast food industry grown in India as multinational fast food providers have set up their business either jointly with Indian partners or independently. From next chapters we will discuss about the companies environmental management and the cultural change. And we will see how companies adapt to these situations.Chapter 5 PepsiCoIn this research we will discuss about the change in environmental manageme