Abstract Date:                                 May 11, 2011 Program:                        MIMA-International Marketing Course name:                        Master Thesis (EFO705) Title:                                  Consumer attitudes toward Quick Service Restaurants in Thailand: The study of influencing factors affecting purchase                                        making decision Authors:                         Miss Pattaraporn Jiranyakul                                       Miss Chitraporn Yoksvad Tutor:                                Johan Grinbergs Problem statement:         “What is the driving force or the reason behind the fast food consumption of the Thai consumers?”  Purpose:                         The purpose of this paper is to “investigate Thai consume attitude toward Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) on Thai                                       consumer choice and the most impportant marketing factors." Method:                          This paper has applied for the quantitative method with questionnaires survey. The hypothesis testing has been                                       fomulating in analyzing the most important factors towards Thai consumers attitudes as well as the marketing mix                                       elements. The information of this paper is collected from the data of Malardalen University database. Conclusion:                       Age and income in term of demographic variable are considered to be the most significant factors of Thai consumer                                       choice on fast food consumption. Place element of the marketing mix has come to be the major factor among Thai                                       consumers followed by product, price and promotion respectively. Keywords:                       Quick Service Restaurant, Consumer Behavior, Culture, Demographics, and Marketing Mix (4’Ps)

Advertising is an important mechanism by which firms are able to communicate with their current and potential consumers. An advertising campaign may satisfy a multitude of objectives for a firm. Namely, advertising can be used to create awareness for a product or brand. It may be used to inform consumers about the usage features and benefits specific to a brand or a given product, or generate favorable attitudes and preferences amongst customers. Additionally, advertising may aim to persuade consumers towards trial or purchase. All these objectives enhance e consumers’ response towards the firm and its products/brands, and in turn, advertising helps to achieve sales for the advertised firm in the long run. This dissertation examined the relationship between advertising expenditures and sales revenue at the aggregate and brand level for the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry in the United States from 1986 to 2007. Two main objectives of this study were to: 1) analyze the relationship between advertising expenditures and sales revenue within the QSR industry; and 2) provide analysis of the relationship between advertising and sales revenues for leading QSR firms, in the United States during the observed period. Thus, the current study provides the most comprehensive analysis of the relationships between advertising and sales in the QSR industry to date. Hypotheses were tested by time series analysis. Specifically, a stepwise regression analysis with backwards elimination of non-significant predicators was utilized to select a set of statistically significant predictor variables. This study controlled for factors expected to affect sales revenues such as population size, price and inflationary effects. Findings from this study indicate that aggregate advertising expenditures and aggregate sales for the QSR industry in the United States were significantly and positively related from 1986 to 2007. This is the first study to examine this relationship over such an extended period of time—twenty-two years. Results from brand level show a positive and significant relationship between advertising expenditures and sales revenues for certain QSR brands. Additional analysis, explored the relationship between advertising expenditures and another measure of consumption, market share, for QSR firms in the United States during 1986 to 2007. Results from this set of analysis, demonstrated a positive and significant relationship between electronic advertising expenditures and market share for several QSR brands. A Chow test (Chow, 1960) was also conducted on the brand level models to test for the presence of structural breaks in the data. Other means of analysis are also offered, and the implications of the results to research and theory are drawn. The study also identified future directions for research. / text

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Quick-service restaurant owners who fail to apply effective business strategies could risk business closure within the first 5 years of operations. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective strategies that independent quick-service restaurant owners used to sustain business longer than the first 5 years. Resource-based theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected via semistructured interviews with 6 owners of independent quick-service restaurants in the southern region of the United States who sustained their businesses longer than the first 5 years, and from the review of business documents pertaining to sustainability. Data were also collected using business artifacts such as job descriptions, menus, websites, social media platforms, and business licenses, and analyzed using methodological triangulation. Member checking was used to help ensure reliability and validity of the interpretations. Six key themes emerged from the data: organization value, customer required excellence, financial perspective, human assets, physical operating materials, and technological prowess. The 6 themes aligned with the 5 types of internal resources established in the conceptual framework. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to support the welfare of the local citizens and owners of quick-service restaurants across the United States by providing strategies necessary to increase business survival rates, improve job sustainability, and encourage job creation.

Over the last decade there has been a rapid development of United States quick service restaurant companies such as KFC and McDonalds in China. Increasingly urban Chinese consumers patronize these restaurants as a way to experience American culture. For some it is becoming a part of their eating pattern. Recent health studies have demonstrated that nutritional diseases are increasing in China. This study accessed urban Chinese consumers' perceptions about U.S. quick service restaurants and their knowledge about the nutritional value that U.S. quick service food can provide. This study revealed that Chinese consumers' perceptions and knowledge about U.S. quick service impacts their patronage. Additionally, the study determined correlation between consumer patronage and reported health status as well as consumers' length of patronage negative influence on their health status. The results of this study will help U.S. quick service restaurants in educating consumers on nutrition and improving the menus.

More than one-third of the U.S. citizens (over 70 million people) and 16% of children are classified as obese and are at risk of many diseases including heart disease. Research indicates that 65% of Americans over the age of twenty years old are considered overweight. To address this public health issue, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has proposed new nutritional guidelines for restaurant menus. Thus, the current study investigated the preferences of quick service restaurant (QSR) industry consumers with reference to the newly proposed U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations. This study includes development and redesigning of drive thru menus to comply with the FDA guidelines. A 3x2 factorial design experiment was conducted using real drive thru menus from three major national restaurant chains. The control group consisted of normal drive thru menus obtained from national restaurant chains, and the experimental group was comprised of two sets of pre-tested experimental menus complying with the FDA guidelines. The first set of experimental menus includes presentation of calorie information for all menu items offered. The second set of experimental menus includes color coded calorie specific menu categories (low, regular and high). A set of research hypotheses were developed and data was collected from heavy users of QSR units using Qualtrics software. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS. The obtained results indicated that the QSR menus designed to comply with the FDA’s guidelines do not result in loss of revenues as commonly feared by the restaurant industry. But interestingly the second set of experiment menus with color coded nutritional categories (low, regular, high) have led to increased consumer patronage and consumers’ willingness to pay. In iv addition, color coded nutritional menus were preferred over FDA suggested menus designs. The results from the current study are of significant importance to the QSR industry as they strive to comply with the new nutrition guidelines of FDA for drive thru menus