Burger King's core competency is fast food restaurant franchises specializing in made-to-order grilled hamburger sandwiches, particularly the "Whopper." Using industrial organization strategy to gain market share, Burger King offers a similar product (burger) in a different way (grilled). This product differentiation strategy is part of the category of business conduct that Burger King uses to distinguish itself from the competition. To compete with its fast food competitors, Burger King accentuates its core competencies in marketing and product strategies, thus leveraging market share. Burger King uses a spread setup for daily operations as most of its restaurants are franchised with local suppliers. However, Burger King headquarters uses a concentrated setup for marketing and product development, as well as pricing. This centralization of marketing assists all franchises worldwide and provides the greatest value for the company, but the direction of available products and pricing has proven detrimental to the overall success of the company. An article on CNNMoney.com describes the failure of the $1 double cheese burger to stimulate sales and how a number of franchisees have filed lawsuits against corporate headquarters because they were forced to sell the double cheese burger at less than the cost of order to increase revenues for the headquarters and shareholders and non-affiliates. By choosing to expand into markets later than other fast food restaurants, Burger King hopes to avoid the problems of developing infrastructure and establishing a market base. For example, by following McDonalds in Brazil, Burger King avoided the need to develop infrastructure and score...... middle of paper ......://money.cnn.com/2010/09/03/ news/companies/burger_king_buyout.fortune/index.htmChakravarty, C. (2007). Burger King is likely to adopt the franchising model in India. The Economic Times, excerpted from: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-01-05/news/28458380_1_burger-king-restaurants-key-franchiseesAssociated Press. (2011). Burger King loses in the first quarter, sales fall by 8%. Retrieved from: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Burger-King-falls-to-1Q-loss-apf-2850409674.html?x=0&.v=1.Christine, B. (2001). Burger King Webidodes Target Whopper of Laughs. Direct Marketing News, Retrieved from: http://www.dmnews.com/burger-king-webisodes-aim-for-whopper-of-laughs/article/73082/.Daniels, J.D., Radebaugh, L.H., & Sullivan, D.P. , (2011). International business: environments and operations. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.