Chapter 3 Methodology

Chapter 3 Methodology Research Design The researchers will use the qualitative method of research. This is a qualitative research because it seeks to determine the CSR disclosures of publicly-listed fast food companies in Cebu City by systematically using a predefined set of procedures. Data are gathered and analyzed through several analysis methods. The relevant information produced is then used to create a CSR guideline for those publicly-listed fast food corporations. The study will collect and treat data exclusively from secondary sources including, but not limited to, corporate websites, publications and annual reports, previous researches, government pronouncements, and library. After the data gathering, four methods of data analysis in qualitative research will be used, namely: content analysis, historical analysis, document analysis and policy analysis. Content analysis is the analysis of what is contained in a written, verbal or visual message in a manner which will allow the researchers to make inferences about the characteristics and meaning of written and other recorded material. In the context of this study, several documents and/ or files from different sources will be examined to see what themes emerge, what issues or concerns are the most prevalent, and how these themes are interrelated. This will take into account relative determinants of such disclosures, the limitations of such analysis and will follow the standard rules of content analysis. This analysis will use word frequency counts to identify words of potential interest, and use a Key Word in Context to test for consistencies of word usage. Thus, this analysis assumes that the frequency of the word is an indication of the subject matter’s relative significance. Historical analysis denotes a methodological approach that employs qualitative instead of quantitative measurement and the use of primary historical documents or historians’ interpretations thereof in service of theory development and testing. Through a detailed analysis of historical data, cause and effect relationships perhaps at a later extent. In the context of this

study, historical documents are used to identify the developments in CSR Disclosures and the factors that led to such disclosures. Document analysis a form of qualitative research in which documents are interpreted by the researcher to give voice and meaning around an assessment topic. In this study, two primary types of documents will be used: a) Public Records (i.e. the official, ongoing records of an organization’s activities) - annual sustainability reports b) Personal Documents - company websites, fast food journals and magazines, internet-based reports Document analysis involves conceptualizing, using and assessing some or all of these documents. The key issues surrounding these documents will be used as evidence in the research. Policy analysis is "determining which of various alternative policies will most achieve a given set of goals in light of the relations between the policies and the goals". It defines the problem and the goals, examines the arguments, and analyzes implementation of the policy.

Research Procedure The researchers will initially perform a profiling of the pre-determined publicly-listed fast food corporations in Cebu City using the audited financial statements of the sample fast food corporations (McDo, KFC and Jollibee), with four profile attributes, namely: (a) size, (b) age, (c) profitability, and (d) media exposure contributing their respective websites, published literatures, media releases and other relevant corporate documents. Relevant research methods such as content and historical analysis will be used by the researchers to ascertain the common characteristics of these publicly-listed fast food corporations.

Following the profiling stage, the researchers plan to gather evidence and information on CSR activities employed by fast food entities, comparing them to their respective disclosure methods. The descriptive method is then appropriate as this will allow the identification of the similarities and differences of the fast food entities for further analysis in their CSR disclosures. For this research, only secondary data type of data will be gathered. The secondary data will be taken from published documents and literatures that are relevant to CSR and the disclosures thereof. With the use of such documents, this study will take on the qualitative approach of research.

Research Environment As stated in Chapter 1, Scope and Limitations, this study is focused on publicly-listed fast food corporations within the vicinity of Cebu City. Consequently, the location of this study is centered on Cebu City. Majority of the study is done by gathering secondary data from various libraries, government agencies and the internet. Research Respondents The respondents of the study are the publicly-listed fast food corporations in Cebu City. Since there too many of them in Cebu City, we will focus our research on the three big fast food corporations in Cebu City namely Jollibee, McDonald’s and KFC. Though we do not personally interact with its respective managements, we consider them as our respondents because they are the ones who will supply the needed secondary data for our research. Jollibee Foods Corporation abbreviated as JFC and popularly known as Jollibee (PSE: JFC) is a Philippine multinational chain of fast food restaurants headquartered in Pasig City, Philippines. JFC is the parent company of Jollibee, the country's answer to McDonald's in the fast food burger business. With its success, the company bought out their competitors in the fast food business like Chowking, Greenwich Pizza, Red Ribbon bakeshop, Mang Inasal and Burger King Philippines. In 2011, JFC had a total of 2,510 stores worldwide with a system wide retail sales totaling to 82.1 billion pesos for the fiscal year 2011. (www.wikipedia.org) Jollibee has been chosen as a respondent not only due to its size and scope, but also because of its various initiatives in corporate social responsibility.

The second respondent is McDonald's. The McDonald’s restaurant concept was introduced in San Bernardino, California by Richard and Maurice McDonald of Manchester, New Hampshire. It was modified and expanded by their business partner, Ray Kroc, of Oak Park, Illinois, who later bought out the business interests of the McDonald brothers and formed McDonald's Corporation. In January 2012, the company announced revenue for 2011 reached an all-time high of $27 billion, and that 2400 restaurants would be updated and 1300 new ones opened worldwide. Such stability prompts the researchers to include McDonald’s as one of its respondents for CSR Disclosure studies. The last respondent is KFC. KFC was founded by Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Sanders identified the potential of restaurant franchising, and the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Utah in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in the fast-food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger. By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", the founder became a prominent figure of American cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising. The company's rapid expansion saw it grow too large for Sanders to manage, and in 1964 he sold the company to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown, Jr. and Jack C. Massey. KFC was one of the first fast-food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets in England, Mexico and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, KFC experienced mixed fortunes domestically, as it went through a series of changes in corporate ownership with little or no experience in the restaurant business. In the early 1970s, KFC was sold to the spirits distributor Heublein, which was taken over by the R.J. Reynolds food and tobacco conglomerate, who later sold the chain to PepsiCo. The chain continued to expand overseas, and in 1987 KFC became the first Western restaurant chain to open in China (www.wikipedia.org). Furthermore, the availability of CSR disclosures by KFC makes this fast food corporation a good candidate as a research respondent.