Is competition actually good?

Due to my love of marketing and also my choice of degree, I try to keep myself updated with what is going on in the media world. This one article stuck out and I began to question whether
a) it was worth the business re-investing money into their scheme
b) whether it would be enough to overtake their current competitors
c) whether it is too late for this company to successfully change their long standing coroprate image and values that have been engraved into their target customer's heads.

The article in question is about Pizza Hut and Pizza Express. The fact of the matter being that Pizza Express has announced better profits and expansion plans. The first thing I found odd was that Pizza Hut have never been "intimidated" by another company similar to their own. Pizza Hut is well known for being a place of fun family dining along with good food at great prices. Even when new take out pizza places opened, Pizza Hut seemed to hold their own in the market. This was before Pizza Express announced their plans to open up another 200 outlets, especially at a time when the recession and share prices are balancing on the edge of a very rocky cliff. This I expect has made Pizza Hut decide to "up their anti" with customer satisfaction and the image of their overall company.

Pizza Hut's plan is vast, which means a lot of investing revenue into the new scheme, which will hopefully increase sales and customer service. Pizza Hut have openly admitted that their customer satisfaction has decreased over the past few years. An example of one of their plans is to re-vamp their buffet option, resulting in making it less "trough feeding" for customers.

My question though is, will this "revamp" plan be enough for a company that has now socially become a "family" restaurant?

I personally see Pizza Express as a restaurant that can offer sophistication to their customers along with home made pizzas that include that bit of something special, for example toppings, whereas Pizza Hut has over the years become a chain pizza business that screams more of wanting profit than wanting customer satisfaction. Pizza Hut have become a business that tries to get their customers in and out of the door in under 60 minutes.  I just feel that they are too late in trying to change their entire corporate image and personna, especially in the face of their competitor who offer a different type of pizza eating experience, one which Pizza Hut couldn't afford giving to family, which at the end of the day is their target market, unlike young adult and special events, which Pizza Express try to target. I suppose I wanted to shed a light on the idea that even though the economy is struggling many businesses are willing to risk a lot of capital on changing their entire business layout/personna in order to gain back their market share and get ahead of competitors.

I have posted the full article link below for any of those interested.

*The opinions posted are my own and this blog post is my thoughts on the matter and can not be 100% accurate due to it being a opinion*

Pizza Hut Overhauls UK business