Starbucks

STARBUCKS
has
become
target
fixated
on
growth.
In
ten
years
time
the
organization
has
grown
from
140
regional
stores
to
5886
stores
with
a
global
footprint.
In
doing
so,
the
company
has
is
undergone
an
identity
crisis
with
its
customers
and
lost
focus
on
what
their
true
product
they
are
selling
to
Joe
Public.
To
fix
the
problem,
senior
management
has
proposed
based
on
various
data
obtained
that
$40
million
be
invested
annually
to
increase
the
number
of
‘partners’
at
each
store.
This
would
be
expected
to
lower
the
average
waiting
time
(time
of
arrival
thru
departure)
to
approximately
three
(3)
minutes.
It
has
always
been
assumed
that
wait
time
is
critical
to
overall
customer
satisfaction.
“The
idea
is
to
improve
speed-­‐of-­‐service
and
thereby
increase
customer
satisfaction.”
In
this
regard,
we
feel
it
would
be
premature
to
blindly
invest
such
large
sums
into
the
employment
of
additional
‘partners’.
The
situation
has
not
been
properly
assessed.
STARUCKS
should
only
increase
the
manpower
in
those
stores
that
have
a
high
customer
turnover
and
long
wait
times
and
not
just
blindly
increase
manning
across
all
stores.
Investments
should
be
made
in
technology
ensuring
high
traffic
coffee
shops
are
outfitted
with
the
latest
coffee
machines
that
include
automation
thus
reducing
the
time
and
steps
to
make
coffee.
Technology
upgrades
should
be
also
made
to
the
‘environment’
which
includes
convenient
Internet
access
and
power
supplies
making
the
‘third
place’
more
valuable
to
the
customers.
Finally,
STARBUCKS
needs
to
co-­‐ordinate
its
marketing
effort.
Doing
so
will
allow
the
company
properly
segment
the
population,
target
the
correct
customer
base
across
various
markets,
and
position
itself
geographically...