Reference no: EM132177213
Case Study: Client Brief
Client - Starbucks
Information - Starbucks Corporation is an American global coffee company headquartered in the US. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world with a global network of over 28,000 outlets as of 2018.
Business objectives - Starbucks has a large customer base but has also faced criticism over its use of plastic straws. In July 2018 the company announced it would ban all plastic straws in its stores worldwide by 2020, replaced by plastic lids (which do not require a straw), and non-plastic straws in an attempt to boost its corporate social responsibility credentials among both customers and non-customers. They also want the general public to be aware of this policy and, like any business, want to better understand what consumers want to maximise customer satisfaction.
Research aims - Starbucks wishes to understand its environmental image in a sample of countries in which it operates (it is for you to decide how to sample the countries) and, in particular, wishes to understand whether people are aware of the announcement of the plastic straw ban and whether this varies by customers / non-customers. They also wish to understand any other improvements (for example its product range, pricing etc.) which could be made with the intention of increasing global sales.
Designs to consider - The survey should include Starbucks' customers, competitor customers and some non-customers of coffee shops. It may also be possible to make use of Starbucks' customer database (based on their loyalty card). They would prefer an online methodology because of costs, but are willing to consider other designs, if justified.
Suggested analysis - Cross-tabulations, analysis of variance and regression (among others) could be possible statistical techniques proposed. However, Starbucks requires a justification of why any proposed technique would help meet the research aims.
Suggested sample size - At least 2,000 in total for each country to be surveyed, incorporating all the different consumer types.
Budget and timescale They have a large budget but wish the research to be completed fairly quickly.