What is the difference between a project and routine work?

May 18, 2023/in Uncategorized /by SK

PROJECT MANAGEMENT (SHORT COURSE)

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Project Management (Short Course)

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This course covers the following topics:

TOPIC 1: Introduction to Project Management………………….. Page: 3 to 8

TOPIC 2: Role of the Project Manager………………………………………………….. Page: 9 to 13

TOPIC 3: The Project Life Cycle …………………………………………………………. Page: 14 to 20

Assessment ………………………………………………………………………… Page: 21

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Topic 1

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Introduction to Project Management What is A Project? A project is an effort that involves a series of activities and resources, aimed to achieve a certain output, considering constraints like time, quality and cost and which often introduces a change. Source: Lake (1997)

Projects have a limited duration, while operations are being carried out. Projects have well defined start and end dates. When the goals and objectives of a project are accomplished, it is said to have been completed. Sometimes when it becomes evident that the goals and objectives cannot be accomplished the project is cancelled and it ends. Operations involve continuous work without an ending date and often the same process is repeated.

A project is considered a success if it meets the expectations of the stakeholders. Stakeholders are people who have something to gain or lose from the project. A stakeholder is a person who sponsors a project and is usually an executive in the organization, who has the power to assign resources and make decisions related to the project. The customer is also stakeholder like contractors and suppliers. The manager of the project, as well as managers from other departments in the organization is also a stakeholder. Identification of all the stakeholders in the project by the project manager at the very start of the project is very important.

Fig: 1

The stakeholders usually have interests that conflict with those of other stakeholders. The project manager must understand these conflicts, and try to fix them. Be certain to identify and meet with all key stakeholders early in the project to understand all their needs and constraints. When in doubt, stakeholder conflicts should always be resolved in favour of the customer.

project

Project Sponsor

Department Managers customers Vendors

Board Of Directors Suppliers

Executive Managers

Project manager

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What Is Project Management? A project uses the same skills that are used in everyday life, routine work – planning, working with others, managing different resources, reporting and so on.

It is not desirable to define a project depending on its size because this can vary largely. Some projects take a month or two to complete while others may be completed in years.

Project management is officially defined by the Project Management Institute as:

“the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.”

Projects can involve various types of activity. Investigating a particular problem, researching a new product or service or implementing the results of a previously completed project are some examples of the activity and aim of a project. These activities can be carried out completely by an organisation’s own staff, or external consultants can be called for assistance. Even more than one company can be working together in a group. On the other hand, conventional routine work is one of the known and recurring tasks. And it does not have a clearly defined end point or deliverables. It is best to be carried out in an environment which is stable – mostly within a single function. Calling work ‘a project’ means that it has a unique outcome, which can be calculated in terms of time, cost and quality. For example, calling the building and launching London’s Millennium Dome a project will be true, and so will be sending a man to the moon. So projects can be different in their relative sizes, but they have a common feature that they are all a series of activities, that are plotted and co-ordinated in a way that clients or sponsors can eventually decide that whether or not value for their investment has been received.

A projectis different from routine work because it is a one-time effort aimed to change things in a specific way. So it can be said that creating a new web site would be a project; whereas its maintenance and small updates would not.

Managing a project can include;

 Pointing out the requirements,  Fulfilling various needs, concerns and expectations of the stakeholders while project is being

planned and carried out;  Balancing the completing project constraints include(but not limited to);

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Time and budgetare known terms—for example, a project should take six weeks and have a budget of £20,000. Scope refers to an agreed list of deliverables or features. The scale of the required solution is identified here. For example, creating a new web site for the company may be possible to do in six weeks, but if accounting software is to be rewritten then this isn’t. Quality is exactly what it says on the tin, but a project’s quality includes not only the quality of the finished product, but also the approach. Some industries require particular quality management approaches to be used—for instance, particular international standards have to be met by factories producing automotive parts.

A particular project influences the limitations on which project manager needs to focus. These factors have such a relation to each other that if any one factor changes, at least one other factor is likely to be affected. For example, shortening the schedule often results in increased budget, so that add additional resources can be added to complete the same amount of work in less time. If budget cannot be increased, the scope or quality may be reduced.

An even greater challenge is that project stakeholders may have different ideas as to which factors are the most important. Challenging the requirements of the project may create additional risks. The project team must have the capability to understand the situation and balance the demands so that a successful project can be delivered.

Fig 2

Budget

Scope

Quality

Schedule

Resources and,

Risk

• Cost • Scope • Time

Quality

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These four features (time, budget, scope, and quality) are known collectively as the balance quadrant. The balance quadrant shows the interrelationship between the four aspects and tells how a changing one feature will disturb the quadrant. For instance, if the project’s scope is increased, it will have an impact on the time, cost, and quality of the project. In reality, making any project decision will have an effect on these four aspects.

Project management is therefore a set of skills and tools which assist in getting the project right in every way.

Project Constraints There are usually far more project requests in an organization, than there are available resources to work on. Resources are a constraint here. The same problem occurs on individual projects as well. Every project should work under the constraint combination of time, money, and quality. One or two of the three constraints, sometimes all three, are limited. Sometimes there are projects where unlimited resources are available but time is the limitation. The changes needed for computer-programming required for the year 2000 are an example of a time-constrained project because moving the date wasn’t possible.

The opposite scenario can be seen with other projects. The budget is fixed, even if you have all the time needed to complete the project. And then there are projects that have two or three of the constraints. Government agencies usually start the projects which are double constrained and sometimes triple constrained. For example, a new tax law states the impacts on computer programming, and requires new programmes to calculate and track the tax changes. A due date is usually given when the tax law takes effect, and the organization responsible has to implement the changes without additional budget or staff, i.e. they are told to use existing resources to accomplish the project goals. The specific requirements of the project are such that quality cannot be changed to meet the time deadline.

One of the biggest jobs of a project manager is to balance the triple constraints and at the same time meeting or exceeding the stakeholders’ expectations. Most projects will require balancing only one or two of the triple constraints. For instance, if the project goal is a high-quality product, it is said, “I can give it to you fast or I can give to you cheap, but I can’t give it to you fast and cheap.”

Tools and Techniques Project management is performed by people who describe, organize, and monitor the work of project activities using a set of tools and techniques. Project managers are those whose responsibility is to manage the processes involved in a project and who carry out the project activities using necessary the tools and techniques. Using these techniques leads to many advantages in organizing projects.

Programme is a group of projects, managed by employing similar techniques in an organized way. Programmes may include aspects of on-going operations as well. An example would be of a very large

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programme with many subprojects under it like building a new shopping mall. Many subprojects exist under this programme. These might for example be excavation, construction, interior design, store placement, marketing, facilities management, etc. Each of the subprojects is basically itself a project. Each subproject has its own project manager, who is reporting to a project manager holding responsibility over several of the areas, who also has to report to the head project manager over the entire programme. Once this structure is built, the facility management is considered the on-going operations part of this programme.

Many skills and techniques are involved in project management. According to the PMBOK, “Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.” Ensuring project management techniques are used effectively is the responsibility of the project manager.

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Topic 2

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Role of the Project Manager

The performing organization assigns a person to achieve the project activities. This person is known as the project manager. A project manager’s role is different from that of a functional manager or operation manager. Functional managers are usually focused on providing management oversight for an administrative area, whereas operations managers are assigned taking care of a facet of the core business.

A project manager may report to a functional manager, but this depends on the organizational structure. A project manager can also be one of the many project managers who report to a portfolio or programme manager.

Some organisations are involved with projects like construction, advertising, consultancy or entertainment. While in some organisations the work is centred on on-going operations like manufacturing, distribution and travel. However,to respond to changing circumstances and to create change, projects are increasingly used in all organisations.

Whatever industry you work in, you are likely to being part of managing projects at some time. For example, you may have to organize a new layout for the office, to investigate and write a report on how to introduce new updated machinery or to improve the provision of customer services. Your approach will depend on the structure of the organisation, and how projects within it are agreed and resourced.

You need to be certain about what you have been charged to deliver, the cost, the performance standards, to whose satisfaction and the time, if you want to be successful as a project manager. The nature of control you have over resources and people, and how certain you can be that the project that you have accepted is feasible are additional factors to your success.

The following characteristics must be possessed by the manager for effective project management:

1. Knowledge: What the project manager knows about project management.

2. Performance. What the project manager is capable of doing or accomplishing while applying their project management knowledge.

Personal. What is behaviour of the project manager when performing the project related activity. This encompasses the attitudes, core personality characteristics and leadership qualities of the project manager. Leadership is the ability to guide the project team while achieving project objectives and balancing the project constraints.

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Fig 3

Project management has created tools and techniques for defining, setting up and controlling the work that has to be done. These tools make the job easier, but a project can’t be managed by numbers. Project managers must be very good at managing people and handling uncertainty and risk.

Each of the skills is discussed in a bit more detail.

Communication Skills A first-rate project manager possesses the single most important characteristics of excellent communication skills. Written and oral communications are the backbone of all successful projects. During the lifetime of a project, there will be many forms of communication. Ensuring that the information is explicit, clear, and complete so that your audience will have no trouble understanding what has been communicated is the job of the creator or manager of the project communication (project documents, meeting updates, status reports, etc.). It is the responsibility of the person receiving the information to make sure they understand it, once the information has been distributed.

Organizational Skills Organizational and planning skills are probably the second most important skills of a project manager. Organization can be of many forms. There will be project documentation, requirements information, memos, project reports, vendor quotes, contracts, personnel records, and much more to track for the manager and he must be able to locate them in a short notice. He will also have to put together teams, organize meetings, and perhaps manage and organize media release schedules depending on your project.

contextual competences

Behavioural competences

Technical competences

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Time management skill is closely associated with organizational skills, and the project manager should possess it.

Planning skills go alongside organizational skills. If you are able to combining these two with excellent communication skills, it is almost a sure guarantee of your success in the project management field.

Budgeting Skills Project managers have to establish and manage budgets. So they need knowledge regarding finance and accounting principles. Performing cost estimates for project budgeting is the most important skill in this area. Project costs can be calculated using different methods available. These methods range from estimating the project’s cost in one big chunk, to estimating individual activities and rolling the estimates up.

You can start spending after a budget is determined. This is not as exciting as it sounds. Budgeting skills like reading and understanding vendor quotes, preparing or overseeing purchase orders, and reconciling invoices will be used by the project manager on most projects. These costs will be linked back to expense items in the project’s budget and project activities.

Problem Solving All projects like everyday life have some problems.

Problem solving is a twofold process. Defining the problem comes first. When defining problems, we often end up just describing the symptoms instead of describing what the actual problem is. To avoid this problem, ask yourself, “Is it an internal or external problem?” or “Are there interpersonal problems between team members? Is it managerial?” or “Is it a technical problem?” Questions like these will help you to get to the heart of the problem.

After the problem has been defined, some decisions have to be made. Examining and analysing the problem will take a little time. The situation causing it, and the solution alternatives available all will take time to be figured out. After this analysis has been made, the best course of action to take and implement the decision will be determined by the project manager.

Negotiation and Influencing Effective problem solving requires negotiation and influencing skills. Negotiation skills are used by us all in one form or another every day. For example, I am asked every day, “Honey, what do you want for dinner?” Then the negotiations begin, and the swordfish versus fried chicken discussion commences. Negotiating is basically working with others to come to agreement. Negotiation on projects will be essential in almost every area from scope definition, to contracts, budgets, resource assignments, etc.

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Influencing can be thought of as ability to convince the other party that swordfish is a better choice than fried chicken even if that is what they want. Simply put, it’s the ability to get people to do things they wouldn’t do otherwise. It’s also the ability to change of the course of events and minds, and to influence outcomes.

All areas of project management will utilize these skills.

Leading Management and leadership are not synonymous terms. Leaders impart vision, inspire and motivate others, establish direction and gain consensus for strategic goals. On the other hand, managers focus on results and they are concerned with getting the job done according to the requirements. Project managers must exhibit the characteristics of both during different times on the project, even though leaders and managers are not the same. Understanding when to switch from leadership to management and then back again is a finely tuned and necessary talent.

Team Building and Human Resources Team building and human resource management skills will be heavily relied on by project managers. People from different parts of the organization often form the teams. These people may or may not have worked together before—so there may be some component of team-building groundwork that will involve the project manager. The tone for the project team will be set by the project manager. He will help them work through the various team-forming stages to become fully functional. The project manager may take on a variety of roles during this initial team-building process.

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Topic 3

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The Project Life Cycle From initial idea to completion and sign off, the projects will be passing through some well-defined stages. There are basically five stages, as shown in the following figure.

First you start the project (Initiating), then you go on to actually do the project, i.e. the Planning, Execut- ing, and controllingphases. Finally you finish with everyone happy, a strategy for the future in place, and a check in your hand (Closing).

Fig : 4

In reality, each stage is rarely as neatly compartmentalised as the model shown in Figure 1.4. Although each stage has a clear purpose, stages may overlap. Monitoring and review, for instance, is inseparable from putting the plan into practice and the activities within each stage may continue to the next stage. The project manager should be aware of this. He must accept it as a part of real life, and be confident enough to manage this fluidity without losing control of the project.

Although all the stages are important, it is wise to particular importance to initiation and definition and the planning and project organisation phases. If these are skimmed over in a rush to get started on what may be perceived as the real work, implementation will be difficult and time-consuming to achieve, and the project will probably fail. The project manager is in the spotlight, but projects involve many different people who have some interest in its progress and outcome.

The project sponsor, who may have initiated the project, project team members, the customer or client for whom the work is being done, suppliers of products or services for the project, both internal and external, and possibly external consultants, all are stakeholders who have interest in the project. Each stage will now look briefly at in turn.

initiating Planning

Controlling Executing

Closing

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Initiation Different sources and different reasons can result in projects arising.

For example:

 a customer complaint about poor delivery times  a request from a potential customer to provide a service or product  your boss’s view that there must be a better way of doing something  an internal proposal for a new product or service  a policy decision in the organisation to introduce a new quality standard  your own belief that a particular process isn’t working as efficiently as it should.

Large capital projects are typically preceded by an extensive feasibility study. For example, civil engineering projects. This study concludes that the project is viable, confirms that the organisation can support the capital outlay, estimates the budget required and sets out a broad specification for the project.

Examples of this kind of feasibility study include:

 A study which defines the financial and technical requirements of an improved system which monitors environment in a major city

 A study which defines the best methods of converting paper media, in a documentation centre, into electronic versions which are suitable for the organisation’s project work

 A study which identifies businesses that need the particular attributes of a specific city or region, for example climate or raw materials, transport links, so that targeted marketing can be used by the city or region to encourage relocation.

Feasibility or scoping study can also benefit smaller but complex projects, those for which the value isn’t immediately obvious or for which an initial quantification is required. This can provide a clear view of what needs to be done by the project itself, and establish a project framework and definition.

Some formal recommendations for action or change will be part of this study. On a smaller scale; projects may simply start as a gut feeling or hunch, which is then articulated into a project proposal.

We can think of it as the contract between the sponsor and the project team. This defines the scope of the work to be carried out. Initiation can be by either side, but activities covered, and any subsequent changes, have to be agreed by both parties.

The Terms of Reference will cover at least the following:

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At this stage, you may be working on your own as the project manager. You may also be working with a small number of people. These will develop into the core project team.

Project planning and organization This is a crucial and very extensive stage involving all those who have a legitimate interest in the project, that is, all the project’s stakeholders. The project really begins to move from here; from an idea to a reality, as project outlines are translated into specific actions. Clarification, quantification and documentation will be the focus in this phase. All these will build up into a formal project plan:

 Who will be responsible for carrying them out?  What resources will be required?  In what order will tasks be performed, and to what timetable?  What tasks will be carried out in order to meet the project objectives and how will they be

grouped together?

Project planning and organization can determine its success or failure. Obtaining agreement is a key task for the project manager during this phase. Essentially, all project stakeholders should believe in it and must be committed to its success.

Implementing the plan This is the phase when you have to go away and do it. The project becomes reality here. Success or failure of the project will depends largely on how well the project team works together, and how effectively the project manager can lead and motivate them. The project’s customers take a close interest, and it must be ensured that they are kept up to date with progress and consulted as appropriate.

Monitoring and review If project objectives are to be achieved against time and budget, careful monitoring against the key dates and milestones you have identified in the project plan will be needed. Few projects run without any

objectives, scope and budget for the project

the kind of deliverables expected from it

the project sponsor

the customer

the different phases of the project and

any milestones or key interim points that the project is looking to achieve.

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hitches. So you and your team will need to review the plan on a regular basis and deal with potential and actual problems by making any necessary changes to the plan if needed.

Project closure and evaluation This means the end of the project. All deliverables can be formally signed off and the team disbanded. At this point, the project itself can be evaluated in terms of its success and likely impact.

Understanding the Project Life Cycle The project life cycle tells us that the areas that take the most time are not necessarily the most important.

Fig: 5

Most people spend most of the project time working in the Executing and Controlling phases—actually doing the tasks, building the product, and making sure everything is on track. It is true that this work is hugely valuable—without which, there wouldn’t be much point starting the project at all. But these phases aren’t typically where the success or failure of a project is dictated. That lies with the other three phases—Initiating, Planning, and Closing. This makes them the most important phases of all.

initiating Process

Planning Process

Executing ProcessMonitoring &Controlling Process

Closing Process Project Life Cycle

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Fig: 6

We now ask why Initiating, Planning, and Closing are so important. Think about this by imagining the repercussions if these phases were completed badly or even ignored completely.

If Initiating isn’t done right, a situation often arises where the project team members have very different ideas about the project’s purpose. Eventually they disagree to the point at which the project is really finished. Thinking success is a good design and a series of static pages, but the customers’ number one requirement being “first result on Google,” you would be delivering a great product that they will be viewing as a failure.

The Initiating phase provides an opportunity to ensure that everyone in the team is on the same page from the start. Conflicts and misconceptions are addressed, rather than left to fester. Good initiation will ensures that all the project stakeholders(all those who are involved, interested in, or affected by the project) are identified up-front. This avoids the likelihood that they’ll appear and interfere up at inopportune moments during the project.

Failing in the Planning phase can be equally disastrous for your project. Without planning, you wouldn’t know what you should be doing next. Similarly, planning once at the beginning of the project, and expecting just to be able to follow that plan, is both wonderfully naïve and seriously dangerous. It’s incredibly difficult to plan what should be done on a specific day three months from now.

The best planning approach is one that allows for planning the project’s immediate future in detail, and planning tasks that lie further out at a higher level. This is called the rolling wave approach to planning.

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The deliverables for the next three to four weeks are broken down into sections. This makes it possible to keep track of the project’s progress on a day-to-day basis. Things to do further off than a month are left unplanned, as a high-level deliverable, so that what lies ahead can be known without the minute details being overly focus on.

Just as problematic as poor initiating or planning, is when you don’t pay proper attention to the closure of your project. If you think your project is finished when you finish building the product, then you’re in for a nasty surprise:

Making sure that the product you’ve built has a future is part of finishing a project with excellence.

If you are interested in picking up support contracts for all the projects you implement, you need to execute the Closing phase properly. Ad hoc arrangements will always come back to bite you later. If you intend to hand over the future maintenance and support of the product to someone else—perhaps a person who’s internal to your customer’s organization—then, again, this needs care. Eventually there will be dissatisfaction on one side or the other if you just throw the work over the fence to them and wander off to your next project.

The Process Flow

The five processes (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring& controlling, closing) are iterative and should not be thought of as one-time processes. Throughout the project life cycle, these processes will be revisited several times as the project is refined.

Project management process groups

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Assessment Total Marks: 20 1. What is the difference between a project and routine work? 6 2. Describe different stages of the project life cycle. 8 3. Outline the key skills every good project manager should possess. 6

Show how to construct a send-constrained channel from a receive-constrained channel, and vice versa

May 18, 2023/in Uncategorized /by SK

1.Show how to construct a send-constrained channel from a receive-constrained channel, and vice versa. Hint: use a trusted node connected to the given channel.

2.discuss the applicability to mobile and ubiquitous systems of techniques drawn from the areas of: i) peer-to-peer systems (Chapter 10); ii) coordination and agreement protocols (Chapter 15); iii) replication (Chapter 18).

Epidemiology

May 18, 2023/in Uncategorized /by SK

1. Please explain what is the morbidity and what is mortality? (2 points)

2. Please explain what primary prevention, second prevention, and tertiary mean? (5 points)

The following statistics were collected in Epi County; (1) total population of 70,000; (2) 50,000 White, 10,000 Black, 10,000 Hispanic; (3) new influenza cases in 2009: 12,000 (whites), 1,900 (blacks), 2,000 (Hispanics). Assume all population is at risk of influenza and the population size remains constant.

	Population 2009	New Influenza Cases 2009
White	50,000	12,000
Black	10,000	1,900
Hispanic	10,000	2,000
Total	70,000

a. What is the RATIO of Whites in Epi County relative to Blacks?

b. What is the PROPORTION of people in Epi County who are Hispanics?

c. What is the CUMULATIVE INCIDENCE rate (per 1,000) of influenza among whites and blacks separately?

The three largest cities in New Zealand are Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Assume that these are the only three cities in New Zealand. According to a population-wide survey in each of the three cities, there were the following existing cases of prostate cancer at the beginning of 2012: Auckland (330) Wellington (270) and Christchurch (250).

City	Prostate Cancer Cases (12:00 AM, Jan 1, 2012)
Auckland	330
Wellington	270
Christchurch	250

Now assume that the population in Auckland is 400,000, in Wellington is 370,000, and in Christchurch is 340,000 and the relative proportions of men are 49% in Auckland, 51% in Wellington, and 50% Christchurch. Assuming the disease is incurable, the population in each of the three cities doesn’t change, and these are the only three cities in New Zealand.

City	Total population (2012)	% Male	Male Population(2012)
Auckland	400,000	49	196,000
Wellington	370,000	51	188,700
Christchurch	340,000	50	170,000

During 2012, 60 of the prostate cancer cases in Auckland die, as well as 70 in Wellington and 50 in Christchurch. In addition, 90 new cases are diagnosed in Auckland, 80 in Wellington and 100 in Christchurch.

City	Deaths from Prostate Cancer as of Dec 31, 2012	New Cases of Prostate cancer diagnosed between Jan 1, 2012 and Dec 31, 2012
Auckland	60	90
Wellington	70	80
Christchurch	50	100

a. What proportion of the men in Auckland who had prostate cancer at the start of 2012 died during 2012? (2 points)

2). Determine the ratio of men that died of the disease relative to those that were ill but alive at the end of 2012 for Wellington. (3 points)

3). What was the prostate cancer case-fatality rate (percent) among all men with prostate cancer in New Zealand by the end of 2012? Consider all prevalent and incident cases combined. (4 points)

Assume the disease is incurable and the population in each of the three cities doesn’t change (other than the deaths from the table above), and that these are the only three cities in New Zealand. HINT: Remember only men can get prostate cancer, women should not be included in incidence and prevalence statistics.

4). What was the point prevalence of prostate cancer (per 1,000) at the beginning of 2012 in New Zealand? (3 points)

5). What was the cumulative incidence (per 100,000) of prostate cancer in Christchurch during 2012? (3 points)

6). What was the point prevalence of prostate cancer (per 100,000) at the end of 2012 in Auckland? (4 points)

Assume a population of 310 million people in the United States (US), 45 million of whom are 65 under. Assume mortality rates in Lexington, Louisville, and Bowling Green for those under 65 years old of 80 per 100,000, 85 per 100,000, and 95 per 100,000. Assume mortality rates for those over 65 in Lexington, Louisville, and Bowling Green of 1700 per 100,000, 1575 per 100,000, and 1450 per 100,000. Use direct age adjustment with the US as the standard. Show your work.

	US Population in millions	Mortality Rate in Lexington (per 100,000)	Morality Rate in Louisville (per 100,000)	Mortality Rate in Bowling Green (per 100,000)
65 Under	45	80	85	95
65 and older	265	1700	1575	1450
Total	310

a. Which city has the highest age-specific mortality rate for those 65 and older? (2 points)

b. Using direct age adjustment, calculate the “expected” deaths using Lexington rates. (2 points)

c. Using direct age adjustment, calculate the “expected” deaths using Louisville rates. (2 points)

d. Using direct age adjustment, calculate the “expected” deaths using bowling green rates. (2 points)

e. What is the age-adjusted mortality rate for Lexington? (per 100,000) (2 points)

f. What is the age-adjusted mortality rate for Louisville? (per 100,000) (2 points)

g. What is the age-adjusted mortality rate for bowling green? (per 100,000) (2 points)

h. Which city has the LOWEST age-adjusted mortality rate? (1 point)

Short Paper: Assessment Of Key Industry Changes Assignment

May 18, 2023/in Uncategorized /by SK

It is essential to understand the development of one’s own industry in context of the factors that drove change in the past. These may also be some of the same factors that will continue to drive change in the future.

Based on the business plan you created in MBA 560: Marketing and Strategy, describe the impact of those factors of change identified in your discussion posting this week. Identify key obstacles/opportunities that necessitated the changes and the nature of changes made in the related industry. The assessment should include a section on both the enabling factors and the inhibiting factors that drove the change. The force field analysis technique can be used to help illustrate this concept [The captioned version of the video located in this document may be accessed in the following link: MBA-690 Force Field Analysis (CC)]. . The related article and video in the module resources can help you with this concept. You must use the worksheet to complete the assignment

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_06.htm

Alcoholic Coffee Brewhouses

MBA 560 Final Project- Comprehensive Business Plan Alcoholic Coffee Brew Houses Exclusively at Starbucks Carmen Hendrickson 02/19/2019

Executive Summary

This business plan will outline an integration of alcoholic beverages mixed with coffee to be exclusively offered at flagship Starbucks locations both foreign and domestic. Through test markets and extensive research into this niche area, the success of this product will rely heavily on meeting the demands of an ever-changing market. The management team is charged with the responsibility of becoming more efficient, staying ahead of current trends, and meeting the demands of the market. In order to do so and reach the full potential, Starbucks will need to employ key top level executives that are prepared to face the scrutiny of public opinion, keep up with the challenges of the market, gain knowledge of the new trends and innovations, offer appropriate prices and always be different from the rival companies. The goal is not only to be unique, but also to offer interesting and desirable products that support expanding the current customer base in which the company will have a voluntary monopoly and be an absolute favorite of the customers. This paper offers an in-depth insight to the introduction of alcoholic coffee brew houses. The company is Starbucks and this niche product will mainly be marketed to major cities with sufficient number of tourists. The paper below will discuss the branding of the product along with the context of the idea, the main features of the brew houses, the marketing, the ways to compete with the rivals, the definition of the service and the pricing – along with the comparison with the rival companies.

Context

Starbucks’ main corporate mission, values, goals and vision are to create a culture which is valuable to the clients on a personal level, offer a culture of warmth and belonging in order to make each customer feel welcome (Harju, et al., 2015). The company aspires to challenge the status quo and constantly keep up with the process of finding new ways to grow. The alcoholic coffee brewhouses perfectly align with the terminal values of the corporation – since it is indeed innovating and in accordance with the customer needs.

The alcoholic coffee is generally not sold in Starbucks but is created as an add on to its already famous drink menu. Creating an alcohol-related service between the hours of 12pm til close will be appealing to a wide range of populations. Even though the age limit may become a problem, the alcoholic coffee brewhouses can also attract customers, especially in the zones and cities that are famous tourist destinations. Its main feature would be the alcohol content.

The brew houses will be branded with the Starbucks logo, but they should also present an environment that will be different from the classic Starbucks coffeehouses in order to attract new types of customers. Since the brewing was, initially a cottage industry and the production mainly took place at home, it would be a good idea to keep the interior classic and cozy, but the brew houses should be located in the places that are strategically placed at tourist destinations such as city centers or popular sites (Avoloi, et al., 2004).

Currently, Starbucks operates in more than 23,500 locations worldwide. Of course, each of these coffeehouses is facing different competitors, which vary depending on the culture and country of each Starbucks location (Stahl, Cutcher-Gershenfeld, 2013). If Starbucks offered the customers alcoholic coffee brewhouses, the company would be uniquely uniting the ideas of cafes, bars, and even pubs. Offering alcoholic coffee may be exactly what the company needs to differentiate itself from the competition. Alcoholic coffee is rarely sold in coffee shops and if they are – they are often too expensive.

In order for the alignment of pricing to be compatible with the market position and the corporate goals, the pricing should be more or less affordable. The pricing should take into account the differences of each country that Starbucks is opened in since it is the core on which it can be measured how much an average person can afford to pay even for their finest coffee. However, the pricing of the competitors should also be taken into account, since the alcoholic coffee is almost always twice as pricey as the regular one, while the concentration of alcohol and therefore, the resources spent on it is not as high (Stahl, Curtcher-Gershenfeld, 2013).

The brand effectiveness should improve with the offering of alcoholic coffee, especially along with the creation of the brew houses, since the locals, as well as the tourists, are always looking to try something new. A new product offered by an old well-known company is always interesting, and since Starbucks is already not limited to just coffee and offers a selection of premium teas, fine pastries, and other available treats, it should also be a definite success to offer alcohol, since despite not being good for health, it is still very demanded and after all – the market always provides according to customer needs (Harju, et al., 2015).

Defining Product or Service Need

Behavioral and/or lifestyle demographics of the targeted consumer or buying style of organizational buyer and why they are a good choice will be critical in setting up the locations. Starbucks’ target market is often described as affluent or high income. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the people with middle income would not be willing to spend some of it on premium coffee drinks. In fact, Starbucks is known to be a revolutionary chain of coffee shops precisely because it has always known the target audience very well. The target age of the market is 22-60, which is perfectly compatible with the age restrictions on drinking alcohol. In many countries, people above 18-21 are already allowed to purchase alcoholic drinks.

Offering coffee lovers an alcoholic drink is not a safe business move, one might think. However, many describe Starbucks lovers as very adaptive to change, and the demand on alcoholic drinks clearly exists. Other than that, the brew houses may be an alternative to the classic coffee shops Starbucks offers, it may develop as a new and more prominent hang-out for the customers, not just to run in and get coffee to go, but to relax and spend free time in an even more comfortable environment.

The marketing of the new service should be carefully planned. All the information should be available to the customers worldwide, via the internet and the official website. However, since some countries actually ban the popularization of alcohol and other harmful products, the advertisements should be discrete. Starbucks, according to the CEO always respects the culture of each country it opens in.

The product – the alcoholic coffee – will be purchased in the brewhouses, which will offer the customers a wide range of different kinds of alcohol to mix in drinks that are currently on the menu, there will be special attention devoted to domestic and the imported beers that will be brewed with coffee as the base. The brewhouses will have a bar-type structure with popular music and friendly atmosphere, along with a place to rest and relax. The purchases will not be limited to ordering and getting the coffee at the pick-up, as it used to be – the clients will be allowed to enjoy the calm environment in a much less crowded place than competing cafes.

Starbucks is most known to have customers, which adopt new technologies well, flexible to change and are mostly urban. While the company itself has become an inseparable part of the social media, alcoholic coffee may be a way to address a completely new target audience, which will not only be profitable, but will also be beneficial in giving the corporation a different image. Those who were not the regular customers of Starbucks may become interested in the coffee shops after seeing new brew houses, and those who were the loyal customers of Starbucks will probably find the new idea fascinating.

SWOT

Perhaps the most important strength of Starbucks would be its brand image, since the customers are aware of it around the world (Simon, 2009). While Starbucks has very strong base in the western world, the consumers in other parts of the world, especially Asia have noticed the high quality coffee being offered in Starbucks shops. This is likely to be a huge benefit for the alcoholic brewhouses, since the consumers are aware of the high quality products already available in the shop and would likely try out the newly introduced product too.

Another strength is the extensive global supply chain. Starbucks has worked hard over the decades to establish supply chain for its products to guarantee the quality for the consumers. Therefore, it is no surprise that the company has managed to build up one of the best supply chains in the industry (Hsieh, et al., 2019). This is likely to benefit the brewhouses, since the existing suppliers can already deliver many of the ingredients for the products. At the same time, there would be certain products, where Starbucks needs to find new suppliers around the world fully satisfyng their demands.

A major strength for the company is its moderate diversification through subsidiaries. This allows the company to hold control and profits of the most lucrative shops, while at the same time, innovating with the help of the subsidiaries (Lemus, et al., 2015). The subsidiaries often generate great ideas, which can then be integrated throughout the chain. For the brewhouses, this could prove challenging, since the subsidiaries are likely to have differing positions about such substantial changes in the business model.

The company has been performing well financially. This is despite the fact that the share price of SBUX has not risen significantly over the past few years. Strong investment and awaiting the results of the investment can be blamed for this (Banco, Kobakova, 2018). However, it can be claimed that the company shares are likely to be sold at higher prices in the future, and there may even be additional offering for the company in the future. This is likely to generate substantial money for the new investments including the brewhouses.

Finally yet importantly, the company has supportive customers. It has managed to acquire the customer loyalty throughout the decades because of the high quality of its products as well as services (Typaldos, 2016). As a result, the brewhouses are highly likely to significantly benefit from this customer loyalty, as more individuals would be willing to taste the new product. Customer loyalty also means that the company would be able to generate the feedback at a very rapid pace, thereby improving the product as necessary.

Weaknesses

Despite all the above-mentioned strengths, Starbucks operates at very high price points. If the consumers wish to drink coffee, it is possible to do so in significantly cheaper locations. This means that Starbucks always needs to provide the benefit to the consumers (Banco, Kobakova, 2018). Only this way is it possible for the company to keep up with these price points. The problem would be similar for the brewhouses, as it would need to generate certain benefit on top of the products being offered.

The company also has generalized standards for most of the products. While this should be considered as a strength from the marketing perspective, Starbucks always needs to have ways of integrating new products into these standards. This includes the alcoholic brewhouses. Therefore, the company is likely to have to spend substantially more for the integration of brewhouses into the system due to these generalized standards.

Starbucks has long been suffering from the problem of imitability. Due to its benefit, the company has very high price points and constantly faces cheaper alternatives for any of the products it introduces. As a market leader, it sometimes has to spend considerably more for the innovations than it takes the competitors to simply introduce to the market in case of its success (Lemus, et al., 2015). Alcoholic brewhouses would likely run into the same problem, since the competitors would attempt to copy it.

Starbucks has traditionally suffered in terms of marketing. There is no groundbreaking marketing campaign that the company has generated such as their competitors, who often use catch slogans or have mascots push the product; this passive approach is because word of mouth and brand loyalty is the preferred choice of marketing. Starbucks favors to provide consumers with high quality products and reputation, with less brand focuses to generate sales they rely heavily on the customers spreading the word. Due to today’s demand for being engaged and short attention span the company would have to start some type of a marketing campaign at some point for the alcoholic brewhouses. This would help the company generate initial interest.

The company has traditional struggled with the operating expenses. In fact, it regularly exceeds 80% of the revenues. This means that Starbucks needs to be ready for further increase in the operating expenses. This is because the brewhouses would be slow to fully integrate in Starbucks environment. As a result, its operating expenses would be relatively higher than the rest of the chain. Additionally, it would struggle to generate high revenues immediately, thereby further pushing the share of expenses from the revenues.

The greatest opportunity for Starbucks as well as other famous western brands would be the ability to enter the developing markets. Starbucks is well known in these countries (Typaldos, 2016). In fact, the company has opened its branches in many of them with the aim of generating foundation for the global expansion. With regards to the alcoholic brewhouses, the problem is the fact that many of the developing nations have different cultural views regarding alcohol. As a result, it is highly likely that the brewhouses will meet regulatory problems in many of these nations at home and abroad.

While Starbucks offers great value in the coffee business, it has been attempting to diversify its product range. Bakeries would be a great example of this (Gavin, 2013). This is likely to prove an excellent opportunity for the company, since the customers are going to spend additional money for the products they need with their coffee. Alcoholic brewhouses would also be an excellent way to further diversify the product range.

Partnerships with other firms have long been used by the companies around the world to not only expand, but also diversify the risk (Hsieh, et al., 2019). As many of the Starbucks products have reached the maturity stage, the company is likely to be looking to diversify the products and partnerships would be the best way to do this. The same can be claimed with regards to the brewhouses, as Starbucks could partner up with another firm to generate a great new product.

Opportunities and Threats

Digital marketing provides traditional firms with new opportunities (Banco, Kobakova, 2018). New generations tend to have more interest with digital marketing meaning that the company can use the trend to generate higher revenues. AI and other types of digital marketing opportunities can be used by Starbucks in many ways. Alcoholic brewhouses also provide an opportunity for this. The reviews and feedbacks from online personalities for the alcoholic brewhouses could spark interest for relatively low sums of money.

Other than digital marketing, the company has a chance to use the mobile technologies to improve the customer service. Starbucks has already promoted ordering coffee online and picking it up at the store. This has enabled attracting another segment of the consumers. However, there is much more that can be done regarding the mobile technologies. New ways of distributing products are coming up at all times. For the brewhouses, this is unlikely to have significant effect, but it needs to be taken into account, in case a good product for the product distribution becomes available.

The biggest threat faced by Starbucks is the low-cost chains (Manzo, 2015). Similar to the many other products, low-cost chains tend to slowly catch up with the quality of the coffee. As a result, Starbucks has to concentrate on other services being offered at its stores in order to generate substantial revenues. If the low-cost chains will be able to provide the added value, Starbucks is likely to lose the customers. Alcoholic brewhouses would be a benefit for the company and it would take a while before the low-cost chains are able to integrate it in their operations.

Similarly, the low-cost chains or even the single shops could easily imitate Starbucks products and services (Lemus, et al., 2015). While the logo is copyrighted, the culture and added value provided in Starbucks is not. The company may spend millions in the research to improve the environment for the customers, which can be easily copied by the competitors. If successful, alcoholic brewhouses would also be likely to be imitated by the other low-cost chains.

Independent coffeehouse movements are becoming significantly more popular these days becasuse of the ability for them to market their offers online to particular groups of customers. This may be a huge threat for giants such as Starbucks that are not able to react to customer feedback as efficiently (Lemus, et al., 2015). As a result, the company may need to consider an alternative strategy for the alcoholic brewhouses, where most of the ingredients are expensive in order to defer the independent coffeehouse movements from copying its idea.

Consumer Trends

The changing customer trends could also become a huge factor for Starbucks (Woldoff, et al., 2013). The millennial generation tends to be significantly different from the previous ones. Starbucks, while popular among millennials could find itself struggling, if it does not constantly follow the available customer trends. To do so regarding the alcoholic brewhouses, the company would need to rapidly update its offers or face an increased threat.

Finally, the international trade and regulations could be a huge problem for Starbucks. China and the US appear to be engaged in a trade war resulting in the decline of trade between the two countries (Koch, 2019). Additionally, alcohol is already heavily regulated in most of the countries. Therefore, alcoholic brewhouses could give additional reason for the governments against the US to attack Starbucks possibly destroying its brand image in the country.

Ethics and Branding

The SWOT analysis conducted demonstrated that the company has very high price points and as a result, its ethics and branding are affected. This is because it needs to justify the high price points. Environmental push has been one way for Starbucks to justify them. This includes the company strongly urging for change in the way the environment is handled. It has also introduced various green products (Banco, Kobakova, 2018). This way, the company aims to raise its brand image and convince the customers that the company is ethical.

Core Competencies

Starbucks became well-known because of its ability to produce high quality coffee. Since its early years, the company has not given up on producing high quality coffee and as a result, has grown incredibly fast. As a result, high quality products have become one of its core competencies (Bishop, Bishop, 2013). It is vital for the business to keep the high quality of the products, since it is highly dependent on the return customers. These return customers are only likely to come back, if they wish to receive the same experience they had during their previous visit.

It is not only the coffee that is high quality in Starbucks. General environment that is pleasing for the customers is a guarantor for their return. Starbucks essentially offers the experience and not just the coffee (Koch, 2019). This type of experience should be the main motivating factor for the alcoholic brewhouses too. This would mean that the company would generate the product integrating well with the already existing environment.

Starbucks, unlike many other retail giants, has not bullied its suppliers into cheaper prices. The reason is its high price points (Perriam, 2013). As a result, many of the suppliers have excellent relationship and Starbucks has greatly benefited in terms of price modifications and market volatility. Similar relationship would be necessary for the new suppliers generating products for the alcoholic brewhouses. This way, it would be possible for Starbucks to think of the long-term future of the model.

Starbucks has worked very hard to guarantee it has a very strong brand image. The company has been trying to avoid any types of problems regarding the brand image and it includes the way any type of emergency situation is handled by the company. The staff are well trained to guarantee that they are unable to damage the brand image. It is a core competency, since it helps keep the price points very high. With the brand image, Starbucks aims to generate the global growth that is necessary for success in every country (Hsieh, et al., 2019). Alcoholic brewhouses would there need to be introduced so as not to damage the brand image of the company. They should be viewed as an excellent service, rather than a way for Starbucks to attract additional revenues.

With global trade increasing every year, as well as the number of tourists rising across the globe, it makes sense for Starbucks and other well-known brands to increase their availability across the world (Simon, 2009). Starbucks has recently invested heavily in Japan and this was seen as a positive move. Hence, people from around the world would be able to find Starbucks in every city they visit (Koch, 2019). Furthermore, availability of Starbucks diversifies the macroeconomic risks carried by the chain. For alcoholic brewhouses, it would be questionable whether to immediately integrate them in every destination. However, over a certain period, they would be likely to appear around the world.

Pricing

Fixed costs are the ones that are available regardless of whether the business is running successfully. They can be thought of as the cost of running a business. Meanwhile, the variable costs represent per unit cost of the products sold. In this case, it is necessary to view the fixed costs as the ones Starbucks would attempt to avoid. Such avoidance would be performed with the help of the currently available stores. Brewhouses would not necessarily be opened in new locations. Instead, they would perform the role of an add-on to some of the already available Starbucks locations (Galston, et al., 2018).

As it can be seen below, the fixed costs can be estimated at around $40,000 in addition to the already available costs. This is because inside marketing will be the main fixed cost along with the potential hardware. On the other hand, variable costs are likely to be higher including the taxes on alcoholic products. Most of the countries, where Starbucks operates has very high taxes on alcoholic products and this needs to be taken into account.

Fixed Costs	$40,000
Variable Costs	$130,000

Competitor Pricing

Competitors tend to have lower prices for the coffee products than Starbucks. This is because they are trying to appeal to the lowest classes. Meanwhile, Starbucks’ business model has always been to establish a brand and offer quality products instead of simply being satisfied with the lowest quality and lowest prices. Similarly, the brewhouses would also be more expensive than the others. The reason for this is that Starbucks would provide the highest quality brews for the customers. As a result, the variable costs are also likely to increase. The company would have to find not only the best produce, but also guarantee that the knowledgeable individuals are in charge of them.

Potential Pricing

Since the target market is going to be the individuals that go visit the Starbucks, or the ones that are willing to visit the pubs for mild alcoholic beverages, the price charged would be substantially higher than the alcohol purchased in the supermarkets. This would put it in the range of $6-7 per cup. Such a price would also be well above the competitors’ pricing, but the branding as well as the quality ingredients would make up the difference. Additionally, the calm and relaxing atmosphere offered by Starbucks is not repeated in any of the competing stores.

The main reason for the suggested price would be the social responsibility towards the customers. While the alcoholic beverages are normally regarded to be bad for the human health, in moderate amounts, they can even be beneficial. As a result, Starbucks would attempt to provide only the sufficient amount of alcohol in its products. This would also be ethical behavior. Additionally, it is well-known that the company is engaged with the environmental sustainability practices. Consequently, the products it would obtain would also be organically farmed. This would add the price, thereby increasing the price for the consumer once again. The final intangible that needs to be considered would be the service being offered. People employed at Starbucks are usually the professionals of their craft and need to be provided sufficient revenues.

Pricing Strategy

In terms of the pricing strategy, the premium pricing appears most likely (Harju, et al., 2015). This is because the company needs to ascertain itself as a market dominator. This would mean that the individuals purchasing their products at Starbucks would be guaranteed a very high quality service, while they would also be able to provide sufficient revenues for the brewhouses. For Starbucks, such an investment would immediately be recognized worldwide. This means that the premium pricing could immediately be afforded due to the available marketing in the news. Furthermore, the premium pricing guarantees that the visitors that simply want to try the product bring substantial profit margins for the product. Given the popularity of Starbucks, it would be predictable for the alcoholic brewhouses to become extremely popular. The company would need to supplement the interest with substantial quality product though.

Refinement

Evaluating the success of the product is necessary at some point after the product has been launched. This is because it may be unsuccessful. It may in fact harm Starbucks not only because of the costs associated with it, but also the brand image that is not the same as what it used to be. At the same time, the company must not rush the evaluation of success. After the product has been launched, there is likely to be some type of hype about it. This may indicate immediately increased sales. However, the sales may decline eventually, if the product is not up to the level of consumer satisfaction.

Hence, the company needs to run the product for at least 6 months, before the analysis can be made regarding its success. The biggest way of evaluating success is always the number of people using the product (Gavin, 2013). After all, all products are designed to attract the consumers. Once the price point has been settled, the number of people using the product needs to match the envisaged number. This way, it will be possible to generate an idea of whether the product is already successful or if it needs to be modified to appease more individuals.

The number of people using the product can be counted by identifying the number of individuals that buy the product (Koch, 2019). Another way of identifying them would be to check the percentage of individuals entering the store that purchase the newly launched product line. This provides an excellent way of measuring the success of the product not only in absolute terms, but also against the already existing products.

Frequency of use of the newly launched products would provide another way for the company to measure the success. The main idea here is to see whether there are return customers. Often, individuals tend to purchase the products just to try them. Since Starbucks already has significant number of people entering the stores with the aim of purchasing the traditional products, they may be interested what the alcoholic brewhouse can offer (Lemus, et al., 2015). As a result, individuals around the world might simply be purchasing the offered alcohol because of the interest. For this reason, Starbucks would benefit from identifying the particular customers that were entering the store to purchase the brews instead of the coffee. This way, the company can analyze whether the product has been successful. It can also analyze the ways of moving forward with the product.

Depth of use of the new products is also necessary. Since Starbucks would be likely to launch a new range of products instead of simply one, the company needs to understand which of the individual products are popular (Perriam, 2013). Additionally, the company needs to investigate how the consumption of a particular product affects the others. This way, it would be possible to view each individual product separately in terms of the success they have achieved in the eyes of the consumers. Their popularity could then be used to achieve further success on the market such as obtaining the information regarding the potential new launches.

In general, attracting the new clients for Starbucks because of the alcoholic brewhouses could be a main way to move forward, since the coffee market appears to be saturated (Simon, 2009). Moreover, the company could view it a success if the consumers are using many of the introduced products. In order to keep the whole range of the brewhouses running, it is necessary for several individual brews to be successful. Otherwise, it will be impossible for the company sustain the fixed costs of handling the brewhouses. As a result, it is vital for the company to be able to assess the depth of the success for the brewhouses.

Customer satisfaction is also key to success. The idea here is to find out whether the customers feel anything should be changed or they are happy with the brewhouses. Customer satisfaction is the tool many of the companies use to retain the customers (Woldoff, et al., 2013). It is highly necessary for the companies to be able to retain the customers, especially when they are selling low-cost products such as coffee and sandwiches. Returning customers are the only way to guarantee stable revenues for the company. This can further explain the way company does not use much marketing, since it relies on the individuals coming back. As a result, the best marketing for the company would be excellent service. In the case of brewhouses, the concept is the same. The company needs to succeed in motivating the customers to come back to their stores (Simon, 2009).

Finally, goals need to be set before any type of change is performed in the company. Introduction of the new product needs to be associated with goal settings. Only this way would it be possible for the company to assess their expectations and examine whether they can be met (Typaldos, 2016). Consequently, it is likely that Starbucks will set various financial and non-financial aims for the product. These aims would include timeframes during which they should be performed. Examining whether the company has managed to meet them could be the main way for the company to generate ideas of whether they are meeting the expectations.

In case of a complete failure to meet the goals, the company might consider scrapping the idea altogether. However, if the goals are close to being met, more ideas would need to be added to find out whether the goals are eventually achievable. Time is also a vital feature of the goals. The company should be able to see whether meeting the goals is accelerating over a period to successfully identify the necessary ideas for the coming time frames.

Feedback Loops

When launching a new product or service, feedback can be one of the most challenging tasks due to the problem of emotions. New product launches always provide the customers with an urgency to express opinion (Banco, Kobakova, 2018). However, since the product is not in stable consumption, the reviews may be rushed and dissatisfactory. For this reason, the company needs to ensure it does not react to the initial problems facing it and only receives feedback after a substantial period has passed. Eventually, feedback loops will be created. This implies the constant evolution of the product and services on offer.

One of the most common ways of receiving feedbacks for the companies around the world is the customer interviews (Bishop, Bishop, 2013). This is done in order to receive not only the feedback, but also the advice about the newly launched products. After all, the most successful products are the ones that are fully concentrated on customer needs. As a result, the customer interviews usually provide qualitative analysis for the companies and allow them to analyze the mistakes they are making, while also generating new ideas for the future.

For the case of alcoholic brewhouses, the customer interviews would be essential. This is because no major coffee chain runs the alcoholic brewhouses and therefore, it is not possible for Starbucks to obtain the information from past experience. Instead, the company needs to gain new insights about the product (Typaldos, 2016). Customer interviews will allow for such insights. As a result, it is necessary to ask the customers about their opinion in qualitative way. Furthermore, it would be necessary to gain insight about each of the locations in this way.

Similar to the interviews, customer surveys can be used to gain insights in everything that is done correctly in the brewhouses. Unlike the interviews, surveys can be performed relatively rapidly and allow the individuals to provide their quantitative ideas about the product and the service (Simon, 2009). This would show some of the simplest statistics and allow recognizing some of the common themes regarding the brewhouses. Furthermore, the customer surveys can provide the confirmation of the previously available ideas. Given the modern internet technologies, it is possible to perform a customer survey rather rapidly and frequently. There are many tools for it online. As a result, the constant feedback and the feedback loop can become available to constantly assess whether the improvements have been substantial.

Customer support online and on phone has become yet another way for the companies to generate feedback about the new launches. After all, it is common for the customers to ask questions about the launch (Woldoff, et al., 2013). Customer support can then be used to generate the ideas from the customers and ask the questions back. As a result, the customer support can be used to gather not only qualitative, but also quantitative feedback from the customers. Additionally, the main customer concerns that may not be immediately available will be investigated.

Internet has become a great tool for customer engagement. In fact, the customer support nowadays can be available fully online. On top of that, there are online reviews and feedback forums for every brand including Starbucks. When a company is launching a new product, it is necessary for the firm to be able to identify the customer feedback and the feedback forums are a great way to do this. Starbucks already does this with the traditional products. The company will need to add alcoholic brewhouse topics to such forums in order to receive the most feedback possible for the new product. This way, the company would have additional information about the launch and the prospects of the new product. Furthermore, it can find out the attitude of the customers towards the launch.

The final way for the company to obtain the information about the launch is monitoring the sales. While the customer opinions are important, the sales matter the most (Manzo, 2015). This is because Starbucks needs to be able to generate sufficient statistics about the financial information too (Banco, Kobakova, 2018). This would perhaps be the most important feedback loop. Starbucks should be closely monitoring the sales numbers to understand whether the customers have received the product in a positive way (Lemus, et al., 2015). It is likely that the initial sales of the alcoholic brewhouse beverages will be inflated due to the effect of interest. However, since the model relies so largely on the return customers, it will be necessary to observe whether the sales slow down to an acceptable level. Sales numbers can be claimed to be the ultimate feedback for the companies, as the customers are speaking with their money (Lemus et al., 2015). Accordingly, the price can be adjusted depending on the feedback from the sales. While Starbucks customers generally pay higher prices than usual, the alcoholic beverages are likely to be taxed higher than coffee around the world. As a result, for retaining the high margins, Starbucks may have to introduce very high pricing for its brewhouse products.

Future Planning

While the abovementioned details are very important for Starbucks to take care of, they would put the company in a position of having to operate at common standards. For this reason, Starbucks also needs to consider other options and methodology for the feedback. With the help of the innovative ways, the company can guarantee very high quality development for the alcoholic brewhouses. The plan is long-term. As a result, the feedback and availability of the plan for the future are likely to generate long-term revenues.

Cost of the product is one of the major ways of identifying the success. Since Starbucks operates at many locations around the world, different price points can be used to identify whether the product has a chance of success at sufficient margin rates (Hsieh, et al., 2019). Price points can also generate knowledge about the necessary improvements for the products. Moreover, the differing prices in different countries can be explained by the availability of the supplies. This means that there will not be any pressure on the brand to deliver similar prices everywhere. In fact, the company is already operating the same idea with the coffee. Alcoholic brewhouses, while meant to generate substantial revenues, can be used to attract customers in Starbucks environment. With the number of customers for the coffee staying in the premise decreasing due to the order and go, it is likely that the company will benefit significantly by attracting individuals that wish to spend money on the breweries.

The generated profits would be another great way of measuring success of a product. Over the long-term, it is perhaps the element that matters the most when it comes to the success of product launches. Regarding the brewhouses, generating profits will be rather difficult for the initial stages (Perriam, 2013). However, the variable costs can be compared with the revenue to see whether the company can afford to carry on operating the part of the business. Additionally, with the improvement of the profits, share price is also likely to rise, thereby attracting additional investors to Starbucks. This will generate additional motivation for the company to keep going with the brewhouse plans. In fact, the change in market capitalization upon announcement of the alcoholic brewhouse addition could also be a significant motivator for the company to put increasing efforts in the idea.

Starbucks already has sufficient marketing throughout social media. At the same time, many of the visitors in Starbucks take the pictures of the purchased products (Lemus, et al., 2015). Generally, media success is likely to show whether the product is going to be successful. If the positive social media posts are significantly more than the negative ones, it can be considered as a boost to the chances of the brewhouses becoming a significant part of the business. Traditional types of media should also be considered in this case (Typaldos, 2016; Woldoff, et al., 2013)). If there are sufficient articles about the product and how good it is, interest is going to be sparked among the customers.

Once the brewhouses have been launched, Starbucks will also have to think about potential modifications to it. This includes not only eliminating the least successful products, but also launching new ones. Normally, brewhouses tend to operate with a large number of brews available to generate interest. Keeping their stock is usually not a problem, since it can last for a long period. As a result, possibilities of adding various products to the launched line will also be considered as part of the success. The company will have to carefully consider all of the available options before launching anything new, but the feedback from the customers about the possibilities can be very helpful.

Finally, the marketing practices need to be considered as well. This means that Starbucks will have to carefully engage with its consumers in order to guarantee the feedback. The marketing for Starbucks is traditionally not very well-performed due to the reliance on return customers (Koch, 2019). For this reason, the company might have to consider engaging with marketing agencies for the product launch as well as starting certain social media campaigns. This way, it will be possible for Starbucks to generate sufficient interest for the product to be talked about by the customers initially, increasing the chances of return customers. Subsequent marketing campaigns would also be likely to involve higher budgets, thereby increasing the chances of success for the product.

Conclusion

Overall, it can be confirmed that Starbucks needs some type of innovation on their current products. Despite the company selling all types of small products as well as the coffee products, the new entry in the alcoholic beverage markets would provide it with yet another boost in the revenues. Given that most of the traditional Starbucks markets can be considered saturated, it would allow the company to stop concentrating on expanding in the foreign markets, where success is less likely and instead obtain the revenues from another market (alcohol). The strategy of introducing alcohol to the current drink menu and creating new mixed brews that use coffee as a base is not being used by any valid competitors. Furthermore, this new product produces a larfer revenue source it along with integrating another market in its coffeehouses, thereby increasing the consumer base. While coffee is a very popular product across the world, alcohol is also incredibly popular, especially among the older generations. As a result, it would be a way for Starbucks to engage with them too. This new concept is an addition to a long-standing brand that has loyal customers that are always ahead of the current trends.

References

Avolio, B., Weichun Zhu, William Koh, & Puja Bhatia. (2004). Transformational Leadership and Organizational Commitment: Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment and Moderating Role of Structural Distance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(8), 951-968.

Banco, M. Kobakova, D. (2018), Turning a Commodity into an Experience: the “Sweetest Spot” in the Coffee Shop, Innovative Marketing, 14, 46-55.

Bishop, J., & Bishop, N. (2013). Limited to Words. Visual Anthropology Review, 115(1), 132-144.

Galston, W., Hunter, J., & Owen, J. (2018). Democratic Leadership. In Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy (pp. 105-125). New Haven; London: Yale

Gavin, D. (2013). Starbucks Exceptionalism: An Institutional Ethnographic Exploration of Coffee Culture in America. Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture J of Psych Issues in Org Culture, 4(3), 44-58.University Press.

Harju, J., Kosonen, T., & Skans, O. (2015). Firm types and heterogeneous consumption-tax incidence. Proceedings. Annual Conference on Taxation and Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the National Tax Association, 108, 1-42.

Hsieh, H-P. Lin, F. Li, C-T. Yen, I.E-H. (2019), Temporal popularity prediction of locations for geographical placement of retail stores, Knowledge and Information Systems. January.

Koch, L. (2019), Starbucks Espresso Drinks: More than the Average Cup of Joe, Journal of Renal Nutrition, 29(1):1-4.

Lemus, E. von Feigenblatt, O. Orta, M. Rivero, O. (2015), Starbucks Corporation: Leading Innovation in the 21st Century. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, Vol. 7, No 1, pp. 23-38.

Manzo, J. (2015). “Third-wave” coffeehouses as venues for sociality: On encounters between employees and customers. The Qualitative Report, 20(6), 746-761.

Perriam, J. (2013). Coffee and Wi-Fi: An ethnographic examination of the ‘sociability’ of people, objects and infrastructure in independent cafes (Unpublished master’s thesis). Goldsmiths, University of London.

Simon, B. (2009). Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Stahl, F., & Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J. (2013). Worker Leadership. In Worker Leadership: America’s Secret Weapon in the Battle for Industrial Competitiveness (pp. 127-160). MIT Press.

Typaldos, C. (2016), Experiencing the Starbucks Experience: a Cultural Analysis of the Effects of Glocalization, Lund University.

Woldoff, R. A., Lozzi, D. M., & Dilks, L. M. (2013, October 13). The Social Transformation of Coffee Houses: The Emergence of Chain Establishments and the Private Nature of Usage. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 1(2).

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