Business and Enterprise Capstone Project Assignment

Business and
Enterprise
Capstone Project

Business and Enterprise Capstone Project 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Project Objective.............................................................................................................................2
Project Scope...................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................3
Research design and methodology..................................................................................................5
Research limitations.........................................................................................................................7
Time schedule (Research Plan).......................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendix........................................................................................................................................13

Business and Enterprise Capstone Project 3
Introduction
Technology is playing a vital role in the contemporary organisations; the companies incorporate
technological advancements in their specific organisational structures for the accomplishment of
several functions such as marketing, research and development, production, hiring and many
other. Social networking is developing and growing with a faster pace and offers a sound
platform to the companies for having a direct communication with the audiences (Leonardi,
Huysman and Steinfield, 2013). Social network marketing is the concept which is being used by
maximum of the corporations to reach to a larger customer base. In present time, individuals
spent their maximum time on the social media sites and therefore it is one of the most favoured
ways of marketing for the big as well as small companies (Park, Kee and Valenzuela, 2009).
There are several competitive benefits gained by the companies who use social networks in their
businesses. On the other hand there are some issues or disadvantages also which are associated
with the use of social networks in eth businesses. They report will highlight both the impact and
the advantages and disadvantages of social networking in business in respect with the chosen
organisation named ‘Starbucks Corporation’.
Project Objective
The key objective of the report is to evaluate the various social networking strategies used by
Starbucks for comprehending the impact of social networks and also the advantages and
disadvantages of social networking in business.
Project Scope
The paper will have its key emphasis upon the social networking business strategy of Starbucks
and its impact on the business in respect with the demerits and the merits experienced by the
company. The paper will also have a brief comparison with few other companies too so that
there can be analysed which company have the best implementation of the social networking
strategies for attaining higher competitive benefits (Celine, 2012). The paper will present sound
literature review for understanding the in-depth impact of the social networks in business.

Business and Enterprise Capstone Project 4
Literature Review
Social networks in context with the business can be explained as the interpersonal association
among the individuals and the companies either in the form of general people or the potential
customers. There are various reasons because of which the companies take use of social
networking such as for the purpose of marketing, for hiring individuals, for transferring
information to the target customers and for various other reasons. In taking use of social
networks in the businesses, it is necessary for the marketing executives to first analyse and
understand the various merits and demerits of social networking (Kadushin, 2012). In older
times, media was one of the best sources of providing in for to the target market but in the past
decade, there has been an increased use of the social networks for they purpose of sharing
information, generating awareness, marketing and fetching the attention of the potential
customers (Parveen, 2012). The key benefits gained by the companies of using social networks
are the attainment of the higher involvement and engagement of the customers. There are several
social networking sites which are used by the business corporations for performing several
business functions. There are sites that offer information such as Wikis, YouTube, etc; sites for
effective recruitments such as LinkedIn; sites for interacting with the customers such as
Facebook, Twitter, etc. Thus, all such social networking sites are highly useful for the businesses
in enhancing their visibility and customer base (Kadushin, 2012. (Parveen, 2012).
Starbucks one of the highly recognized global organisations operates in several overseas regions
and take use of effective social networking strategies in order to achieve higher competitive
befits. On social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the company holds strong
following i.e. approximately a total of 64 million. Starbucks effectively understand the
significance of using social networks in business and thus embrace it for enhancing the customer
engagement and marketing of the products. In terms of brand reliability or customer loyalty, the
company had to face some issues because of the existence of various other competitors. But with
the support of social networking, Starbucks enhanced its customer loyalty by having a sound
customer engagement and offering continuous customer services on these social media sites.
Starbucks runs robust customer engagement programs with the help of the social networking for
interacting with the customers. Starbucks on a continuous basis provides info about the services
and the products as well as also solve the issues and queries of the customers through the social