Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networks in Starbucks Report

This report examines the role of social networks in business, focusing on a case study of Starbucks. It explores the advantages and disadvantages of using social networks for business communication, marketing, and customer engagement. The report includes an introduction, literature review, rese...Read More

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Social networks
By ()
The name of class
Professor
The name of the university
The sate and city where it belongs
Date

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Table of contents
Table of contents.........................................................................................................................................2
The advantages and disadvantages of the social networks in Business......................................................3
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................3
The objective of research........................................................................................................................4
The scope of the project..........................................................................................................................4
The literature reviews.................................................................................................................................5
The research questions............................................................................................................................7
The primary research questions..........................................................................................................7
The secondary research questions......................................................................................................7
Research Design and methodology.........................................................................................................7
Quantitative method...........................................................................................................................8
Qualitative method..............................................................................................................................8
The analysis of the datas.........................................................................................................................9
The limitations Research.........................................................................................................................9
Research plan (Time schedule)..................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................11
Appendix...................................................................................................................................................14
The questionnaire......................................................................................................................................14

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The advantages and disadvantages of the social networks in Business
Introduction
Communication is one of the key components in any business organization with the
contemporary world today. Social networks are now the recent frontier in facilitating
communication in many business organizations in implementing their market strategies. For
instance, Facebook is often used as an idea for the many businesses in creating the presence of
the social media (Traud, Mucha, and Porter 2012). This is because Facebook network
incorporate simplicity and flexibility to use hence attracting more business owners. The Google+
has also attracted many businesses in the social network world due to its unique advantages like
increasing favorable ranking in the google search in integrating the networks throughout for that
particular product(Neti, 2011). To all the entrepreneurs, social networks in their business
organization seems to be the next big thing. This is because the discoveries within the technology
has allowed the easier way of meeting a big crowd of individuals which has greatly reduced the
cost and time spent by the business organizations(Howard et al., 2011).
The social network technology has enabled the entrepreneurs to reach out the virtue
market presented as one of the stepping stone in earning in a competitive market other than
creating brands. Most business organization have also gone in establishing the online marketing
for the purpose of making it easy for their customers to order the products without visiting the
product store(Friesen and Lowe, 2012). Therefore, the main object of this research report is to
help the entrepreneurs to understand the roles of the social networks through analyzing the case
study of the Starbucks coffee chain company. The report will as well incorporate the analysis of
both the disadvantages and advantages of using the social networks within Starbuck an American
coffee chain company.

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The objective of research.
1. To understand the roles of the social networks within the business by examining the case
study of the Starbucks.
2. To evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using the social networks in the
Starbucks.
The scope of the project
The main objective of the research has already been stated above. The research setting
shall be the Starbucks an American coffee chain company. This research will be carried out for a
period of about six months which start September 2018 to December 2018.

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The literature reviews
Starbuck is one of the leading roaster, retailer and the specialty in branding the coffee
globally. The business organization has about 12000 licensed companies operating in the north
America, Europe, Asia pacific, middle east and the Latin America(Musteen, Francis and Datta,
2010). The social network has played a crucial role in the daily operation of the Starbucks as the
main communication podium. For example, through the social networks many individuals have
been able link and communicate some of the experiences and the current news to each
other(Amichai-Hamburger and Vinitzky, 2010). In the Starbucks, the role of the social network
on the customers’ retention shall be examined. This shall be through evaluating the way the
business organization is able to promote its classical products to a wide range of the individuals.
The use of the social network often frequent especially among the young people in the United
State which makes it easy in sharing the commodities. One of the research conducted recently
showed that digital behaviors as highly influential aspect on the expectations and behaviors of
customers. The success of business can only be established through satisfying the customers’
needs and inviting the new consumers by making goods easily available(Fischer and Reuber,
2011).
Therefore, embracing the social networks in the business organization like Starbucks
comes with a number of benefits. The first benefit is the reduction of the cost leading to an
increase of income. The social networks provide the avenues for the advertisements which is
conducted at affordable prices since only the internet network, electricity and the electronic
devices are only needed(Wu et al., 2011). With the appropriate audiences, the social network
saves the Starbuck the high investment in the marketing budgets needed in salaries and
promotion of their products through the various agents(Networks, Universit and Calabria, 2012).

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For instance, Starbuck uses the twitter, Facebook and Telegram channels in making their
advertisement with minimal visits to the fields to meet their potential clients. The process has
been facilitated by the new discoveries in technology like the phones with cameras of high
resolution making it possible to take the image of their products and upload them on socials
media(Zhou, Zhang and Zimmermann, 2013).
Secondly, the social networks platforms provide an appropriate avenue for the continuous
branding of the commodities. For example, this research report shall examine the way the
Starbucks is able to use the twitter and the Facebook in acquiring the feedback from their clients.
Such information is critical since it may be used in coming up with the new trends of branding
their products and the potential expected quality deviations. With such data the Starbuck can be
able to optimize their commodities in order to satisfy the consumer’s needs to invite more
consumer to buy the products(Baruah, 2012).
The third advantage is that social networks are able to provide upgraded networking chances
where the individuals may link with the company and other individuals within the similar
business(De-Marcos et al., 2014). These social networks provide an ideal platform for
exchanging the ideas essential in developing a specific business. Interacting with other business
organizations allows them to learn the new business ideas. Starbuck can acquire the new
branding practices by examining the posts from other companies meant in reaching the targeted
audiences(Othman and Othman, 2014).
On the other hand, the social network could have some disadvantages within the same
organization. One of these disadvantages is the freedom of expression regulated by the
constitution of United States. Various companies may respond nicely to satisfy the needs of the
customers while on the other side, the same clients could comment negatively about the

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organization compromising the reputation of that company. The employees from the same
organization may as well decide to take a revenge through giving negative reactions on the same
social network platform. Secondly, in order to maintain interactive session on the social network
platforms, it calls for the dedication of time and resources(Shankar et al., 2010). This is because
every active site for any business organization needs continuous monitoring and responding to
all questions raised by both potential and the current clients. Again, it means the organization
require a high level of innovation which is not mostly free with many individuals hence incurring
some cost to facilitate the same. Lastly, exposing the business on the internet might present the
leakage of the information, cyber-crime or even hacking important systems to the
organization(Neti, 2011).
The research questions
There are number of questions that have been developed in order to come with the secondary and
primary research questions for this piece.
The primary research questions
What are disadvantages and the advantages of using the social network in Starbuck?
The secondary research questions
What are the key roles of the social network within the Starbuck organization?
Does the disadvantages and the advantages within the Starbuck affect the population outside the
organization?
Research Design and methodology
Research designed and methodology is one of the key areas within this research report. In
this case a number of factors are required to be considered in designing the nature of the

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methodology like whether qualitative or quantitative. Considering such factors, it’s clear that will
employ quantitative analysis. This is because the aim of this particular project and the kind of
information collected from the participants need to meet the main objective so that the concepts
can examine(Hendrickson, Rosen and Aune, 2011).
Quantitative method
Therefore, the numerical values shall be examined and the close-ended questionnaire will
be used as the instrument in this context. Likert scale shall be employed in the questionnaire with
only three options like A standing for agree, B for the Neutral and C will be the option for
disagree. The participants will be requested to fill the questionnaire in full in order to notice the
advantages and the disadvantages in details. The sampling method will be random which
prevents the issues of biases and the sampling method is precise and easy. Considering the size
of the sampling, the number of participants shall be only 100 from within the Starbucks and
outside mainly their consumers(Shankar et al., 2010). This size of the sampling was chosen with
reference that there are number of individuals who can give the disadvantages and the
advantages of the social network regarding the Starbucks. Participants from this organization
will be vital in providing the information on the key roles of the Social network platforms at
Starbucks. On the other hand, the effects of the advantages or the disadvantages on the
population outside the Starbucks will be recorded and the clear image of influence of the social
networks on business organizations will be shown in details(Trainor et al., 2014).
Qualitative method
Qualitative analysis method will be used in getting the reasoning and the insights of both the
Starbuck’s clients and the employees towards the benefits and the challenges of the social

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network in marketing. The collection of the data will involve interviewing various participants
through open-ended questions one-to-one basis.
The analysis of the data
In order to analyze the data obtained from this research, various tests will be carried out
to provide the fine details of the disadvantages and the advantages of the social networks within
Starbucks. That means the questions contained in the questionnaire must be reliable. Thereafter,
the regression and correlation shall be done independently in order to obtain the advantages and
the disadvantages of the social networks in Starbucks.
Data obtained from significant and recurring themes in which the data collected through
qualitative method will be methodically searched to obtain the patterns to provide clear
description of various phenomenon.
The limitations Research
There are many challenges that might be experienced during this research project. The following
are some of the main challenges;
1. The research is based on Starbucks alone meaning it can never be generalised. Hence the
outcome might not perfect when compared using a number of business organizations.
2. The size of the respondents is small due to time and resource constraint hence very
difficult in fulfilling of the questionnaire
3. The research has employed the quantitative approach which calls for more authenticated
study.

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Research plan (Time schedule)
The project must be completed within the stipulated time frame which is four months that began
on September 2018 up to December 2018. The number of the participants is significantly high hence
more time is required in fulfilling the overall questionnaire. The major part of the research is completing
the literature and the introduction which has already been completed in the past one month. The
participants shall then be invited and the questionnaire will be completed within the two months. Analysis
of the data will then be conducted; the conclusion and the recommendations of this research project will
be offered. The last month will be utilized in presenting the research project. The table below gives the
summary of the activities for this study(Kim and Ko, 2012).
Activities September
2018
October
2018
November
2018
December
2018
Developing the research topic; collecting the primary
and secondary data
Obtaining the permission from the university to
conduct the research
Formulating the questionnaire
The filling of the questionnaire
Data analysis, conclusion and recommendations
Compiling the research report
Presenting the research report
Submitting the report

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Conclusion
Almost all the business owners, social networks seem to be the next big thing. This is
because the discoveries within the technology has allowed the easier way to meet a big crowd of
customers which has greatly reduced the cost and time spent by the business organizations. The
social network technology has enabled many organization like Starbucks to reach out the virtue
market in a competitive market other than creating brands. Starbuck is one of the leading roaster,
retailer and the specialty in branding the coffee globally, social network has played a crucial role
in the daily operation of the Starbucks as the main communication podium. Through the social
network, the business organization is able to serve about 12000 licensed companies operating in
the north America, Europe, Asia pacific, middle east and the Latin America. Therefore, the main
object of this research report is to help the entrepreneurs to understand the roles of the social
networks through analyzing the case study of the Starbucks coffee chain company. The report
will as well incorporate the analysis of both the disadvantages and advantages of using the social
networks within Starbuck.

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References
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Computers in Human Behavior. Elsevier Ltd, 26(6), pp. 1289–1295. doi:
10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.018.
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for technology enabled connections: A micro-level study’, International Journal of Scientific
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Appendix
The questionnaire
Questions A. Agree
tick
B. Disagree
tick
C. Neutral
tick
Social network like Facebook, twitter, Google+ are the main
forms of communication within Starbuck
There are other means of communication other than social
networks.
Starbucks spends more time and money on the social network
The social network has the advantages and disadvantages to
both clients and the Starbucks.
The social network has the advantages and disadvantages to
both clients and the Starbucks.
The social network platform connects the Starbucks to all part of the
world

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There are many advantages of using the social network to Starbucks’
There are many advantages of using the social network to Starbucks’
clients
There are many disadvantages of using the social network to
Starbucks.
There are many disadvantages of using the social network to
Starbucks’ clients

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