Hospitality and Tourism Management: Starbucks Case Study Proposal

This paper offers strategic recommendations for Starbucks, addressing key management issues within the hospitality and tourism sector. It begins with a brief recap of identified problems, including skill gaps, employee attrition, and customer service concerns. The core of the paper proposes three ...Read More

Running: HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of this paper will be to provide recommendations of the identified issues
in the context of the organization of Starbucks and solving them by application of relevant
management theories. At least three strategic recommendations will be provided to the
management of Starbucks addressing the management issues that has already been identified
in this paper. This paper will include a brief recap of these identified issues in the previous
paper, along with the detailed proposal of the strategic recommendations and strategic
methods, evaluation and selection for each of the recommended steps. A brief conclusion will
end this paper.
About the Organization
Starbucks organization is a coffee company as well as a coffeehouse chain from
America. The organization was founded in the year 1971, and operates more than 30,000
locations in 80 markets across the world (Starbucks Coffee Company 2020). The
management of this globally reputed business entity offers blend of coffee, handcrafted
beverages, merchandise and other food items. But all the products that are manufactured and
sold are under the flagship brand of Starbuck. The mission of this business house is to inspire
and nurture the human spirit, which reflects the theory of one person, one cup, and one
neighbourhood at a time (Schultz 2014).
Identified Issues
The issues that has been identified from the human resource point of view includes
the incapability of identification of the gap in skills in the food and beverage section of the
organization of Starbucks along with providing insufficient training to the staffs who are
involved in providing different kind of services to the customers. It has been found that the

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human resource department have not been able to undertake the skill audit system efficiently
or proper analysis has not been done to find out the skill gaps or lacks in the food and
beverage department of the organization of Starbucks. They also failed to train their
employees who work as customers representatives in the ways so that they can handle all the
issues of the customers and give them the right details of foods and beverages that are offered
and served to their different customers (Morais et al 2014).
From the financial context, the issues which has been identified states about the
employee attrition that has been faced in the peak seasons, for example, in the Christmas
time, where there is a huge rush in most of the outlets of the organization of Starbucks across
the world, which has adversely affected the overall reputation of this globally reputed
business house. Apart from this issue, another issue which has been seen from the financial
context is that the customers, who has been switching over to other alternative options that
are available in the market place around the world, as they are not able to get smooth as well
as helpful customer service system in eating and dining options that are available in the
outlets of Starbucks (Sisson and Bowen 2017).
Issues has also been identified from the product and marketing context and it has been
found that a very bad impact is possessing on the customer loyalty of the outlets as customers
are losing faith and trying to go to the other outlets that offer similar kind of menu and
options like that of Starbucks. The reputation of the organization is also getting hampered as
the employees or the staffs who are not able to satisfy all the needs and requirements of the
customers. It can be stated in this context that hospitality sector is one of the most
competitive sectors among all other business sectors that are present in the global business
environment. They will also lose their competition because if they failed to improve in the
modern and technological ways of providing the wide array of services that are offered by
Starbucks to their global customers (Haskova 2015).

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Recommended Steps
The first and foremost step that need to be followed by the management of Starbucks
is to recruit sufficient number of staffs, at least before the peak seasons, so that the flow of
the operations and servings can be made. This will help to retail the customers as well as
increase the number of repeat customers, which is one of the most important part in the
hospitality sector across the world. Efficient service can also be provided to the customers in
peak seasons, where there are more footfalls in the outlets of Starbucks, and the satisfied
customers will become the repeat customers for this brand (Geereddy 2013). Providing
efficient customer services will also help in word of mouth publicity for this business house,
and sustainable competitive advantage can be enjoyed by the management of this institution.
Satisfying the ever-increasing needs and requirements are the first and foremost criteria that
need to be met by the employees as well as by the management of Starbucks.
The second strategic step that need to be followed by the management of this globally
reputed organization is to provide adequate training to the recruited employees. This is also
another important factor that plays an integral part in the hospitality sector. For example,
brainstorming sessions can be conducted by the human resource employees, so that they are
able to take the views and the opinions from all the employees from the food and beverages
department of the organization. This can be very useful because managers of Starbucks will
be able to understand the importance of the brainstorming session. This will help them to find
out the best possible strategy that will match with the ever-changing technology of this highly
competitive global hospitality market along with solving the issues and form a proper
collaborative approach to face the challenges and overcome them. It can be noted that
providing training to the employees according to the advancement in the area of technology,
so that they will can deliver innovative and fresh ideas to the customers (Chua and Banerjee
2013).

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The third strategic recommended step that can be followed and implemented by the
management of Starbucks is to produce and offer a wide array of food and beverages
according to the holidays and celebrations that will come within the calendar year. This will
help to attract more people towards the brand and offer these wide arrays of products to the
customers. For example, in the month of December, when Christmas is celebrated, the outlets
can be decorated with flowers and pictures, along with making new cheese cakes or offering
different types of coffees. This will be offered to the customers, and they can re-visit the
outlets if they like the new tastes of the products along with beautiful decorations of the
places. This will also help to gain the competitive advantage over the rival institutions that
are present in the global market places. This may vary from nations to nations, but need to be
followed by the management of Starbucks (Van den Hurk 2014).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that Starbucks possess the strengths
and opportunities to overcome the weaknesses and threats that will come in the way of the
business operations of this organization. The management need to follow the strategic
recommended steps that will help them to perform a sustainable competitive advantage in the
market places where they operate their business. Market share along with the revenue earning
for Starbucks can also be increased by following the strategic recommended steps that are
mentioned above.

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Reference
Chua, A.Y. and Banerjee, S., 2013. Customer knowledge management via social media: the
case of Starbucks. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Geereddy, N., 2013. Strategic analysis of Starbucks corporation. Harward [Електронний
ресурс].–Режим доступу: http://scholar. harvard. edu/files/nithingeereddy/files/starbucks_
case_analysis. pdf.
Haskova, K., 2015. Starbucks Marketing Analysis. CRIS-Bulletin of the Centre for Research
and Interdisciplinary Study, 2015(1), pp.11-29.
Morais, U.P., Pena, J., Shacket, K., Sintilus, L., Ruiz, R., Rivera, Y. and Mujtaba, B.G., 2014.
Managing diverse employees at Starbucks: Focusing on ethics and inclusion. International
Journal of Learning and Development, 4(3), p.35.
Schultz, H., 2014. Starbucks coffee company: Transformation and renewal.
Sisson, D.C. and Bowen, S.A., 2017. Reputation management and authenticity: A case study
of Starbucks’ UK tax crisis and “# SpreadTheCheer” campaign. Journal of Communication
Management, 21(3), pp.287-302.
Starbucks Coffee Company. (2020). Retrieved 15 February 2020, from
https://www.starbucks.com/
Van den Hurk, H., 2014. Starbucks versus the People. Bulletin International for
Taxation, 68(1), pp.27-34.