The Rationale for Conducting a Strategic Analysis of Starbucks - Research Proposal Example

An overall organizational analysis will yield substantial information that will help in understanding the strategies and their effectiveness in deriving the desired results. Hence, analysis and evaluation of these strategies at various levels will be conducted. These would include industry analysis, analysis of competitors and competition, analysis of strategic capabilities including resources, skills abilities, etc, an analysis of Starbucks market position and its products’ success rates.

These analyses will be carried out on the basis of established tools and techniques. Industry perspective: Despite its immense success and rigorous growth, Starbucks is experiencing increased pressure from various external forces. Through PESTEL analysis, the impact of these external forces namely, political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legislative entities can be assessed. Competition perspective: Competition always remains a rapidly growing threat for any business. Hence, business owners need to be aware of the nature of these threats in order to remain sustainable in the market.

Porter’s five force model helps in assessing the nature of competition. This model considers five forces namely, the threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of entry of new competitors and degree of rivalry between existing competitors. An analysis based on this model will give a comprehensive idea of the position of Starbucks and the direction and/or steps it needs to take in order to remain competitive. Capabilities perspective To sustain competitive position and grow, businesses require certain prerequisite attributes in their resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable.

These attributes together are referred to as the VRIN and provide value-creating strategies. An assessment of the resources and capabilities of Starbucks on this model will provide a clear picture of its strengths and weaknesses. Market perspective: An organization that produces diversified products and services needs to be constantly assessed and evaluated for its products and services in comparison with the market. Such an analysis can be accomplished using the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix in which businesses/product lines are categorized into four categories namely, question mark, star, cash cow, and dog.

This tool shows products’ performance in terms of market share and market growth; thereby, it assists in managing specific business components in a manner that minimizes loss and maximizes profits. Recommendations and conclusions: Based on the analysis, recommendations for products/services that should be offered by Starbucks and the markets they should target will be proposed.