Answer questions from provided book - Research Paper Example

Discussion Questions al Affiliation Discussion Questions Chapter 4: Discussion Question 3 Five Forces Analysis of Starbucks Porter’s Five Forces framework was noted to have been an instrumental tool for organizations’ evaluation of the external environment, particularly in the following areas: customers, suppliers, established rivals, substitutes, and potential entrants (Spulber, 2009).The current discourse hereby aims to perform a simple five forces analysis of Starbucks Corporation by listing its customers, suppliers, established rivals, substitutes, and the perceived potential entrants, as follows: Customers: premium coffee lovers; adults within the age ranges of 20 to 50s; University students; professionals; and other practitioners from a wide range of fields and disciplines; above average income earners.

Suppliers: suppliers of raw coffee beans; loaves of bread and pastry; packaged sugar and cream; suppliers of other beverages offered other than coffee (mineral water and other packaged juice, tea, or chocolate drinks); suppliers of paper cups and plastic products; as well as office supplies and equipment. Established Rivals: specialty coffee shops such as Gloria Jeans Coffee, San Francisco Coffee House, Peet’s, and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Substitutes: Dunkin Donuts, Burger King and McDonald’s Potential Entrants: new specialty coffee shops and other established food chains Review Spulber, Chapters 1 – 2, and complete a written response to the following: a.

What are some of the strategies required for formulating goals that specify what markets a company should serve? It was clearly identified by Spulber (2009) that setting goals is the first step to strategy formulation. As disclosed, “the company’s goals often are framed in terms of serving specific markets” (Spulber, 2009, p. 13). Some of the strategies noted and required for formulating goals that specify what markets a company should serve therefore include: (1) value driven strategies, or the strategies that allegedly maximize the total value of the organization through matching market opportunities with organizational abilities; (2) corporate strategy, where the organization stipulates an overall strategy especially when the organization delves into multi-businesses and therefore determines the specified target market or segment of the population that it intends to serve; or a (3) business strategy, where a business unit of a large organization clearly defines its goal in serving a particular target market; and a (4) management strategy, which reportedly includes both the business unit strategy, as well as the corporate strategy.

• The difference between a company’s goals and its overall strategy. A company’s goals identify the targeted opportunities to be captured in the market. A goal is defined as “the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end” (Dictionary.com, LLC, 2013). Its overall strategy are sets of directions and guidelines designed to specifically fulfill the defined company goal. For instance, Spulber (2009) has clearly delineated one from the other, to wit: “the company’s goals are the targeted market opportunities, say the United States market for sports cars.

The company’s strategies for achieving those opportunities include decisions about prices, products, technologies, and input purchases” (p. 46). • The different strategies managers can formulate to help identify and define a company’s goals. The different strategies that managers can formulate to help identify and define a company’s goals are incorporated in the 4Rs framework, where the manager could select from the four courses of action: (1) status quo, or to retain current position and course; (2) to reposition the company; (3) to redesign the organization; or (4) to restructure the firm (Spulber, 2009, p. 39). As presented, the strategy to remain on course is usually the most attractive option since the perceived competitive advantage is deemed effective in serving current markets.

On the other hand, if the organization intends to improve its performance, there is the alternative of applying the strategy of redesign to focus on facets such as business processes, resources, and competencies to higher levels. The repositioning strategy, on the contrary, could be the most effective option when organizations opportunities and resources are perceive to have greater value in new markets than in current ones (Spulber, 2009). Finally, restructuring of the organization is a strategy that is to be applied when “a company discerns opportunities to serve new markets and finds that new abilities are needed for the tasks at hand” (Spulber, 2009, p. 64). • Give an example of how a manager can choose a goal to serve a market.

A manager of a business unit, for example, can choose a goal of capturing the opportunities in the sports shoe market in the state of New York. The goal set should therefore be clear and explicitly identified: the goal is to increase the market share of the organization by as much as 10% for the first six months. As such, given that the target market would be sports enthusiasts in the city of New York, the manager should be able to determine the expected number of people (predominantly male, within the age level of 20 to early 40s) and actively involved in sports.

Having identified this sector, strategies would be designed to fulfill this goal. References Dictionary.com, LLC. (2013). Goal. Retrieved from dictionary.reference.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/goal Spulber, D. (2009). Economics and Management of Competitive Strategy. World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.