How Should Managers of Gloria Jeans Coffee Respond to Sociocultural and Consumer Challenges - Case Study Example

The paper “How Should Managers of Gloria Jeans’ Coffee Respond to Sociocultural and Consumer Challenges?" is a motivating example of a case study on management. Management dynamics in organizations are influenced by a multitude of factors that have been abundantly established. All organizations, whatever the field of business they are in, is bound to follow the laws of competition, comply with consumer expectations and demands, and balance their strategic goals with the number of resources available to achieve them. In the age of fierce competition, customers possess unbelievable bargaining power and cause profound influences on how organizations are being managed. Globalization adds to the burden of responsibilities organizations must meet, to remain competitive in the long run. Therefore, flexibility becomes very important for modern organizations as a flexible policy can help organizations easily adapt to new changes. Only by meeting customer demands can Gloria Jeans’ Coffee establish itself in Malaysia; socio-cultural issues must be considered, to ensure that GJC fits in unique socio-cultural environments of the countries, in which the company chooses to operate.

Most of what is done by organizations is done so to meet customer expectations and demands. The customers’ interest should be the top priority for every organization. No customer, no business – this has become the basic motto of all contemporary organizations. Globalization strengthens the power of customers in highly competitive markets. Even public and government organizations exist to provide quality services (Balnave, Deo & Rosier 84). Customers cause considerable pressures on organizations’ management dynamics. On the one hand, they set the stage for developing products and services which they need. Any organization’s “survival is contingent on its compliance with expectations from institutional constituents”, such as the customer (Rowley 895). On the other hand, organizations are not secured from the risks of customer manipulations and must have sufficient power to withstand stakeholder pressures that go beyond reason (Rowley 895). Gloria Jeans’ Coffee has been relatively successful in meeting unique consumer demands in Malaysia. Targeting young adults and providing them with all sorts of coffee products and conveniences has become the company’s top priority. In the atmosphere of fierce competition among a few coffee brands, GJC must be unique and unexpected, to draw customers and keep them satisfied.

Management is becoming extremely susceptible to sociocultural changes. Sociocultural conditions are essential ingredients of firms’ external environments (Balnave, Deo & Rosier 87). Hall and Nordqvist write that the lack of cultural competence is associated with low management effectiveness in family businesses (51). Other organizations must consider the importance of the sociocultural forces and their implications for business. Like any other business, GJC is subject to sociocultural influences, many of which are being exerted by customers. The company cannot expand itself to foreign markets, without considering their sociocultural peculiarities. This is probably why localization has become an essential ingredient of the company’s franchising approaches. The latter provides customers with the products and services they expect to have in their sociocultural environments.

How should managers respond to these socio-cultural and consumer challenges? First, it is imperative that the company treats customer tastes and preferences as the determining factor in product development and implementation. Additionally, GJC must develop and offer products that comply with the basic premises of Islamic dietary law. Second, the company can meet the main socio-cultural challenges, if it develops its products in close cooperation with local customers and potential franchisees. Customer surveys can become a relevant instrument of gathering the data regarding the socio-cultural composition of the target market and customer expectations.