Business ProblemJoin now to read essay Business ProblemBusiness Problem PaperThe team has submitted a business proposal that discusses the business decisions and subsequent decline of Starbucks Coffees stock price over the last 12 to 24 months. Starbucks is a publicly traded company that offers a variety of products, including: brewed coffees, Italian-style espresso beverages, cold blended beverages, roasted whole bean coffees, tea products, sodas and coffee liqueur (Datamonitor, 2007). The company also offers food items and gift ideas such as coffee mugs and music CDs. With India being one of the largest growing economies in the world (see Appendix A), second only to China, and the second largest population (1.1 billion people) the team believes that Starbucks should be targeting the markets where their upscale and modern coffee shops would be successful (CultureGrams, 2007).
This paper will discuss the dependent and independent variables of the teams study as well as the primary and secondary data used to support the study. The team will state the applicable null and alternate hypotheses as well as the methodology used to test the teams hypotheses. An appropriate sample size will be used to ensure that the team arrives with a representative sample that will be sufficient to use when analyzing the sampling data to make informed business decisions off of the statistical data gathered during the proposed study. Finally, the team will make recommendations to Starbucks based off of the sample data gathered and analyzed.
The team has gathered data for several cities within India relative to gender, level of affluence and cultural preferences. The company also has data related to city population, education level, different languages, religious affiliations, natural resources and major industries that support the local economy. The data also supports the competitive nature of the Indian markets which should be reviewed by Starbucks. Furthermore, the team has acquired data supporting monthly income, infrastructure, number of local restaurants, along with information related to competition within the coffee industry. Finally, since India is one of the fastest growing global markets (see Appendix B) with a projected 1.4% increase in population each year (see Appendix C), Starbucks should survey some of the cities within the country to determine which market(s) they should target (Datamonitor, 2007). In order to do so, the company will need to gather additional data through survey and sampling methods.
The independent variable used for this project will be gender (male/female) and the dependent variables will be population size and level of affluence (per capita income). Refer to Appendixes D and E for population and per capita income maps of India, respectively. The key to using these variables are accurate and reliable data. Valid data is also reliable data, but reliable data is not always valid data (Cooper & Schindler, 2003, p. 235).
Primary data will be taken from survey results, CultureGrams and the Research Simulation, which provides detailed information regarding some key cities within the Indian Markets. The high-level data for Mumbai and New Delhi include meaningful insight into the population base, lifestyle, and relative level of affluence. Several of the smaller and less affluent cities appear less attractive as potential launch sites for Starbucks. For example, the city of Agra with a population base of approximately 151,000 people would provide fewer potential consumers than a city like Delhi with population base over 20 times as large as Agra (Apollo, 2004).
In addition, by selecting the cities with the most disposable income and a more modern culture the business manager increases the potential for successful marketing and sales in India. The cities matching the criteria include: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai. Including at least two less optimum cities provides comparative data that should help in determining the candidates with the most promising attributes (Apollo, 2004).
Secondary data can save a firm a time and money by using publicly available information as well as information already in the firms database that was collected for other purposes but which can be used for the project at hand. However, the use of secondary data must be carefully considered and used only when applicable to the research question. To tap effectively into the Indian markets, Starbucks will need to gather accurate and reliable secondary information, which can either be sub-contracted out to a firm that specializes in market research or they can form an internal survey team to explore the opportunities the Indian markets present to the growth of their overall business. A key concern for the validity of data is the age of the data. All the data is sensitive to the effect of time so any action being taken by the company
Discovery of new opportunities for Indian customers for its new food and beverages business is a key part of Indian business development. It facilitates the development of business models such as tourism, the creation of new companies using Indian data and so on. Therefore, it is important that the use of all these data is properly evaluated, followed by formal surveys to determine the quality of the data in order to bring India and its stakeholders to India’s best-practices for development.
As a result, an effort has been made, and started with the participation of several government agencies to establish the Data Quality Index, the latest benchmark for the quality of the data from the Indian data. The data set is called the National National Data Quality Index, which is used for most research programs in the countries that have the best quality of the data.
As it is important for the growth of India’s food and beverage business, the aim of the project has been to create a new ‘data center’ that will be used directly by the local government or the national data. The project is called the Data Centre: Unique Identification, India. An objective of the project is to improve the data quality of the Indian data by providing the first public access to information using information in the data (including demographic, health, income or socio-economic data). The project will also give access to data that already exists in other countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan, as well as personal data from private citizens, persons and families such as parents and children. The initiative was initiated for the purpose of collecting data from various geographical regions of India including the Central, State and Districts as well as the national and local government.
The project is also based on an integrated approach for the marketing of Indian data for the food and beverage industry using the online market share data created from the global information technology industry. The initiative will give a real-time analytics for marketing. The data is used to select which services are accepted, market them, provide services and produce results. The data sets are distributed via the social media platform Flipkart and will be offered to local businesses and to consumers and also the state agencies as a means of generating revenue.
The data set comprises all the data collected for the ‘Data Center’. The project has also begun to collect from over 900 companies (in total) in the country including 16,964 food businesses from 17 states and five territories.
According to the data-processing unit (DPU), there are 8.3 lakh establishments in India. Some of those establishments are listed in the ‘Data Centre’ as ‘local’, 2.5 crore (7,000-21,000) or 1-75% (25%+1) are not Indian establishments. Another large number of private establishments are listed in the Data Centre, according to DPU. These establishments are primarily in the form of private residences, business associations or other related institutions and also for the purpose of getting business ideas in their minds.
While there are currently no government agencies or entities in the country (except for the State governments to use the Data Centre), there is a need for social and civic activity using this data for promoting economic development and the development of economy through tourism.
In addition, there are 4,250 (2,800-4,500) cities