Marketing Research Project Proposal
Marketing Research Project Proposal I proposed to do my final course project on market research on service quality at Starbucks Coffee restaurants.
Background on Company Beginning in 1971 with only one shop in Settle’s historic Pike Place Market for coffee and tea, Starbucks has managed to become one of the most successful companies in the world. It has become number one in the coffee industry. As of June 2012 Starbucks owns 19,763 coffee shops in 59 countries which includes 12,848 in the United States, 1,264 in Canada, 973 in Japan, 778 in Great Britain, 621 in China, 441 in South Korea, 350 in Mexico and 269 in the Philippines. Offering to its consumers’ different coffees with unique flavors, tea and beverages, including food snacks and coffee accessories Starbucks has attracted consumers and turned them into loyal customers. (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2012)
Introduction
Recently, the new trend that is developing is narrowed toward offering to the customer good service despite the good product. Having high service quality is accepted as one strong competitive advantage that is difficulty built but it brings high success for the company if managed properly. Service quality is following the perceptions of the customer of what he/she thinks that quality of service is about and meeting exactly their experience. So the question is what factors are there that are shaping service quality at Starbucks?
Theoretical Background
Service Quality Defining service quality may mainly be based on assumptions because of the intangible nature that services have. Moreover, there are many circumstances that might shape the definition of service quality differently. (Brown, 1999) Despite the intangibility that describes the services, the second very important element when giving theory based on service quality is that services are heterogeneous. Presenting them varies from producer to producer or from client to client. Finally, the last characteristics describing
Background on Company Beginning in 1971 with only one shop in Settle’s historic Pike Place Market for coffee and tea, Starbucks has managed to become one of the most successful companies in the world. It has become number one in the coffee industry. As of June 2012 Starbucks owns 19,763 coffee shops in 59 countries which includes 12,848 in the United States, 1,264 in Canada, 973 in Japan, 778 in Great Britain, 621 in China, 441 in South Korea, 350 in Mexico and 269 in the Philippines. Offering to its consumers’ different coffees with unique flavors, tea and beverages, including food snacks and coffee accessories Starbucks has attracted consumers and turned them into loyal customers. (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2012)
Introduction
Recently, the new trend that is developing is narrowed toward offering to the customer good service despite the good product. Having high service quality is accepted as one strong competitive advantage that is difficulty built but it brings high success for the company if managed properly. Service quality is following the perceptions of the customer of what he/she thinks that quality of service is about and meeting exactly their experience. So the question is what factors are there that are shaping service quality at Starbucks?
Theoretical Background
Service Quality Defining service quality may mainly be based on assumptions because of the intangible nature that services have. Moreover, there are many circumstances that might shape the definition of service quality differently. (Brown, 1999) Despite the intangibility that describes the services, the second very important element when giving theory based on service quality is that services are heterogeneous. Presenting them varies from producer to producer or from client to client. Finally, the last characteristics describing