HI6032 Leveraging IT for Business Advantage Report Sample
Assignment Brief
Instructions
Objectives
This assessment item relates to the unit learning outcomes as in the Unit of Study Guide. This assessment is designed to enhance students’ skills on critically analyzing and evaluating key issues and challenges in recent IS technologies and how they can be acquired and contribute to business core processes. The assessment helps develop presentation and problem-solving skills.
For this assignment students will be divided into small groups (the size will depend on class size), and each group will select a specific technology/ topic to research. The research topic you select must be directly relevant to IT in Business. A list of possible topics is provided in the attachment (for reference purposes only).
The key elements of the case study report
From a broad perspective, a case study is an in-depth analysis of a particular subject. Generally, the study covers a problem-solution-results format. When applied to this unit, a case study examines how a real-life company had a problem, found a solution using a particular information technology, and shares the results of the solution.
The following eight elements must be included in your case study report:
1. Executive Summary/Synopsis
2. Introduction
o introduce the selected company, including the background and any previous studies of the issue (literature review); briefly describe the key problem and its significance
3. Challenges o explain the challenge the selected company faced before using the presented technology;
4. Discussion o discuss how the selected company found the presented technology; discuss the selected company’s decision process and the steps they went through before discovering the solution
5. Implementation o explain how the solution was implemented; discuss if the implementation meets the expectations, and who was involved in the implementation process
6. Conclusion
o conclude your case study with the end results; sum up the main points from the challenges, discussion and recommendations
7. Recommendations
o provide proposals for future action to solve the problem or improve the situation
8. References
Solution
Introduction
The coffee industry leader Starbucks Corporation has lost consumers' engagement and loyalty to a great extent. The fast changes in consumer preferences, especially in the trends of the younger demographics, make it necessary to keep changing the marketing and consumer interface strategies very often. In reaction to these dynamics, Starbucks has increasingly used social media platforms in its engagement strategy.
Social media allows Starbucks not only to push its message out to the public but also to engage them—an easy line of communication and involvement. Sustainability and community issues have nothing to do with directly promoting products or services, but they are essential in adopting a branding image that will resonate with Starbucks customers (Starbucks 2024). With such values as theirs, Starbucks is able to use platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to bring them out and have comments, shares, and likes coming from customers for university assignment help.
Social media also provides Starbucks with massive customer preferences and behavioral data, thus allowing the company to tailor products more competitively and campaigns more effectively. It can go to this degree since the more targeted the approach to doing business, the more relevant the brand, and therefore, more adaptable to market changes—thus holding on to customers who were loyal in such competitive industries. In other words, the use of social media in Starbucks approach to marketing is a crucial adaptation for it to remain relevant and competitive within the market that is characterized by changes in consumer expectations and technological advancement.
1. Challenges
Before that came true, Starbucks had several other hurdles to leap before it could consider social media an integrated part of its strategy. This is not unique to Starbucks alone but applies to most dynamic markets, especially for established brands trying to maintain their leadership in an environment that is changing very quickly.
Abstract: High-end gourmet coffees and unique personal shopping experiences became increasingly important for Starbucks to be able to maintain relevance in the face of competition emerging as marketplaces became saturated with both new global chains and local competitors. The new competition also came with the occasional benefit of more agile marketing tech-niques and quicker adaptation to consumer trends. Starbucks had to consistently innovate not only in product offerings but also in customer experience and brand messaging to remain relevant and retain preference among consumer segments across the board (Shabahang et al., 2024, p.5(4)).
Engagement: Traditional marketing devices like print advertising, billboards, and even TV commercials were fast losing their ability to enthuse a digital-literate audience. The customer today expects a more engaging, interactive, and personal way of engagement, which those earlier forms of media failed to provide. Starbucks needed dramatic changes in its marketing strategies. Since then, there have been many implications for the digital world. Historically, the use of digital platforms has replaced the leading consumer media, where the consumers would spend most of their time.
Feedback Mechanisms: As one of the ways to remain relevant and to engage users humanly, the most important things to know are what the customers want or need. Before the advent of all these social media platforms, Starbucks had no easy way to acquire real time—much less on a large scale—real-time customer feedback. Customer surveys, even feedback forms, could not capture the immediacy and scale of insight that social media can offer. Social media sites allow Starbucks to receive immediate responses and broader engagement, in which it can monitor customer satisfaction by receiving suggestions regarding new ideas and then quickly act on customers' concerns, thereby enhancing transparency and trust (Shabahang et al., 2024, p.5(4))
On the part of Starbucks, not being able to properly relate and get a proper feedback mechanism in place, coupled with the problems of brand relevance, really limited the company in moving with changing market conditions. This had effects not only on growth but also on profitability and market share, which competitors were somewhat able to capitalize on against these changing consumer trends (Harris et al., 2023, p. 659(2)). Thus, the company needed the integration of social media within the Starbucks strategy to make improvements within the marketing approach and secure the further survival and domination of the firm in the market.
2. Discussion
Starbucks has used this overall strategy methodically and strategically in understanding its social media activity using market research, competitive analysis, input from stakeholders, and multiple pilot campaigns. With all of that, it became a multi-sided approach to the social media strategy—resonating with the core of the Starbucks brand identity, speaking to the right target audience, and increasing loyalty toward the brand. Every proposition has an element of increasing customer engagement.
Market Research: This was the first step towards Starbuck's strategy. So, to know what are those places where the target consumers are very much active online, their demographics—age, lifestyle—and their activities on social media had to be identified. The market research showed that Starbucks customers are online and visit Instagram (young, visual audience), Twitter (real-time activity), and Facebook (general audience). This, in turn, paved the way for knowledge through which Starbucks could customize content and ads based on different users' characteristics and behaviors on the platforms.
Social Media Competitor Research: Starbucks has conducted instead elaborate research on the competitors' strategies for social media. It has dealt with observations on how other food and beverage brands engage their customers online, what types of shared content they use, and how they approach public customer service issues and market their products. It formed the observation and studied the direct and indirect competitors: other coffee chains, and the broader food and beverage sector, from which it has created a good background against which Starbucks knows what goes well and represents common pitfalls (Shen et al., 2024, p. 1700(3)).
Stakeholder Consultation: Another critical aspect considered while formulating the social media strategy for Starbucks was to involve people from all walks of life in the process. This was adopted through discussions with digital teams and consumer expertise in consumer engagement. Starbucks also conducted surveys and contacted its actual customers through focused groups to gather their perspectives on what they wanted out of the brand through these venues and forums (Harris et al., 2023, p. 660(3)). This direct customer input became vital in creating the style of materials and interaction Starbucks focused on with its social media outlets.
Pilot Campaigns: Before a full launch of its social media strategy, Starbucks experimented with different pilot campaigns. The small-scale testing helped the company to experiment with various kinds of content, different posting schedules, and promotional strategy in a somewhat controlled environment. The campaigns had to be watched for consumer engagement, content reach, conversion rates, and general feedback. The insights from these pilots formed the basis for refining approaches to ensure that the final strategy is well-optimized and able to deliver the intended impact.
These comprehensive steps have allowed Starbucks to lay out a social media plan engaging the right customers. It is not a strategy to focus merely on product promotion but one which represents the brand well brings to light Starbucks' commitment to values concentrate on sustainability and social responsibility, acts as a platform for customer interaction, and enables feedback. Of what followed: a re-envisioned brand image that struck a chord with existing and new customers, underpinned by dynamic online visibility.
3. Implementation
Starbucks' implementation of social media strategies was a carefully coordinated effort, emphasizing the selection of appropriate platforms, the creation of engaging content, the launch of interactive campaigns, the use of analytics tools for monitoring, and the assurance of cross-functional collaboration. This methodical approach was designed to boost customer engagement, enhance brand visibility, and build a more robust and loyal customer base..
Platform Selection: Starbucks strategically selected social media platforms that matched its target demographics and marketing objectives. The selected platform comprises of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, each providing specific benefits. Facebook, as well as Instagram was hailed for the immense reach and skills of strong visual content (Richelle 2024, p. 59(3)).. Twitter appeared to be real time platform for communication as well as customer service. On the contrary Pinterest appeared to be best for lifestyle content which helped the users to interact with the brand in an inspirational manner.
Content Creation: The major crux of the Starbucks’media strategy was the ability to produce engaging as well as compelling content. This comprises of customer stories followed by individual experiences at Starbucks location and behind the scenes video helped the company in terms of operations and the user generated content helped customers to turn into brand ambassadors (Carter et al., 2023, p. 147(3)). Such an approach helped to enhance the reliability and lead to better interactions with the audience.
Interactive Campaigns: Starbucks has launched a series of highly effective interactive campaigns, with the most notable ones being #RedCupContest during the holiday season and #WhatsYourName, which has celebrated stories of personal identity and diversity—all of them conceived not just to tout Starbucks products but to create communal experiences for customers to join and share (Starbucks, 2020). With such campaigns, there has been a feeling of belongingness and the creation of a community among Starbucks customers. These are the ways to achieve excellent customer engagement and loyalty (Carter et al., 2023, p. 148(2)).
Analytic Tools: Starbucks discovered the efficiency of all its social media strategies by taking full advantage of the new advanced tools in analytics. It's in this sense that tracking engagement metrics, such as likes, shares, comments, and conversion rates, of the customers using such data-driven approaches gave the general performance of the campaign. With this data-driven approach, it enabled Starbucks to be adaptable in their strategies in real-time, thereby making content relevance better concerning customers' needs ((Chen & Holladay 2023, p. 105(1)).
Cross-Functional Involvement: Adopting Starbucks' social media strategy was so intricate that it required endorsement by various departments for its success. Marketing teams were responsible for the formulation and execution of campaigns; customer service teams managed interaction and response to customer issues; and the product development teams offered their insights into the strategies for the promotion of their products and new entries into the market ((Harris et al., 2023, p. 660(4)).. This cross-functional nature ensured that the social media strategy was not only coherent across all other channels but also worked in tandem with the larger brand strategy.
Overall, the careful execution of these social media strategies yielded great results for Starbucks, as it significantly increased its brand visibility and engagement through the different demographics of the customers. This strategic social media process entailed not only bringing a significant refurbishment to the brand image but also ensuring firm retention of market competitiveness for the brand as a premier global coffee retailer.
Conclusion
The strategic adoption of social media has revolutionized the performance of Starbucks in the market, effectively aligning its initial pitfalls and resuscitating its market presence. Critical results that did well in increasing customer loyalty and brand visibility were better customer engagement and an increase in competitive position. Through social media, Starbucks could relate to its customers in the most personal and direct way, thus creating a sense of community and belonging beyond the ordinary customer-business relationship.
The power of social media lies in the journey from the realization of the problems that lay ahead in keeping brands relevant and having a digitally savvy customer base, through planning and execution of the right social media strategies down to targeted approaches to implementation, which got phenomenal results and increased customer interaction. It gives meaning to brand competitiveness and relevance in the marketplace when it comes to dynamism, where Starbucks holds a key position.
Overall, what can be derived from the Starbucks experience is what it means to adapt to technological changes and changing consumer behavior. More importantly, it solved problems not just on the near horizon for Starbucks. Still, it established best practices in the industry to guide customer relationship development and customer loyalty through digital interactions. In effect, this transformation it undertook through social media reflects its innovation and customer-driven ethos.
Recommendations
To maintain and further develop its competitive advantage, having emerged as a result of actionable social media strategies, Starbucks should consider some forward-looking actions. Such recommendations will fine-tune existing strategy and look forward to new opportunities for growth and engagement.
Content Always Innovating: Starbucks needs to focus on continuous content innovation, which would mean updating and varying content types shared across social channels. For instance, integrating virtual reality experiences, interactive polls, or live Q&A sessions can establish new, exciting content. It can also further maintain and increase customer engagement by consistently introducing new content formats—for example, podcasts with coffee experts or collaborations with influencers who share the brand values.
Customer Feedback Integration: Gathering and assimilating customer feedback via social media. It is essential. Starbucks can enhance its real-time feedback mechanisms by collecting feedback on social media platforms where customers express their experiences and suggestions. The information collected from this feedback should be put into a system so that it can be analyzed and used to determine the improvements in the products along with services and content. For example, if the demand is high for more plant-based options customers, Starbucks will introduce more products, publicizing the efforts through social media campaigns.
Advanced Analytics More investment in advanced analytics tools would equip Starbucks to dive deeper into customer likes and dislikes, behavior trends, and the effectiveness of different campaigns. Such tools would help Starbucks segment the audience precisely, tailor content to specific groups, and optimize posting times to attain maximum engagement. Additionally, predictive analytics can forecast trends and customer needs, ensuring the company is proactive in revising its strategies.
Employee Advocacy Programs: Starbucks should encourage employees to be brand advocates for the company through social media. This can be achieved by developing employee advocacy programs where employees are inducted into the company by sharing their work experiences, participating in brand campaigns, and showing the company's culture and values online—it helps humanize the brand and creates authentic content that resonates with audiences, enhancing trust and loyalty.
It approaches new platforms: Finally, it is an advance notice to make the most of the latest platforms of social media kind, so Starbucks gets to new audiences and is in on early trends. Niche networks or something like TikTok—exploring such things could be precious (Volle 2022, p. 115(1)). It is engaging with these newer platforms positions Starbucks, especially with young, tech-savvy customers, as a dynamic and innovative brand.
Through social media, Starbucks can keep and further strengthen this competitive advantage, which will serve as a powerful leverage toward breakthrough growth and improved customer relations.
References
Carter, D. B., Warren, R., and Steinhoff, A. 2023. The anatomy of tragedy: Starbucks as a politics of displacement. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2015-2169
Chang, W., Yueh, K., Hu, D., and Chen, H. 2023. "Relationship can talk" - relationship quality and its applications to STARBUCKS. Journal of Business Administration. doi:https://doi.org/10.53106/102596272023090483003
Chen, F., and Holladay, S. J. 2023. Identifying and responding to social media risks: Towards an organizational paracrisis communication framework. Corporate Communications, doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-11-2021-0124
Gurun, U. G. and Nickerson, J. 2023. Measuring and improving stakeholder welfare is easier said than done. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109022001442
Harris, E. E., Neely, D. G., and Saxton, G. D. 2023. Social media, signaling, and donations: Testing the financial returns on nonprofits’ social media investment. Review of Accounting Studies,. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11142-021-09651-3
Harris, E. E., Neely, D. G., and Saxton, G. D. 2023. Social media, signaling, and donations: Testing the financial returns on nonprofits’ social media investment. Review of Accounting Studies, doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11142-021-09651-3
Richelle, O. D. 2024. Utilizing social networks to improve success metrics in social E-commerce. Journal of the Southern Association for Information Systems, doi:https://doi.org/10.17705/3JSIS.00035
Shabahang, R., Kim, S., Aruguete, M. S., Azadimanesh, P., Ghaemi, Z., Abbas Ali, H. K., ... Zsila, Á. 2024. Social media-related nightmare — a potential explanation for poor sleep quality and low affective well-being in the social media era? BMC Psychology, doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01605-z
Shen, Y., Bian, S., Song, X., and Geng, X. 2024. Research on risk assessment of enterprise public opinion in cross social media context and sustainable development strategies. Sustainability, doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su16041700
Starbucks. 2024. Our Company. Retrieved from Starbucks Coffee Company website: https://www.starbucks.com/about-us/
Volle, P. 2022. Rhetorical history and strategic marketing: The example of starbucks. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRM-08-2021-0042
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