Starbucks International Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Starbucks International Operations - Essay Example Sweden is an affluent European nation that is a part of the European Union, Bulgaria is an East European nation that has a much lower per capita income and is not yet a member of the European Union, although it is provisionally set to become one in 2007, while Nigeria is an African nation that is the poorest among the three countries. This Report will select one of these countries as potentially the best country that Starbucks could consider entering and then outline an entry proposal strategy that Starbucks could apply in order to derive the best benefits from that potential market. In terms of worldwide coffee consumption, Scandinavian countries (Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) â€Å"continue to be the areas with the highest consumption (Reporter, 2007). For this reason, Sweden offers enormous potential for Starbucks coffee because it is one of the highest per capita coffee consuming countries in the world, which is estimated at 10 kilos for an 8 million population. (McCabe, 1994). According to Datamonitor reports, the Scandinavians are coffee fiends and the average Dane drank his/her way through 7.5 kilos of coffee in 2002, which is about 75 regular sized cups of coffee (www.beveragedaily.com). Sweden follows this trend closely and one of the reasons that have been put forward for high consumption of hot coffee is the cold weather in the country. Additionally, the Datamonitor report states that this trend could â€Å"partly be explained by high alcohol prices – these mean caffeine can be a far more cost-effective way of getting wired than drinking† since coffee is also much cheaper (www.beveragedaily.com). However, there is one aspect that must be taken into consideration in countries such as Sweden, which is established coffee drinkers such as France and Italy.

Change Management towards a Successful Merger Essay

Change Management towards a Successful Merger - Essay Example This will be achieved by undertaking a questionnaire based survey in organisations that have undergone mergers and by undertaking in-depth analyses of case studies selected using non-probability sampling methods. There are limitations to using both questionnaires and the non-probability sampling methods, however by contacting the human resources departments, the study is increasing the probability of gaining a valid response; and whilst the non-probability sampling method may not produce statistically significant results, the case studies are part of a qualitative study, and it would be beyond the scope and resources of this study to undertake a study that would produce statistical significance. Organisational values are more important in the personal and societal context within which business operates. It is becoming more important to identify the organisation and what it stands for the customer, and these values are important to the majority of stakeholders (Barrett). Organisational culture is also important for determining an organisation's capacity, effectiveness and longevity (Woodbury 2006), and it also contributes significantly to the organisation's brand image. When this culture does not align with mission, core values, and operational strategy it can turn into a significant liability for the organisation, and this is more pronounced when the organisation undergoes change (Woodbury 2006). Therefore culture change is a result of the organisation moving away from its original mission, goals, and strategies, a process which is more associated with mergers. When the culture change occurs the organisation has to focus on building the values of the new organisation and th is involves; making the organisation's values meet the society's expectations, making values meet the needs of new shareholders, attracting the best people/employees for the organisation and retaining the best people (Barrett). Value building is even more important when an organisation is undergoing a culture change as it can affect how existing employees feel about the organisation and it will also affect the ability of the organisation to attract the best employees. Research has shown that corporate performance is strongly correlated with employee fulfilment, with 39% of corporate performance variability being attributed to the personal fulfilment of employees (Barrett). Employee fulfilment is also strongly correlated with the leadership skills and emotional intelligence of managers, with 69% of employee fulfilment variability being attributed to qualities of leadership of the manager or supervisor (Barrett). With these figures, organisations need be aware of the mechanisms for value building and culture change which include ensuring employee fulfilment by providing: physical fulfilment (remuneration, canteen, gym), emotional fulfilment (professional growth, work appreciation), mental fulfilment (accountability, creativity and personal growth), spiritual fulfilment (opportunity to be service) (Barrett). During a change management process, the organisation undertakes a variety of processes to make this process effect. The engineering process of value building