Starbucks and Its Difficulties During the Time of Economic Hardship Case Study

Starbucks and Its Difficulties During the Time of Economic Hardship - Case Study Example Branded firms have their unique approaches to improving their market reach, brand image of the product, and maintain the quality standard of the product. Keeping in view the rapid rate of their expansion and growth at multiple locations these companies manipulated their marketing strategy according to the location since different locations offered different marketing environment (Larson. 2008). These companies focused more on its quality standard by critically handling the entire process involved from the purchase of raw materials till it's possession by its end user. These companies took a great care of each and every step to avoid compromising the quality standard of their products. In case of Starbucks Corporation, the firm created a coffee culture and also provided an atmosphere of relaxation for their customers who helped them in bringing the concept of â€Å"third place† where the first and second places were considered to be the home and office respectively (Larson, R. (2008). Many efforts are made by these companies under its strategic approach towards marketing to gain their customers’ trust and offer a value-based service to their customers. The companies also face problems due to variations in their customer group which varies with the location. Under such circumstances, these companies faced challenges which were mainly of following types, what mode should be used by the company to exist in the international market, how they should design their product offering to their customers keeping in mind the variations among the behavior of customer group. Along with it, another major challenge for such companies was to compete with other brands of the same industry serving globally to their customers. The marketing strategies adopted by Starbucks Corporation worked like a magnet which drove their customers to do things as per the company’s expectation (Carroll. 2007). A brand name in watchmaking industry is Maurice Lacroix which is famo us for its luxurious watches adopted strategy to promote their product and also form the alliance with a brand name in movies production house Dream Works for their film named Time Machine.

Project management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project management - Assignment Example Team functionality and consequent performance depends on various collaboration aspects that are designed to enhance the realization of the project objectives. Communication is a fundamental aspect in the undertaking of a project that engages team work. There should be a clear flow of information from the team leader to the members and vice versa. This flow is designed to maintain a consistent system through which all players in the team are kept posted to emerging issues and expected trends in the project (Gowen, 2007). Team efficacy is highly influenced by modes and means of communication within and without the team. It is important that each member contributes to the design, formulation and implementation of a communication process that is properly suited to the specific variables of the project being undertaken. Running of a project is not always at par with the expectations. However, with effective communications designs, it easier for the entire team to deal with emerging challe nges in the process. The team encompasses diverse and dynamic reasoning, knowledge and skills. Project undertakings also require that balanced collaboration be observed if the desired results are to be achieved. For this reason, the team cannot avoid discussions and decision making at both individual and team level. This requires that effective communication among all stakeholders. ... Team coordination of project phases is characterized by numerous activities. These activities call for decision making from time to time, across every stakeholder. With proper communications designs, negotiations fall into place. Negotiations encompass critical evaluation and assessment of scenarios that need to accounted for as different project activities unfold. Negotiations are designed to bring on board different views of every person involved, so that what is decided upon binds to every team participant. Negotiation in the team level aims to bring to terms all the individual duties and responsibilities, so that what is achieved reflects a team effort. Although the team is made up of a number of players, each player’s contribution counts in the overall success or failure of the team. On the same note, the different players are divided in accordance to their specialization, prior to the activities that need to be undertaken, and the duties and responsibilities that need to be met. Therefore, the team operates in functional areas that range from management and leadership, finance, operations and human resource (Bollen, 2009). The interaction of these parties must encompass proper negotiations, so that in case anything goes wrong in the process, a blame game does not emerge. In such an instance, these functional areas engage in discussions, evaluations and assessments that account for misconducts realized if any. Team performance is highly dependent on the meetings aspect. Meetings are inevitable at all decision making levels. From the time the team is being formed to the completion of the project, meetings play an essential role in uniting all