The study by Zhenjia Zhang evaluates the competitive advantage of the Starbucks Surfers’ Paradise coffee shop. The paper uses primary and secondary data to assess the positioning and its marketing mix of the shop, which help Starbucks Surfers’ Paradise to maintain competitive advantage. It suggests that a convenient location, the strong Starbucks brand and the high quality of products and services help the shop to add value to customers and to maintain a strong position in the market.
The conclusions derived by Zhang point to the fact that Surfers’ Paradise coffee shop indeed possesses a competitive advantage over their rivals, such as Gloria Jean’s. The author identifies five key aspects that help Starbucks to perform better than direct competitors, namely its brand name, location, product and service standardization, service innovation and employee satisfaction. The combination of these factors help the company to ensure both its short-term profitability and long-term competitiveness. Firstly, the Starbucks brand name is a unique attribute that helps the company to attract the largest segment of the market, international tourists. The brand name is perceived as a sign of quality and consistency, therefore international tourists often prefer known brands, especially when abroad. Assuming that tourism will continue to develop in Surfers’ Paradise, Starbucks brand will continue to attract customers to the shop. Service innovation is another aspect that helps the company to deliver better products to the customers, thus ensuring that the clients will choose Starbucks over rivals in the future. Employee satisfaction and standardization help the company to achieve short-term profitability and customer satisfaction. Firstly, it helps to reduce the cost of turnover. Secondly, as Starbucks’ workers are happy to be a part of the company and are hopeful about their career, they put more effort in delivering value to customers. Product and processes standardization also help the company to lower costs, to benefit from the experience gained by other franchisees and to achieve quality standards that are associated with the Starbucks brand. Considering these factors, it is reasonable to agree with the author of the article, Zhenjia Zhang, and to conclude that Starbucks possesses a competitive advantage over other coffee shops. This advantage makes the company profitable in the short-run and is sustainable in the long-run.
Although some of the key elements that constitute the competitive advantage of the Starbucks Surfers’ Paradise Shop are easily transferrable across businesses and industries, others may be completely obsolete when taken outside of the present context (Keillor, 2007). Thus, the Starbucks brand only reflects the unique selling proposition of the company, when it is applied to a coffee shop. Any other businesses adopting the brand would confuse customers and would not result in any benefit for the business. Moreover, such approach could actually harm the brand, that is why the Starbucks company is unlikely to sell its franchise to an organization that wants to promote non-coffee services under the Starbucks brand. Employee satisfaction is also hard to transfer across industries, as it is associated with the pride of working in Starbucks. Transferring people to other shops could result in demoralization and make them unwilling to deliver superior customer service. On the other hand, some features can be potentially transferred. Thus, the location of the shop in the centre of the Surfers Paradise offers an exposure to both the customers, who travel to the Surfers Paradise on the highway, and to people, who do their shopping in the local mall. Such advantageous location could be used by any other business, assuming their service offering is in line with the demands of the customers, who pass by the store. For example, any other food or coffee shop would benefit greatly from such location. The new business should ensure, however, that the location also offers favorable conditions in terms of the competition. Process standardization can be also relatively easy to transfer, assuming that the new business has similar process as those of the coffee shop.
The study on Competitive Advantages of Starbucks Surfers’ Paradise Coffee Shop by Zhenjia Zhang used a sound methodology to arrive to conclusions. However, some modifications could help the study to generate more fruitful, original, and reliable data. Thus, for example, the study could also survey customers of Starbucks’ competitors, in order to identify the competitive advantages of other brands. Larger sample could be useful in generating more reliable results. Moreover, the use of focus groups could help to engage in a more open discussion with customers and to get a better understanding of their demands and preferences.
References
Keillor, B. D. (2007). Marketing in the 21st century. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Zhang, Z. (2012). Study on competitive advantages of Starbucks Surfers’ Paradise Coffee Shop. Management Science and Engineering, 6(3), 16-21.
