Australia Expansion Project Feasibility †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Australia Expansion Project Feasibility Study Report? Answer: Introducation Starbuck is one of the largest international companies in the world that has always thrived year after year. It has outlets in almost all parts of the world. It specializes in the preparation of both drinks (coffee, refreshing beverages, tea, bottled drinks) and food (especially those enriched in protein) (Gopalakrishna et al, 2016). The company coffee brand is one of the best in the world. However, it faces high competition from other coffee selling businesses in the world (Glowik, 2017). Almost a decade ago, the company had decided to open outlets in Australia. The project was to open up new shops in the major cities of the country which became a successful project at that time. However, the shops did not last long because after a short while a large number of them closed (Gopalakrishna et al, 2016). This was as a result of the increased competition from other coffee making businesses. For instance, Gloria Jean's coffee house which still maintained its 450 branches in Australia and Coffee Club maintained its 350 outlets while Starbucks only 22 outlets only. This shows that Starbucks was almost outdone by the competitors. Research has shown that there are at least 6500 independent cafes in Australia which generate a total of $4 billion annually from the sale of their coffee. In addition to that, there is a good number of citizens that strongly depend on coffee before the start of their daily routine apparently, on average, most Australians take around 3-4 cups of coffee daily. In that case, Starbucks also has to find a way to share that profits made annually. Basically, this is one of the reasons why the company wanted to open more outlets in Australia (Santamara et al, 2008). The company wanted to accumulate is shops in Australia just like any other coffee making companies and as much as it has done in many other countries (Glowik, 2017). However, the project was f aced with many challenges which were closed after a few years. Starbucks Mission Statement To inspire and nature the human spirit- one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time (McGinn et al, 2010). Starbucks Vision Statement To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow Service Delivery Requirements Every business organization must ensure that the services or products t offers to its customer are of the best quality. Businesses should have trained, experienced and qualified employee to serve their customers (Gibson et al, 2007). With this kind of manpower, the quality of the product or service will certainly be of good quality and professional (Pala et al, 2012). Also, the employee should be able to respect and serve the customers with dignity. This will certainly come from the employee skills and attitude. In the case of Starbucks, the quality of its product (coffee) and services should be beyond what the customers expect. The company closed its outlets simply because they could not manage the competition from other companies. The companies managed to extract some the techniques that Starbucks used and made them their own. This improved their coffee quality and improved their service delivery as well. However, Starbucks should have improvised other better methods to improve the ir coffee quality and service delivery but did not. Project Objectives Every business organization must have objectives and goals for a certain project or change. The objectives are basically the guidelines for the business. They give the employees a purpose for them to continue working in the business. The setting of objectives provides the entire organization with a long-term goal and purpose to work towards. Furthermore, the objective setting provides a business with new ideas on how to improve and develop its operations. When Starbucks started this kind of project, some of its objectives included: To maintain Starbucks standing as one of the most recognized and respected brands in the world To be the leading retailer and brand of coffee in each of its target markets by selling the finest quality coffee and related products and by providing each customer with a unique Starbucks Experience Critical Success Factors These refer to business aspects that increase its growth, development and success chances. This also applies to the case of every project. Every project manager has to ensure that the projects success factors are utilized effectively and efficiently. In the case of Starbucks expansion project, the following are some of the critical success factors: Strong market share position and Global brand recognition Production of high-quality products and services Strong customer base loyalty Diverse and unique product mix Great appeal for of its shops and outlets Reasonable prices of its products Organizational Change This is about reviewing, controlling and modifying the business strategic structures and operations. This refers to aspects dealing with communications, management techniques, supply chain methods, investment methods and market competition among other things. Many businesses desire to implement organizational change with the aim of improving and developing the organizational operations. Therefore, in the case of Starbuck Company, the expansion project was aimed at increasing its outlets, extending its market share, increasing profits to name a few things. This means that the company had to deal with changes in the different departments. Like: The communication department- effective and efficient communication was required especially from the new stores Finance and accounting department- funding was needed for the expansion to be possible Human resource department- involves the hiring of new employees in almost all organizational departments Management team- new managers had to be hired and even others transferred to the new store location Options Considered Before any project manager decides to start working on a project, they have to evaluate and analyze any possible solution. The business should also look for other better ways to solve the problem or a different way to inflict change in the organization. Therefore, the organizations management and the project manager should be able to choose the best scenario or option that will serve the purpose and achieve projects objective. In that case, Starbucks had already decided to expand its operations in Australia. With this as the main aim, the company had some of the following options that were weighed according to their ability to achieve the businesss objective. Option 1: To open new stores in the chosen locations Option 2: To work on improving and developing the few store that are already existing in those locations Option 3: To open new stores in both the new chosen locations as well as other locations (small cities and towns) in the country Options Evaluation Criteria The criteria that accompany should use in accessing its project options should be able to achieve the projects objective and goals. Also, they should be in a position to uphold the companys vision, mission, values and objectives. In other words, this is the criteria that Starbucks Company used as well. It was a result of an agreement between the company management team, business stakeholders and business owners. locations option Criteria Reason Sydney Opening new stores and outlets High population levels Strong customer base loyalty Great tourist attraction site High population levels Great tourist attraction site Melbourne Opening new stores and outlets High population levels Strong customer base loyalty Great tourist attraction site High population levels Strong customer base loyalty Strong customer base loyalty Great tourist attraction site Brisbane Opening new stores and outlets High population levels Strong customer base loyalty Great tourist attraction site High population levels Strong customer base loyalty Great tourist attraction site New South Wales Opening new stores and outlets High population levels High population levels Great tourist attraction site Gold Coast Opening new stores and outlets High population levels Strong customer base loyalty Great tourist attraction site High population levels Strong customer base loyalty Great tourist attraction site Options Evaluation The evaluation of Starbucks expansion project included analytical assessment of the project costs, benefits and the risks involved. The evaluation was agreed upon by the stakeholders, business owners and the management. The evaluation was decided upon three main factors which are: Choice according to the population levels Choice according to the degree of consumer base loyalty According to the tourist attraction levels of the town Recommended Option The location options that are capable of meeting the companys expansion needs is any city or town that is considered major or one with high population. Some of these cities and towns are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, New South Wales and Gold Coast to name just but a few. These are preferably the main towns suitable for Starbucks expansion need. These towns are said to be some of best tourist attraction site in Australia. The companys product brands are also very popular and famous in these towns. This reason increases their possibilities of increasing the customer base, market share and segment. In addition to that, these cities will offer the company an opportunity for future growth and more expansion. Also, these towns will certainly be able to achieve the companys expansion objectives and goals. Scope Description Starbucks expansion project scope is to develop, increase and improve its product market in Australia by building and opening new stores. The new stores will be able to accommodate more customers, offer better service delivery and provide better quality drinks and food. The stores will be located in very strategic areas of the town and will be many in numbers. The project should work on methods of increasing the popularity of the companys product. Constraints and Dependencies Few constraints have been identified for the Starbucks expansion in Australia. All the individual and organizations involved in the project are advised to remain mindful of these limitations to ensure that they do not affect the project scope, budget or time schedule. Some of the constraints are: Inadequate qualified, experienced and skilled employees Project must have been completed in less than one year The project must be completed within budget, time and scope. Some of the dependencies are: Project budget and project cost Project start time and project end time Scope Management This involves the control, directing, organizing and planning all the activities and aspects needed in a project scope statement. The following steps were taken: Planned the scope management Gathered the project needs Defined the project scope Project Deliverables Came up with work breakdown structure Validated the scope Took control of the project scope Project Deliverables Several deliverables or results will come as a result of the Starbucks expansion project. For instance: Better quality Starbucks beverages and foods Better quality services Better priced products Increase in the companys profits in general Increased product market share and segment Project KPIs Some of the main KPIs for Starbucks expansion Australia project are: Produces and delivers better quality beverages and foods Offers better quality services Offers a variety of and consistent beverage brands and food types This basically gives a definition and list of what the project team members will be using in the whole process. In the case of Starbucks expansion project: The team members were to communicate to the stakeholders and business owners through the project team leaders. The project team should ensure that any activities they undertake do not affect the project's budget or scope. Therefore change management should be effective and efficient. The team members should perform their roles exactly as assigned The team should plan and be prepared for any risk that may arise Project Governance Framework It provides a project manager with a structure of procedures, decision making models and materials for managing the project with the aim of being completely successful (Too et al, 2014). It is used to control the project activities and team (people involved) and ensuring that they are consistent and comprehensive. Project Reporting Structure This helps in indicating who should report to who. In Starbucks project, the reporting structure is of the vertical form, i.e.: project director, project manager, group leader, rest of the project team members. Procurement Strategy This involves the understanding of the projects objectives, aims, purpose and constraints as well. In addition to that, the input in the strategy should be from both the business owners, stakeholders and project team (Rajeh et al, 2014). The following was the procurement strategy for Starbucks during the expansion project in Australia: The objectives were as an input result from the stakeholders, business owners and project team members. The constraints were identified, evaluated and analyzed extensively and later solutions were sort Some risks were identified as well e.g. product unpopularity and solutions sort as well Communication and Stakeholder Management Strategy Through communication all the project team members were able to share information effectively and efficiently (Zulch, 2014). Some of the communication methods that were used are: Through emails Conducting meetings frequently Training conferences Video conferencing Text messaging Voice mail messages On the other hand, the management of the stakeholder proved to be difficult in the beginning but smooth after a short while. The project managers still used some the communication methods listed above to communicate with the stakeholders and business owners. These and many other methods were very effective in end because any information needed was efficiently delivered. Time/Project Deadlines The Starbucks expansion project in Australia retreated in 2016 after it had failed back in 2002. The project was given a timeline of one year to be complete and hopefully successful. Budget/Cost Analysis and Funding Strategy According to Starbucks Coffee Company (2015), Starbucks reported accumulated loss of at least $143 million back in 2002 but now the expansion project has targeted to increase its profit to more than $143 million. This means that the cost benefit analysis had not been determined correctly. The funding strategy of the project was to depend entirely on the Global investors of the company. The fact that the companys objective was to expand internationally and the fact that the product is very well known and popular in most parts of the world, encouraged the investors to chip in. Risk Analysis and Management Strategy Some risks were identified which included: The risk of businesses laws interfering with the laws put up to guide the businesses in the location The risk of future uncertainty The risk of product unpopularity To manage the risks, the project managers conducted extensive research about the chosen locations and the populations need and desire for some of the companys products. Product Quality Management Structure The quality of the projects final product was determined by reviewing the success and growth of the other company stores that were located in similar location in other countries. The quality was to be determined by the expertise, skills and experience of the project managers. The quality would be better if the project managers, new employees and other resources that were to be were of the best quality as well. Project Completion Strategy The strategy was used to monitor and control the completion of the project was by ensuring that the store locations are suitable for the companys purpose and that the business operations are thriving day after day. Benefits Realization Plan The project managers would measure their benefits by: Analyzing the stores profits quarterly Accessing the customer loyalty increase Analyzing the companys product market share and segment References McGinn, D., Crowley, S. (2010). Vision Statement: Tired of PowerPoint? Try This Instead.Harvard Business Review, 09. Starbucks Coffee Company (2015).Company Information Starbucks Coffee CompanyStarbucks Coffee Company (2015).Mission Statement Starbucks Coffee Company Williams, L. S. (2008). The mission statement a corporate reporting tool with a past, present, and future.Journal of Business Communication,45(2), 94-119 Kirkpatrick, S. A., Wofford, J. C., Baum, J. R. (2002). 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