Case Study Example: Starting a Coffee Shop Business

Choice of Country

In the modern world, coffee shops have become a trending business. The coffee trading community is now majorly characterized by an increase in the sophistication of baristas and coffee shops. Ideally, in this largely expanding business, there seems to be much business potential. Therefore, starting a coffee shop would be a plausible idea in the wake of modernity that surrounds every business environment. However, what matters most is not the business idea but the successful execution of the same. One would think that starting a coffee shop would be a very simple task; it wouldnt. Consequently, there are a variety of significant considerations to undertake when starting a coffee shop.

This consideration may vary according to the location in the country of operation. For this instance, we wish to consider starting a coffee shop in France. France being a European Union member country has a lot of business potential compounded with the friendly yet challenging business environment. According to the World Bank Survey, France is ranked at number 6 in the list of the best European countries to start a business in. There are many logistical and structural factors that have worked to place France at this position. Meaning France has a relatively suitable business environment that can be appropriate for the business of a coffee shop.

There are reasons why France is a good choice for such a business, but it is not only because it was ranked top ten in the World Bank survey. However, it is because the culture of the French people and the friendly business environment allows for the growth of such medium scale businesses to flourish to their optimal potential. The French love and appreciation culture, art, and authenticity. Furthermore, France has very few operations that one should accomplish before starting a business. The actual number of the operations currently stands at five. Consequently, the time in days that is takes to start a legal business is 7 working days. In addition to these, there is no minimum amount one has to deposit in his or her bank for one to start a business.

The labor laws in France are quite flexible; transportation infrastructure is not an issue. Therefore, staff management and transportation of supplies would be among the smooth running operations that the business will experience. Moreover, security is France is optimal and guarantees the safety of the business as well as the consumer. Other regulatory measures that could bring structural challenges for the business are well commissioned to ensure foreign businesses flourish in this alien but yet friendly business environment. Hence, there would be no difficult logistical or cultural challenges that the coffee shop is set to experience once the business is established in France.

Essentially, the facts proven above stand to show that France is one of the best European countries where one would like to start a business. The facts mentioned above depict the good regulatory environment for business operations. With regard to the needs of the expanding the coffee shop business, France offers a unique set of cultures and a market that is vibrant to the coffee beverage and the additional pleasures that come with it. It would be essential to consider that the locality in which to start the business is one of the significant factors that drive the business to potential success (Banalieva and Dhanaraj, 2013). In view of this, France relatively offers the best environment to achieve such a reality in the coffee shop business. Therefore, France would be the most viable option for the country in which to start a coffee shop business.

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is a set of tools or rather ideals that create a situation where marketing objectives in a target market are being accomplished without a fuss (Jain, 2013). The marketing mix in this scenario is, therefore, going to focus on France as the location in which the target market exists. In view of this, we will employ the 4 Ps and 7 Ps of the marketing mix to come up with proper marketing strategies.

Product

The high-quality product is the coffee. The company will have to use the finest coffee bean that will create a signature blend that relates to the purpose of the company to achieve this level of quality. The coffee will be sourced from Uganda, where a Fairtrade supplier will be used to get specialty coffee beans which are ethical, quality and sustainability concerns will be substantiated to appeal to the concerns of the customers in France

Price

The price will be relatively similar to the other coffee shops operating in the vicinity. One price consideration that is significant is the price for consumer coffee at the retail level. This will highly be used to come up with a relatively appealing price range that is also profitable to the coffee shop.

Promotion

In the light of the popularity of the internet, it will be the most important marketing tool to be implemented for promotion purposes. Consequently, the use of traditional print media will be used and place at places where the targeted population which appreciates signature blends of high-quality coffee are situated.

Place

The coffee shop will be placed in the vicinity of the target population. Possible places will include central business districts, near colleges, universities, art institutes and leisure centers. Consequently, around residential places where the community appreciates good coffee that is of high quality.

Physical Evidence

The coffee shop will be unique with a blend of artifacts and interior design that speaks of where the coffee was sourced from. This would involve creating an East African Aura in and around the coffee shop. The coffee shop would have an ideal space for continuous interaction among customers (Khan, 2014), including themed nights that would appeal to the art loving and a fun loving segment of the target population. Furniture, paintings, music playing in the background and the color of the coffee shop will be structured to create an African feeling.

People

The staff will be dressed in African attire, and the service delivery will be in either English or French language. This would work to creating a foreign and adventurous ambiance while maintaining a form of connection to the native location of the business without creating any language barriers (Piekkari, Welch and Welch, 2014). The staff will be friendly, interactive and highly trained to serve in the coffee shop (Khan, 2014). This would make the customer appreciate being in such a lovely, hospitable and yet professional business establishment.

Process

The business should be characterized by the unique blueprint of the service delivery process which includes a service charter that ensures ethical and professional standards are catered for. Excellent service delivery and customer prioritization will be significant to the business (Jain, 2013). Resource requirements will be highly met in due time to ensure the smooth running of the business operations.

Implications of Business Expansion

The implications of expanding the business to a different country may vary in many ways. However, this implication may determine if the process of business expansion will be successful or not. One has to consider very many factors when expanding a business into a foreign country. Information about the ethical considerations about the product, technical and structural challenges of managing the business. Actually, there are two aspects whose contribution to the business may be impacted significantly due to expansion. They include:

Organizational Culture

Human relations Management is a very important aspect of the business. With excellent management of human resources, the work environment is set to be suitable for the growth of individual performance of the employees. Furthermore, this works to foster a harmonious working environment that enables the creation of professional yet friendly interpersonal relationship that create an organizational culture that works towards the purpose, mission, and vision of the organization. However, expanding the business to a different country may make this really challenging to accomplish. This may be due to the native culture of the country which is mainly depicted by modes of dressing, food and beverage preferences, language and religious inclinations (Banalieva and Dhanaraj, 2013). For the organization to prosper in a foreign country, all these factors would be considered. Furthermore, there are legal and ethical considerations that may change from one country to another.

Therefore, adequate research should be conducted by officials or experts on the ground. The research is focused on attaining important information that will be used in the creation of criteria in which various aspects that govern the structure of an organizational culture will be realized. For example, the importance of professional standards in the country. Consequently, there is the issue of language which affects the aspects of communication resoundingly. The issue of language barrier needs to be eliminated by finding staff who are fluent in both English and French to achieve a suitable culture in which employees will be comfortable working in. This would avoid any communication issue related to or occur as a result of the issue of language barriers (Piekkari, Welch and Welch, 2014). Correspondingly, the organizational culture will be maintained through the constant assurance that ethical, as well as professional standards, are being met. Together will the proper appreciation of high performing employees and compensation measures that increase the value of the job in the employees life.

Information Systems

Technology has made most business operation become easy tasks that are less time intensive. This has been due to the creation of business information systems that are automated and require that they are operated by computer literate personnel with required knowledge of how the system works. With the expansion of an organization, the business information system ought to be expanded too. Therefore, the expansion will happen in the hardware and software capacity. This alludes that the business information system will be customized further to include the expanded section of the business be in an affiliation or business in a different country.

The implications of business expansion on the information system will include the need for new hardware and software equipment whose system requirements will match those of the already installed system. Furthermore, the availability of internet that is fast to allow communication as well a free, fast and reliable Wi-Fi service that will be the joy of the customers. Consequently, the additional system installed at the new outlets of the coffee shop will need personnel to operate it from time to time. Further implications will include the funds that will be used to acquire the said hardware, software and people to run the system to ensure data entry into the records management will be done dutifully.

Correspondingly, the information system will require that maintenance and system upgrade and backup are done from time to time which may require more resources. Therefore, the expansion of the business into a different country will carry with it additional costs which will be incurred due to the process of expanding the information system to fit the current capacity of the organization. An optimally working system will guarantee efficient and effective communication as well as smooth running of system-oriented business operations in a time conscious manner.

Financial Considerations on Expanding the Business

Looking at the financial aspect of business expansion, one realizes that it would cost more to start a business in another country that the country they already operat...