How Starbucks’ CRM Strategies Influence Customer Reliability In Thailand

Background to the Study

Discuss About The CRM Are Influencing Consumer Reliability.

The large-scale competition of foodstuff and beverages at the present moment has led the business enterprises to focus on the CRM activities which are believed to be the success to a modern business. The following research aims to find out the reasons on how CRM policy of Starbucks helps them to attract most of the customers in Thailand. The research will throw light on the policies that the management of Starbucks follows to attract customers in the mentioned Asian country.

The purpose of the research is to identify the different elements of CRM and determine the different ways on how Starbucks has been developing CRM strategies in relation to isolated marketing segmentation.

As mentioned earlier CRM has been at the helm of affairs at every single business organization to develop a fruitful policy that helps the organization to gain a competitive advantage in the marketing place. The development of an effective and proper policy not only helps the company to be the market leader but also helps them to be close to the customers (Ariyabuddhiphongs and kahn 2017). Starbucks is a well established name in the food and beverages market and has its presence in most of the countries of the world. The company becomes an instant hit in the places where it starts its operations. This happens mostly because of its well formulated polices that addressees most of the concerns of the customers. The report aims to find out the exact reasons behind the large scale reliability of the Thai customers towards Starbucks. The CRM policies of Starbucks have been one of the best in the market that is the main reason for the development of the organization.  

The research is important as because it will deal with Customer Relationship Management which is one of the most important methods of attracting as well as retaining customers in the organization or the enterprise. The research will help the readers as well as the other researchers to gather a detailed knowledge on Customer Relationship Management and how they are effectively used in the policies to attain the market share (Farhan Ellatif and Abed 2017). The research will thus focus on the customer specific things that are done by the management of the organizations to attain the attention of the customers and ultimately attracting them through their products and services.

Importance of the Research

The following proposal starts with the introductory part which begins with the central idea and the background of the research and progresses with the literary review of the said topic. The literature review is followed by the methodology part where the methods to be used in the research for gaining the outcome will be discussed in detail. The research methodology will contain the different approaches to the research and will also provide the justifications for choosing such approaches to deduce the results of this particular research. The research will proceed according to the timeline that will be provided in the proposal. Last but not the least in any wat6ys the proposal will highlight the ethical considerations and the outcomes of the research.

The following are the area which this section would cover:

According to Gilpin (2016), political factors prevailing in both home and host countries have significant impacts on the operations of multinational companies. Thailand is a politically stable nation functioning under parliamentary monarchy while the United States runs under the leadership of its president. These two countries have strong bilateral relationship which American multinational companies like Starbucks remain to be among the biggest investors in Thailand (state.gov 2018). However, strong bilateral relationships between Thailand and the United States have shown signs of changing with Bangkok preferring the economic support of Beijing to the military support of Washington (reuters.com 2018). Thus, as far as presence and expansion of American multinational companies are concerned, political which determine their moves can range from the policies formed by the governments of their home and host countries to complex political equations like the arms race which involve the military of several countries as well (Hoffman, Munemoand Watson2016).

The economic factors which influencing Thailand are in several ways outcomes of the complex political factors. The figure below shows one of the most significant aspect of Thi economy, its rising GDP. This means that the people of Thailand would have more disposable income to visit and purchase coffee and other items available at multinational food chains.

(Source: tradingeconomics.com 2018)

The second economic factor of the Thai economy would be availability of raw materials and financial resources which promotes growth of the economy. Strüver (2016) in this regards point out that strong bilateral relationship with neighboring countries enable countries to use their resources which in turn boost productivity and economic development. Bangkok has strong relationships with its important neighbors like India and China (mfa.go.th 2018). This allows the multinational companies operating in Thailand exploit their natural resources. Mustilli et al. (2017) further points out that the availability of financial institutions fuel the operations of companies functioning in Thailand.

Structure of the Present Proposal

The political and economic factors have deep influences on the third set of factors, the social factors. The growth of GDP of Thailand would make more disposable income available in Thailand. This allows the multinational companies like Starbucks to market their products among a larger group of customers.

(Source: hofstede-insights.com 2018)

The above diagram shows a comparison between the society of Thailand, an eastern culture and the United States of America, the domicile country of Star bucks which is a western culture. Heand Wang (2015) mentions a very important applications of the cultural comparison tool is concerned, especially when it comes to fast food and beverage, since the latter comes under cultural influences. For example, Thai people give a lot of importance to rice and consume it in various forms. Thus, the multinational food chains, especially from the western countries where wheat is the staple food, should incorporate rice dishes to their menus. The Thai society plays a a great importance on display of collectivitism and people pay respect to their tradition and culture. The multinational companies entering the country’s market should display adherence to these facts to build strong relationship with Thai customers (Wu et al. 2015).

As Dodgson(2018) points out, technological factors have great influences on the functioning and development of multinational companies both in the home market and the host markets. Mazzola, Bruccoleriand Perrone (2015) support the opinion of Dodgson (2016) and mention the technological advancement not only boosts smooth operations but also leads 5to more market based products. Thailand is technologically advanced and provides opportunities for research and innovation in the fast food industry which enable the firms of the industry offer new products suited to the culture of the country. This offering of food items more suited to the culture of the country leads to higher degree of customer satisfaction (Tzokas  et al. 2015).

Nyadzayo and Khajehzadeh(2016) refers customer relationship management as a system which records and manages customer interactions companies have with their customers. The companies use advanced software which enable them to gain information about the present needs and future requirements of customers, thus proving the mettle of Mazzola, Bruccoleriand Perrone (2015)’s opinion. Namin (2017) further points out that customer relationship management has great importance in the business generation of multinational food restaurants like Starbucks (starbucks.com 2018). The staff members of the fast food chain interact with the customers and record them on their knowledge management system. They use this information to restructure their food product offerings according to the choice of specific customer segments like offering Thai style soup to appease Thai customers.  Nyadzayo and Khajehzadeh(2016) points out that this customer base oriented food offering enable the multinational companies to create higher levels customer satisfaction and positive customer experiences.

Literature Review

Roux, Tafani and Vigneron (2017) mentions that Starbucks sells a variety of food products which requires involvement of customers. The market segments of the multinational food joint mostly consist of educated customers who come of upper and middle class customers. The company creates products to ensure the four realms of customer experiences. Markova et al. (2016) further mention that these multinational food companies design their outlets to create the appropriate appeal on the customers. Their esthetic ambience maximizes customer satisfaction which generates maximum revenue. Raji and Zainal(2017) further add that this customer satisfaction encourage customers to visit the outlets of these multinational food companies which in turn boosts their brand value. They educate the customers about their new products and seek to involve them to a greater extent, thus maximum their satisfaction.

One can analyses the discussion above and infer that customer relationship management, brand involvement and customer experience are interdependent. . Markova et al. (2016) states that multinational food joints create esthetic environment in their outlets to involve the customers. The customers as a result are encouraged to share their experiences and views with the company. As pointed out by Namin (2017), these companies design their products incorporations these views and future requirements of customers.  This involvement holds greater significance for the food joints since the level of customer satisfaction customers gain by consuming their products depends on their cultural perceptions (Heand Wang2015). Moreover, these food joints have to incorporate the typical characteristics of specific markets like their eating habits. These features create more positive experience, thus strengthening the brand value. Thus, one can infer that CRM, customer experience and brand are related positively.

In this particular chapter of the proposal, a short yet elaborate discussion has been provided. Research is always search for a new knowledge and thus it is preferable to use a systematic study for determining the findings of the following study. There are a number of different methods or elements that are needed to formulate the main research. This includes the likes of the research philosophy, research approach and research design (Trimble and Rifon  2006). The following section of the study states the strategies and outlines the data collection and analysis process. Thus the methodology chapter forms an important part of the proposal as well as the main research.  

The research will be dealing with the reasons behind the reliability of the customers towards Starbucks. The research will be based upon or will find the answers to a number of main questions. They are;

1. What is actually meant by CRM and how does Starbucks effectively implements the CRM policies in Thailand?
2. How can CRM influence Customer trustworthiness in the business?
3. How does CRM play an effective role in the segmentation of market?

The research will try to find out the knowledge that helps to shape the basic philosophy of the research study. The researcher in this particular case will be selecting the Positivism research philosophy to address the issues raised in the research and correctly address the aims and objectives of the research. The selection of the positivism research philosophy will enable the investigator of the research to use factual knowledge. The factual research knowledge will test the formulated research hypothesis and questions (Galan Ladero GaleraCasquet and Singh 2015). The main use of the positivism research philosophy is its ability to analyze the data scientifically. The statistical approach to the research will be helping the formulator of the study to gain the projected outcomes of the research in exactly the same way as demanded. The investigator will be able to get a detailed statistical report on the amount of customers attracted by Starbucks and the details of the policies.

The formulator of this particular research will be using the Deductive approach to construct the particular research. The first and foremost reason of choosing deductive approach is its ability to gel up with the positivism research philosophy. The deductive approach of the research will allow the researcher to test the formulated hypothesis of the research on whether CRM policies influence consumer reliability in Starbucks stores of Thailand or not. The researcher will get considerable help from the use of the deductive approach conduct an online survey to gather the results of the following topic. The researcher in such a case has used the different kinds of data related to the effectiveness of the different CRM policies that are implemented by the mentioned beverage stores in Thailand. The investigator will get a good idea about the said topic as he has considerable idea of the operational procedures of Starbucks in Thailand. This is because he was an active employee of such a similar store in Thailand. The use of the theories and models has been possible because of the choice and the use of the deductive approach. The use of the inductive theory in the research can hamper the cause of the research and will involve more time as because it requires the formation and consideration of new theories and models. Therefore it will be a wise task to select the deductive research approach to deduce the objectives of the research.

Research can be generally categorized into two main types. The first one being the Primary Research and Secondary Research types that is based on the data used by the formulator of the research and the second one is the Qualitative or Quantitative research type that is based on the process in which the research has been completed.

The research formulator will be using the help of the Primary Research to deduce the different objectives of this particular research. This includes the likes of conducting different forms of survey or face to face interviews. The survey in this particular case will be done through online channels. The researcher will be preparing a questionnaire that will contain a number of multiple choice questions and answers related to the CRM process used by Starbucks and will provide positive, negative as well as neutral choice answers for the participants to answer. These responses will then be assembled and analyzed accordingly to diversify the results of the following research. The scientific and statistical analysis of the following research will be useful to meet the aims of the research. The survey will be done using both open ended as well as close ended questions. The participants will be selected from the people with whom the investigator had made friends during his job at Starbucks in Thailand. The selection of such participants will pave the way for getting the best possible result upon the successful completion of the research.

The current research will consider the use of the Descriptive Research design to deduce the research outcomes. This is because the use of the descriptive design will help the research formulator an opportunity to justify the developed hypothesis and deduce the research outcomes of the organization in a meaningful way. The use of this particular research design will also help the researcher to gain a deep understanding on the reliability of the different CRM frameworks and policies that are formulated by the management of Starbucks. The research will consider the responses of the participants who are regular in the Starbucks stores of Thailand. The use of the particular design to deduce this research has been justified as because the researcher will be able to test the formulated hypothesis on the reliability of the CRM technologies amongst the visitors of Starbucks in Thailand.

As mentioned earlier the formulator of this particular research will be using an online survey to conduct the research. The survey will be conducted online and a research questionnaire will be prepared which will consist of both open ended as well as close ended questions related to the reliability of the customers towards the CRM techniques used by the Starbucks stores present in Thailand. The survey will help in the gathering, collection, assembling and analysis of the raw data that will be available easily because of the friendly connections of the formulator in Thailand. The survey will also be conducted according to the rules, regulations and ethics of the organization.

The research will have to take an appropriate sampling technique to complete the survey process. The research will use the systematic probability sampling technique to complete the deduction. The proper understanding of the reliability of the CRM techniques used by Starbucks will consider the involvement of the customers who are regular in the mentioned coffee store. The data will be collected from a total of such 100 customers visiting the Starbucks store in Thailand. The proper understanding and the in depth analysis of the research can be done exactly according to the demand of the following topic.

The primary data collection method will involve the collection of quantitative data collection techniques that is possible through systematic survey methods. As mentioned earlier the survey will involve the research participants who are regular in the Starbucks store of Thailand. The survey will be an online one with a set of questionnaire that will help in the deduction process. The questionnaire will involve both open ended as well as close ended questions. The use of content analysis will also be used to deduce the results of the research in a proper and effective way.

The data will be analyzed using the SPSS technique as it will involve the responses of the visitors who are regular in Starbucks store of Thailand. The responses will be analyzed and the result will show on whether the CRM techniques used by the management of Starbucks in Thailand are actually capable of receiving the reliability of the customers. The SPSS method will involve cross tabulation and will ensure the outcome of a positive and accurate data. The data will be summarized according to descriptive statistics that will be including the likes of different percentages and frequencies related to the reliability and the success of the CRM techniques in the mentioned country. Pie charts, graphs and tables will help in getting a detailed knowledge or a clear picture of the aforesaid topic to the readers.

The resources that are to be used are personal skills, travel, permissions, different copies of the research and translations.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Research Proposal Timeline	82 days	Fri 6/1/18	Mon 9/24/18
Selection of the Research Topic	1 day	Fri 6/1/18	Fri 6/1/18
Approval of the Research Topic	2 days	Mon 6/4/18	Tue 6/5/18
Researching and the Development of the Aims and Objectives	6 days	Wed 6/6/18	Wed 6/13/18
Preliminary Investigation	10 days	Thu 6/14/18	Wed 6/27/18
Assembling all the Preliminary Data	5 days	Thu 6/28/18	Wed 7/4/18
Researching the Data	6 days	Thu 7/5/18	Thu 7/12/18
Compiling the Data	10 days	Fri 7/13/18	Thu 7/26/18
Submission of the Draft	1 day	Fri 7/27/18	Fri 7/27/18
Continuation of the Research	20 days	Mon 7/30/18	Fri 8/24/18
Assembling New Informations	10 days	Mon 7/30/18	Fri 8/10/18
Identification of the Sample	1 day	Mon 8/13/18	Mon 8/13/18
Selecting The Number of Sample Size	4 days	Tue 8/14/18	Fri 8/17/18
Interviewing The Sample Population	5 days	Mon 8/20/18	Fri 8/24/18
Researching on the Available Data	21 days	Mon 8/27/18	Mon 9/24/18
Compiling the Total Data	10 days	Mon 8/27/18	Fri 9/7/18
Assembling and Preparing the final Report	10 days	Mon 9/10/18	Fri 9/21/18
Final Submission	1 day	Mon 9/24/18	Mon 9/24/18

The green parts of the above table show the milestones of the research.

Source: (As created by the author)

The ethical considerations are one of the main parts of the research and its absence spells doom for the research. The ethical considerations have to be kept in mind to make sure that the research does not deviates from its policies and does not uses any wrong means for its formulation. The first and foremost needs of the research are that the researcher needs to be honest and integrated in his approach. The researcher must take the permission of the participants before starting the survey and make the participants sign the consent form on their own will. The researcher must not pressurize the participants to participate in the survey. Apart from this the researcher must also maintain the privacy of both the research participants as well as ensure their safety and security. There must also be a provision in the consent form that will allow the research participants to move out of the research at any given point of time. Thus the maintenance of all these will ensure the follow up of the ethics in this particular research.

The research proposal has provided a brief yet solid view of the research. Though it incorporates all the necessary elements needed to get a clear viewpoint of the research, it has some limitations in it. The research will supposedly fail to address the issues that the CRM techniques has in them and will also fail to get the recommendations in view of such faults in the CRM policies. The main thing that will be addressed in this particular research is the reliability of the CRM techniques on the customers of Starbucks in Thailand. Thus it will completely avoid the faults and the ways of improvement of the present CRM policies.

Some of the main learning outcomes after the completion of the following research are as follows;

• What is CRM and how does it help to gain customer acceptance?
• What are the ways by which Starbucks in Thailand implements its CRM policies?
• What are the CRM Models followed and implemented by the management of Starbucks in Thailand?
• How has the customers in Thailand reacted to the use of the CRM policies by Starbucks?

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