Question

Starbucks does have optimistic status for their great company culture. Do you believe customers can sense a difference between company owned stores and franchisee/licensee institutions? That would not be great for business as whole, particularly when that culture has some impact on selling $5+ lattes.

Answer 1

Answer: Yes I feel that there is a difference between the companies owned stores and franchisee/licensee institutions and this is also true in the case of Starbucks. The organizations have a greater control over the operations of the company owned stores and can effectively implement their culture in such stores. On the other hand there are a number of compliance and co ordination related issues that come up when somebody else manages the business in the franchised stores of companies like Starbucks. The implementation of the original values and culture of a company is not so high in such stores because the company only has a limited control over such operations. This difference is obviously visible in many aspects like customer service and treatment. Hence a customer can easily sense this difference. I agree that this is not a very good for a business that sells premium priced latte as customers not only expect good products from such companies but also better and uniform customer service across all its outlets.