Free Research Proposal On Pricing Strategy: The Case Of Starbucks Pricing Strategy In Different Countries

Management

Introduction
Different organizations have different ways of strategizing their operations. Strategic organization and operation of an organization plays an elemental role in facilitating the success of that given organization. There are various ways of strategizing the operations of an organization. Some of the key areas of strategizing include marketing, pricing, production, customers among others. Starbucks is an individual organization dealing with coffee. It is a world leader in the coffee market with a combination of relative value, authority, and quality (Blumberg, Cooper, & Schindler, 2011). Starbucks has different ways of strategizing that enable it to control most of the market share among its competitors. The research will study the pricing strategy of Starbucks in different countries.

Statement of the Problem

Starbucks is a world leader in the coffee market. As, such, there are various ways that the company employs to gain competitive advantage in the market and remain in business. For this reason, the company has different strategies to ensure the same. One of the main strategies employed by Starbucks is the pricing strategy (Bryman & Bell, 2011). Understanding the pricing strategy of the company will be important in the evaluation of how the strategy influences the position of the company in the coffee market in the world.

Research Objectives

The study will seek to investigate the pricing strategy of Starbucks in different countries.
The study will also seek to identify the significance of the pricing strategy to the operations of the company.
The study will investigate the influence of the pricing strategy of the position of the company in the coffee market.
The study will evaluate the significance of the pricing strategy of the company to other companies and organizations in the same coffee market.

Research Questions

What is the pricing strategy of Starbucks in different countries?
For how long has the Starbucks been using the strategy in its operations?
How has the strategy influenced the position of the company in the coffee market in the past five years?
What is the relationship between the pricing strategy of Starbucks and other organizations in the coffee market?
Research Hypotheses
The pricing strategy of Starbucks is dependent on four key aspects including quality, differentiation, the value of authority and relative value.

Starbucks focuses on psychological pricing, competitors and price change in its pricing strategy.

Starbucks employs product-mix strategies of pricing including product-line pricing and captive-product pricing.
Theoretical Frameworks
The study will employ the price theory and the pricing strategy theory in evaluating the pricing strategy of Starbucks in different countries. These theories will be essential to understanding how the pricing strategy of Starbucks influences its operations, position in the market and other organizations and companies in the same market (Bryman & Bell, 2011).

Significance of the Study

The importance of the study will be that it will provide insights on how to penetrate the market and access new markets through pricing strategies. Additionally, knowledge of the pricing strategy of Starbucks will be essential in the understanding of the effects of pricing strategies on the operations of an organization.

Relevant Literature

The study will employ Blumberg, Cooper and Schindler’s book, Business Research Methods in developing and evaluating the research methods employed in the study. The study will also employ Thomas Weber’s, Price Theory in Economics to evaluate the significance and influence of the pricing strategy of Starbucks on the organization, its position in the coffee market and the effects of the strategy of other companies in the organization.

Method

The study will employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. The qualitative method will involve the phenomenological aspect of the study such as the influences of the pricing strategy of the company to other organization, its operations and its position in the coffee market (Creswell, 2009). The quantitative part will involve the statistical data related to the pricing strategy of Starbucks such as the number of years and the influence in terms of the returns on the company.

Participants

The individuals who will participate in the study will include some of the employees and top management at Starbucks in different branches and subsidiaries. The method, of choosing the employees, will be random sampling. That is; the participants will be of varied age, gender, sexual orientation or occupation at the company to reduce the instances of biases in the study. Additionally, the inclusion criteria will be that the participants be employees at Starbucks.

Design

The type of design that will be employed in the study will be focus groups. The focus groups will cut their nationality, income and culture to enable for varied and diversified responses especially for the qualitative part. Instruments used for the study will include questionnaires and video cameras for the interviews. The videos from the interview will be employed in the qualitative analysis part (Creswell, 2009).

Procedure

Participants will be asked in both the questionnaires and interviews to provide their views concerning the pricing strategy of the company. The participants will not be asked their location details or names to ensure anonymity and validity of the research. Data from the study will be collected using the instruments identified, the interviews and questionnaires. Data collection will take place in two stages. The first stage will be for the qualitative data. The second stage will be for the quantitative data. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be viable for analysis only if the participants take part in the entire exercise. That is; participants will be at liberty to leave at any time during the research. In such a case where the participant leaves in mid of the study, the data will be discarded.

Data Analysis

Qualitative and quantitative data collected will be analyzed using the ANOVA and the grounded theory. Analytic tools that will be employed in the study will include the AQUAD for the qualitative data (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012). Data analysis will include putting the data into the analytic tools and evaluating them in relation to the questions and hypotheses for the study. Tables and graphs for the influence of the pricing strategy of Starbucks will be drawn for easy discussion of the study.

Limitations and Delimitations

The study might have some limitations. First, the liberty of the participants to leave at any time during the study can narrow the scope of the results. As such, the liberty could minimize the generalizability of the study in other aspects or organizations (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012). Additionally, it could be difficult to establish whether the information from the participants is true.
In order to minimize the limitations, some delimitations will be to increase the number of participants in order to widen the scope of the results of the study. In addition, use of more focus groups can prove beneficial to the study.

References

Blumberg B., Cooper D., & Schindler P, 2011. Business Research Methods. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill,.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E, 2011. Business research methods. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Creswell, J. W, 2009. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A, 2012. Research methods for business students. 6th ed. Harlow, England: Prentice Hall.