1. What is the dilemma faced by Christine Day?

The company's ambition was to become the "world's most recognisable and
respected brand." Vice president Christine Day came up with a plan to invest an
additional $40 million per year in 4,500 shops, which will provide an additional 20
hours of labour per week.

"The idea is to improve speed-of-service and hence increase customer

contentment," Day says, citing data that shows they were not always reaching
customer expectations in terms of satisfaction.

They cannot decide whether to trust customers' views on customer service and its
impact on sales and profitability or dismiss customer views on customer service and
its impact on sales and profitability.
2. The
3. company had an objective of establishing it as the "most recognised and respected
brand in the
4. world" Starbuck's vice president Christine Day had come up with a plan to invest an
additional
5. $40 million annually in the company's 4,500 stores which will allow equivalent of
20hours of
6. labour a week. They are in a dilemma of believing the customers' opinions on
customer service
7. and its impact on sales and profitability

5. How did the target customer change over time?

There has been a paradigm shift in the company's customers, which has not been
incorporated into their SOPs and evaluation criteria.

Research says that new customers are younger, well-educated, and in the lower
income bracket than Starbuck's historical customer profile- the affluent, well-
educated, white-collar female between the ages of 24 and 44.

This new segment visited the store less frequently and had very different perception
of the Starbucks brand.