Summary
Summary:
This project has students analyzing the Starbucks products, advertising, and experience. Does the Starbucks reality match-up with the Starbucks image?
Students will be able
• To improve their understanding of American business culture
• To examine Starbucks as a cultural icon
• To compare and contrast strengths and weaknesses of the corporation
• To analyze the demographics of Starbucks workers and customers
• To examine Starbucks as a cultural setting (The Third Place)
• To examine the cultural and personal impact of Starbucks marketing, culture, and image on customers.
TIPC Ratings
Ideal/Target: Students determine which areas of their research to focus on in their final product, and also organize and assemble their collected data in completing their authentic task of presenting their research. Students use a variety of tools to interact and display the information collected for this authentic task.
Ideal/Target: Students use texting, email, Google docs, and iCal to organize group meetings. Students use iMovie, Windows Moviemaker, or Prezi.com to create final presentations of research conclusions, data, and interviews. Students communicate and collaborate outside of school, both in person and virtually. Students reflect on communication and collaboration throughout the process and made changes to the questions asked, and edited the video and observations to have a refined display of their opinions.
Ideal/Target: Students select the most effective digital tools for sharing findings, analyze their data in a group to reach a consensus about findings at each location and between locations. They solve potential roadblocks of getting management buy in, interviewing customers, and finding ways to test the Starbucks image and experience. They employ problem solving to determine ways in which Starbucks might improve in order to consistently relay its image to the public, as well as to resolve technological issues with Moviemaker, iMovie, and Prezi with limited assistance from teacher,. They critically analyze and reflect on store observations for the most relevant and pertinent answer to the question “Does the reality of Starbucks live up to its image?”
Ideal/Target: Students synthesize personal experiences and perceptions of Starbucks, with knowledge acquired from the book, web search, documentary, and knowledge acquired using traditional sociological observation tools to study business culture and human interactions within a business. Strategic risks included interviewing store managers and employees, interviewing customers, finding creative ways to try to test the Starbucks image (i.e., ordering from the Secret Menu, ordering a complicated drink, using the restroom facilities to check cleanliness, requesting soy milk or allergy free products). Students reflect on the data gathering process and conveying conclusions in a meaningful and easily accessible way to an audience of peers, while also being creative, and setting goals for how Starbucks could improve/change to meet the demands of an ever changing market.
