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Stakeholder engagement in company change processes alleviates concerns that could arise about future performance. Stakeholder assessment is a critically significant precedent to the actual management, where change movers must identify all parties to be affected and provide adequate briefings and preparations for the new ideas. This paper analyzes Starbucks change process, highlighting the key stakeholders involved and the possible concerns the company must have had to address. The primary argument is that an organizations strategic leadership must manage stakeholders with the same energy as the change process to ensure operational success.
Starbuckss Starbucks Pickup was a change process so drastic that possible stakeholder concern was about the future of store retail. According to Bariso (2020), Starbucks announced the closure of 400 retail stores in the next eighteen months from June 2020. The most affected stakeholders were brand franchisers and regular customers of the 400 stores. Although Starbucks announced an alternative to in-store purchases for the company products, not all customers could manage a smooth transition to the pickup services without adequate briefing on the new platform. Bariso (2020) detailed that most customers used the Starbucks store to meet friends, work online, or hang out. Starbucks announced a change process destined to destroy several years of emotional connection between store operators and their regular customers.
Both customers and store owners might have been concerned about the regular meetings and physical connections that promoted loyalty to the brand. Store owners must have been worried about the future of their employees, whereas customers about the inconvenience of finding new places for hangouts, meetings, or work now that Starbucks stores provided free Wi-Fi (Bariso, 2020). Communication is the most effective tool for promoting buy-ins during the change process. The Starbucks case needed a value proposition to alleviate stakeholder concerns about lifestyle changes. Therefore, the company was supposed to provide clear communications early enough, pairing the affected areas with compensated value to avoid losing customers.
In summary, stakeholder engagement in the company change process requires thorough mapping to identify the most affected group and address their concerns accordingly. One possible challenge Starbucks could have faced customer shifts to other brands with physical stores for meeting convenience and hangouts. Although the company could gain stay-at-home clients who prefer pickups, adequate stakeholder briefing with other value propositions could provide alternatives that promote customer loyalty.
References
Bariso, J. (2020). Starbucks just announced a drastic change. What every company can learn from it. Inc. Africa. Web.
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