Case Study of Entrepreneurship. Case Study of Starbucks.

For the topic, you can choose one of below:
a). Analyze and learn the business model or core features of Starbucks under the background of
coffee industry/food and beverage industry
b).Based on the digitization of coffee industry/food and beverage industry, analyze the
digitization of Starbucks
For that essay, you need to collect the useful datas, anything is fine, but you need at least two
sets of the datas to show that i make the efforts on it.
I will upload the specific instruction of the essay later.
Also please add a content in the first page.

Sample Structure – not set in stone, but just an example of a structure and also a way to help you organise your content and thought process

1. Title Page. …………………………………………………………………………
2. Abstract …………………………………………………………………………….
3. Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………………..
4. Contents Page…………………………………………………………………….
5. Introduction……………………………………………………………………….
6. Literature Review. ……………………………………………………………..
7. Research Methodology. ………………………………………………………
8. Findings / Results / Data Analysis. ……………………………………….
9. Discussion. ………………………………………………………………………..
10. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………….
11. References…………………………………………………………………………
12. Appendices……………………………………………………………………………….

Your Abstract (Write this last. Usually approx. 250 – 350 words)

• Hints as to what to include in your abstract:
  • Aim and objectives: What are the main themes, ideas or areas of theory being investigated?
  • Boundaries: What is the context and background to this dissertation? In what areas of theory or business practice should the reader concentrate their attention?
  • Methodology: What was/were the main method(s) employed to generate the results?
  • Results: What were your main findings?
  • Conclusions: What are the main conclusions that you arrive at when viewing the entire dissertation?
  • Recommendations: (if appropriate) What solutions do you offer in answer to the problems posed in the research objectives?

Acknowledgements (if appropriate)

• Acknowledges all help received in writing the dissertation. Concentrate on those who have given direct assistance.
• Gives an assurance that the dissertation is your own work.

Contents Page:

The contents page should list the chapter headings, appendices, references and the pages on which they can be found.

 Introduction

The dissertation should be divided into chapters and sections appropriate to the topic and type of dissertation chosen. The following elements are typical of the traditional dissertation, but keep your chosen method in mind when structuring.

The Introduction to the dissertation should set out the background to the research study and address the following areas:

The context in which the research took place

• What is the background, the context, in which the research took place?
• Why is this subject or issue important?
• Who are the key participants and/or ‘actors’ in the area under investigation?
• Are there important trends or pivotal variables of which the reader needs to be made aware?
• A clear and succinct statement of the aims and objectives that the dissertation is going to
• Have you presented a clear and unambiguous exposition of your research aim, the objectives you will address to meet this aim and your research questions?

The reasons why this study was carried out

• Was this study undertaken for example in order to test some aspect of professional or business practice or theory or framework of analysis?
• Was the research carried out to fulfil the demands of a business organisation?

The way the Dissertation is to be organised

You should write your dissertation with the idea in mind that the intended reader and reviewer may have some shared understanding of the area being investigated, but probably not. Underpinning concepts and arguments still need to be included as otherwise the depth of research will be compromised. In this way, you will not be tempted to make too many implicit assumptions, i.e. by making the erroneous assumptions that the reader has your degree of knowledge about the matters in question or can follow, exactly, your thought processes without your spelling them out. It should be a document which is ‘self-contained’ and does not need any additional explanation, or interpretation, or reference to other documents in order that it may be fully understood.

This short final section of the Introduction should tell the reader what topics are going to be discussed in each of the chapters and how the chapters are related to each other.  In this way, you are, in effect, providing the reader with a ‘road map’ of the work ahead. Thus, at a glance, they can see (1) where they are starting from, (2) the context in which the journey is taking place, (3) where they are going to end up, and (4) the route which they will take to reach their final destination. Such a ‘map’ will enable the reader to navigate their way through your work much more easily and appreciate to the maximum what you have done.

Literature Review:

The main reasons for the inclusion, in a Masters’ dissertation, of a literature review section are:

• To present and to analyse, in a critical manner, that part of the published literature which is relevant to your research topic and which acts as the basis for a fuller understanding of the context in which you are conducting your research; thus helping the reader to a more rounded appreciation of what you have Remember critical does not mean looking at the negatives but forming an evaluation.
• To act as a backdrop against which what you have done in the remainder of the dissertation may be analysed and critically evaluated so as to give the reader the opportunity to assess the merit of your writing, analytical and research
• To show that not only have you discovered and reported what you have found to be relevant in the literature search, but that you have understood it and that you are able to analyse it in a critical
• To show that your knowledge of the area of interest is detailed enough that you are able to identify gaps in the coverage of the topic; thus justifying the reason(s) for your
• To show that you know what the key variables, trends and ‘actors’ are in the environment of your study, i.e. you show that you know what the important issues are that need to be
• To enable readers to be able to measure the validity of your choice(s) of research methodology, the appropriateness of the process by which you  analyse your results, and whether or not your findings are congruent with  the accepted research which has gone

Such published material may be drawn from all, or a combination of, textbooks, journal articles, conference papers,  reports, case studies, the Internet, magazine features or newspaper articles.

Remember that your literature review should lead and justify the research objectives and questions of your dissertation. Your literature review should not just be a catalogue of authors, frameworks and ideas but should attempt to introduce a critical evaluation of those authors work.

Research Methodology.

You should begin the Research Methodology chapter by stating, again, the research objectives of the project. This will enable the reader to make an assessment as to the validity of your chosen research methodology.

This chapter is that part of the dissertation where you have the opportunity to justify to the reader the process by which the research questions, which were derived by an analysis of the relevant literature, were answered. It is not sufficient to say, for example, “suitable respondents were sampled using a  quota sampling technique and then surveyed using a postal questionnaire” and  then leave it at that. It might well be the case that, given the problem(s) to be  investigated, such a choice of research methods is entirely appropriate.  However, if you have not taken the opportunity to justify your research choices to a reader they could be correct in assuming that you have, by chance, merely guessed at what would work and, more by luck than judgement, arrived at the ‘correct’ solution to the problem.

The term ‘methodology’ does not just mean method, but also the governing philosophy behind the methods employed

The chapter on research methodology must, painstakingly argue for, and  justify each, decision that is taken when arriving at the way in which the  research is to be organised. Every time that you, the researcher, have to make  a choice from a number of options, you must state what each of these are, why  you made the choice you did, and why you rejected those not used.

The conclusion of this chapter should provide a summary of the main points that have been covered. The conclusion should also direct the reader as to how the contents of this chapter link in with the contents of the next chapter, your findings.

Findings / Results / Data Analysis.

This chapter presents the evidence and/or results of primary research which you have undertaken. Depending upon your subject area this can be in the form of detailed quantitative models, hypothesis testing to some basic analysis using  basic descriptive statistics or qualitative techniques dealing with structured  content analysis, textual analysis, to case study descriptions.

The main part of the chapter is the presentation of the data that you obtained.  Even projects of relatively moderate dimensions will generate a large amount of data which has to be considered. This data must be organised in a logical  and coherently ordered whole so that your thought processes and  interpretation are clear to the reader.

Whatever form of data analysis has been undertaken, it must be accomplished with care and attention to detail, as should the way in which the results are  presented. Nothing is guaranteed to frustrate a reader more than to have to plough their way through an arid mass of tables, figures and statistics. Better by far to describe in an accessible manner (which does not mean that you should talk down to the reader) what the research has uncovered and to include only  the most pertinent figures as evidence of your findings.

Graphs, diagrams, pie-charts etc. are all useful ways of presenting research  results; they are an imaginative way of ‘breaking up’ solid blocks of text – they  let a little ‘light’ into the body of the text as long as they are relevant and  illustrate your points. Keep your review to those items which are relevant to your research question and not just everything I found out.

There will be problems in the execution of any research project and their occurrence should be brought to the attention of the reader. Without stating them, one of the essential elements of the context in which the research took place will be missing.

Not all dissertations contain quantitative data. In many situations, students will  have made extensive use of qualitative research techniques such as focus  groups and/or in-depth unstructured interviews. While quantitative data lends  itself to graphs, tables and so on, qualitative data, and the way it is presented poses particular challenges for students. As ever, your objective should be based  on the belief that the data must be presented in such a manner as to make it  easy for the reader to follow the logic of the analysis.

The analysis of qualitative data should be based on the research questions and  issues that you explored during your fieldwork. For instance, you may have  addressed six or seven critical questions in a series of interviews. Each of these  questions should be examined separately, rather than describing each focus  group in turn. This provides a degree of logical flow and development to the  analysis. In addition, it is advisable to focus on the points of agreement and  disagreement that emerged during the interviews. This should be supported  with relevant quotations from the transcripts of the interviews. You should  avoid lengthy quotations, unless they are of critical importance. However, short  excerpts enrich the reader’s understanding of the issues and provide you with  the opportunity to shed a clearer insight on the topic.

Many students make the mistake of providing a very superficial, descriptive  analysis of qualitative data. This does not allow you to demonstrate that the  research you undertook was of a substantive nature. Tables can also be included that reflect the respondent’s overall attitudes, perceptions and views  about the themes.

You are not required to include all the transcripts of interviews, surveys or data  sheets. Only include the summarised data in the main body of the dissertation.  Appendixes can be used to show sample documents or more detail.

In the case of company projects you may need to include some brief outline  about the company and its activities. Again keep these comments focused on  the topic area and not just a broad and general description of everything you  know about the organisation.

Discussion.

In the introduction to the dissertation you described the context of the research. In the literature survey you analysed the work of previously published authors and derived a set of questions that needed to be answered to fulfil the objectives of this study. In the research methodology section you showed the reader what techniques were available, what their advantages and disadvantages were, and what guided you to make the choice you did. In the results section, you present to the reader the outcome of the research exercise.

The introduction of this chapter reminds the reader what, exactly, were the research objectives. Your review of the literature and your evaluation of the various themes, issues and frameworks helped you to develop a more specific  set of research questions. In essence, your analysis of the data that you have collected from your fieldwork should provide answers to these questions. You should, as a matter of priority, focus attention on data that is directly relevant to the research questions. You should avoid the mistake of including analysis that might be interesting in a general way, but is not linked to the original direction of the dissertation.  The introduction should also explain how the results are to be presented.

This is the heart of the dissertation and must be more than descriptive.  This chapter develops analytic and critical thinking on primary results and analysis with reference to theoretical arguments grounded in the literature review. You should try to highlight where there are major differences and similarities from the literature or between different groups. Where a model or framework of analysis has been used or is being developed you should highlight the main relationships as well as explaining the reason and significance behind features or decisions being discussed.

Conclusions.

Here you will bring together the work of the dissertation by showing how the initial research plan has been addressed in such a way that conclusions may be formed from the evidence of the dissertation. No new material or references should be placed here. The conclusions should make a statement on the extent to which each of the aims and objectives has been met. You should bring back your research questions and state clearly your understanding of those questions.  Be careful not to make claims that are not substantiated from the evidence you have presented in earlier chapters.

If you are undertaking a company project based around a business issue do not confuse recommendations for the company with conclusions. If you want to include a list of recommendations, then do so in a separate short chapter. The conclusions address the wider understanding of the issue you have been studying.

You should include a short sub section on any suggestions for further research in this area in the future.  There should also be a short statement of the limitations of the research. Often  as a single case study or limited range of companies you cannot really claim  that your research holds for all companies. However, by adopting a rigorous approach to your literature review and methods which have validity and can be repeated you can make a reasonable but limited claim that your conclusions should be taken seriously.

References:

All references used in writing the dissertation (whether direct quotations or  paraphrasing) should be included in a reference list/bibliography, compiled in  alphabetical order by author. The university  system for listing references should have been explained to you and/or is available via the university dissertation guidelines.

Appendices:

Appendices may be used to provide relevant supporting evidence for reference but only use if you feel necessary and appropriate. You may wish to include in appendices, evidence which confirms the originality of your work or illustrates points of principle set out in the main text, questionnaires, and interview guidelines. Only subsidiary material should be included in appendices. Do not assume that Appendices will be read by Examiners in detail.

NOTE: Case Study Method

Depending on the depth of your primary case study, you’ll need to decide if you should supplement this with additional cases or summaries of groups of case studies in order to have a more meaningful data sample.  If you only use one primary case, then make sure you go into enough depth and draw on the meaningful aspects that can be applied to your business idea.