5) Use IT in your solutions

a) Environemental scanning: Mentioned in #4, visiting area coffee shops to keep up with the competition. One trend I have noticed is that people like bringing their dogs EVERYWHERE with them. Have a dog friendly coffee shop that offers water bowls, dog treats...Also cater to families, have outdoor seating and cheap entertainment for children like coloring books, drinks for children other than coffee...All while having a seperate (quiet) area that will be for people that are actually trying to study.
b) Competitive advantages: One thought would be to have an iphone/smart phone app so people can place their orders and keep a credit card on file to make ordering easy. Offer coupons through the app as well.
c) first mover advantages: I'm thinking that we may want to go more with the close second group so that we are not spending a great deal of money on an idea that may not work. Once an idea seems to work, we can build upon that without investing a lot of money.

Determine a strategy for addressing your employees concerns, building loyalty amoung customers and remaining competitive

a) Employee concerns: hold weekly meetings to keep up with concerns and to address them in a timely manner. Have a suggestion box so that employees can address concerns anonymously. Have employees list the most important aspects of their jobs so that management understands each employees priorities. Have an "open door policy" so that employees feel comfortable coming to management with questions and concerns.
b) Loyalty: have frequent customers cards offering a free cup of coffee after paying for 10 cups. Keep an excel file of customer information including all the information that grandpa knows about each customer. Offer free coffee for customer birthdays. Post pictures on a bulletin board so that customers feel special.
c) Remaining competitive: should have a lot to do with customer loyalty since initially we won't have the money to invest in top of the line equipment or technology. Constantly visiting area coffee shops see what the competition is offering. Holding focus groups to get feedback from the community.

Determine which of Porter's Three Generic strategies you will use as you rebuild the Broadway Cafe for the 21st century

I would use the cost leadership strategy. We can market our coffee shop as selling quality low cost coffee which would work with our geographic location next to WFU. College students typically won't spend a ton of money on coffee and may appreciate a low cost option compared to the Starbucks that if offered on campus. Keeping with the low cost model will help us with startup considering that our funds for development will be limited.

2) Be sure to highlight entry barriers, switching costs and substitute products

1) Perform a detailed Porter's Five Forces analysis

a) Buyer Power: Customers have low bargaining power since they typically can't bargain for the price of their coffee but there are numerous coffee shops in the area. Overall there is high buyer power.
b) Supplier Power: low because there are many suppliers available giving us multiple options to chose from
c) Threat of Substitutes: High since there are multiple coffee shops in Winston Salem offering our primary product: coffee. Starbucks, Crankies, Panera Bread, Gas stations...
d) Rivalry Among Existing Competitors: High, refer to c.
e) Threat of New Entrants: High since start up costs for coffee shops are relatively low.

Marketing Campaign

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