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Sign and date: In my honor, the work presented below is my original, individual work. I
have not worked on this assignment with someone else:

Signature: Cara Crain Date: 1/26/18

Part I

Keywords: coffee, college/university campus, profit, students, and seasonal.

I chose coffee and college/university campus as keywords because they describe my client’s

current situation. I chose profit, students, and seasonal as keywords because they describe my

client’s problem.

Research Objective: To increase knowledge in 100 coffee shops on college campuses of

methods for combating seasonal loss of income and customers within the next nine months.

Research Question: How can coffee shops on college campuses combat the drastic

decrease in customer traffic during school breaks?

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Part II

Cara Crain

JMC 4453 PR Research

Professor: Dr. Katerina Tsetsura

Library / Database Activity

DUE: Jan. 30, 2:59 p.m.

Hello everyone, I am writing this to inform you about some of the research databases and

scholarly articles to use when researching what coffee shops on college campuses can do about

the loss of revenue during breaks when all the students leave. I will include three databases and

two articles that have useful research.

Databases

The first database to consider is EBSCO. EBSCO has a lot of information, which can

easily be narrowed down to specific topics. EBSCO also pulls in articles and resources from

other databases, so you are getting a lot more information per search. This database also has the

most user-friendly search method; researchers can modify or completely change their search

without going back to the database landing page.

The second database is IBISWorld. IBISWorld is a wealth of information about industry

trends, background, and statistics. This information includes demand determinates, key success

factors, and an industry outlook. This database is the best in my opinion, because it compiles all

of the information on an industry in one place. This way, we can compare campus coffee shops

to the industry standard and study what other businesses within that industry are doing if they

face similar challenges.

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The third and final database is ABI/INFORM. This database contains many types of

articles and studies from dissertations to journals. It often contains articles and studies that other

databases do not, thus expanding the reach of our research. I’ve found that this database has quite

a few interesting articles that are at least tangentially related to the research questions we are

looking at.

Research Studies

The two research studies I chose were both from the Institute for Public Relations. The

first is called Understanding Stakeholder Engagement: Faith-holders, Hateholders &

Fakeholders by Vilma Luoma-aho. This study is relevant because it discusses how to best

understand and connect with stakeholders. It also distinguishes between three different types of

stakeholder relationships: the positively engaged faith-holders, the negatively engaged

hateholders, and fakeholders the unauthentic persona produced by Astroturf and algorithms. This

is study is a great resource because it will allow a campus coffee shop that struggles during

breaks to identify and connect with other possible customers.

The second research study is called Corporate Social Responsibility: Three R’s by Robert

L. Heath and Lan Ni. This study looks at how a good reputation can lead to more profits. It

argues that having a good reputation is important to consumers and should be sought after. This

study is relevant because it offers a new method of drawing in customers: social responsibility. If

customers see a company, or in this case, a coffee shop actively involved in an issue they feel

strongly about, they are more likely to visit that shop. The struggling campus coffee shops might

need to look to publics other than students during the breaks, and making themselves relevant to

new publics is the best way to do that.

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References

Heath, Robert L. and Ni Lan. (2009, July, 9) Corporate Social Responsibility: Three R’s.

Institute for Public Relations Online Article. Retrieved from:

http://www.instituteforpr.org/corporate-social-responsibility-three-rs/

Luoma-aho, Vilma. (2015, January, 7) Understanding Stakeholder Engagement: Faith-holders,

Hateholders & Fakeholders. Institute for Public Relations Online Article. Retrieved from:

http://www.instituteforpr.org/understanding-stakeholder-engagement-faith-holders-

hateholders-fakeholders/
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Part III

College campuses are a bustling market for businesses of all sorts, but the dramatic drop

in the number of customers during breaks and holidays can destroy a business if they do not have

a plan for dealing with the sudden decrease in profits.

One of the ways a business, or coffee shop in this case, can increase profit during breaks

is to follow in Starbuck’s footsteps and invest in people in order to increase profits. People are

more willing to spend money at a place where they know the workers are being treated well

(Industrial & Commercial Training , 1997) While it may be difficult to show the connection

between employee benefits and the bottom line conclusively, the circumstantial evidence is

compelling (Industrial & Commercial Training, 1997) Following this thought of increasing profit

through good relations, an experimental study (coffee was the context) indicated that consumers

valued ability over social responsibility when considering product attributes, but valued social

responsibility more than ability when considering consumption experiences (Johnson, Yun Jung

Lee, Minoo Talebi Ashoori, 2018). In short, customers want good quality food and drinks, but

value a company’s reputation and stance on issues.

Another method for increasing profit during breaks is to offer seasonal incentives. For

example, during the summer, a new watermelon-flavored drink can attract customers who are

curious and want to try a new flavor (Soysal and Krishnamurthi, 2012). Having seasonal

markdowns and limited availability make customers more interested in the product and more

willing to buy (Soysal and Krishnamurthi, 2012).

Related to the previous method, is the increased emphasis on the regular introduction of

new products to increase interest and profit. Coffee shops can also introduce new, healthy
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alternatives, as well as expand their current product lines to appeal to more customers (US

Industry, N.D.).

Finally, one of the key success factors for a coffee shop is going to be effective cost

controls (US Industry, N.D.). A few ways for campus coffee shops to do this are to shorten hours

open, close on certain days of the week that historically have been slow, or have fewer

employees working each shift.

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References

Industrial & Commercial Training. (1997) Starbucks - investing in people as a route to profit and

growth. Industrial & Commercial Training 1997, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p137-138. 2p.

Retrieved From:

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=e0a9f5f4-

0fb2-4ac1-a0ea-

b50b8558b9aa%40sessionmgr4010&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN

=18997192&db=bsh

Johnson, Zachary S.; Yun Jung Lee; Minoo Talebi Ashoori. (2018) Brand associations: the value

of ability versus social responsibility depends on consumer goals. Journal of Brand

Management; Basingstoke Vol. 25, Iss. 1, (Jan 2018): 27-37. Retrieved From:

https://search-proquest-

com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/abicomplete/docview/1988771123/3B21058DCB614600PQ/13?a

ccountid=12964

Soysal, Gonca P. and Krishnamurthi, Lakshman (2012) Demand Dynamics in the Seasonal

Goods Industry: An Empirical Analysis. Marketing Science. Mar/Apr2012, Vol. 31 Issue

2, p293-316. 24p. Retrieved From:

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=4f6d3586-

4c0f-4f96-b3a5-

c547bc76313f%40sessionmgr4006&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN

=76506228&db=bsh

US Industry Reports (N.D.) Coffee & Snack Shops Competitive Landscape. IBISWorld.

Retrieved From:
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http://clients1.ibisworld.com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/reports/us/industry/competitivelandscape

.aspx?entid=1973#KSF

US Industry Reports (N.D.) Industry Outlook. IBISWorld. Retrieved From:

http://clients1.ibisworld.com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/reports/us/industry/industryoutlook.aspx

?entid=1973#IO
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Appendix 1

Industrial & Commercial Training. (1997) Starbucks - investing in people as a route to profit and

growth. Industrial & Commercial Training 1997, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p137-138. 2p.

This article gives evidence to support the claim that good people make good brands and

good brands make money using Starbucks large employee benefit package as a case

study.

Johnson, Zachary S.; Yun Jung Lee; Minoo Talebi Ashoori. (2018) Brand associations: the value

of ability versus social responsibility depends on consumer goals. Journal of Brand

Management; Basingstoke Vol. 25, Iss. 1, (Jan 2018): 27-37.

This article simply shows how people value social responsibility in a business. When

thinking about the product itself, consumers will think in terms of how good the product

is, but when they look at a business, consumers think in terms of the experience of getting

the products and value social responsibility.

Soysal, Gonca P. and Krishnamurthi, Lakshman (2012) Demand Dynamics in the Seasonal

Goods Industry: An Empirical Analysis. Marketing Science. Mar/Apr2012, Vol. 31 Issue

2, p293-316. 24p.

This is a study in how to most effectively use seasonal sales. It discusses how best to use

the interest a new product will garner, and what kind of shoppers will buy the product at

different times. For example, the bargain hunters and skeptics will wait until near the end

of a products availability to buy.

US Industry Reports (N.D.) Coffee & Snack Shops Competitive Landscape. IBISWorld.

This is a report on what the coffee shop industry looks like competitively. It discusses the

challenges and threats to coffee chops.

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US Industry Reports (N.D.) Industry Outlook. IBISWorld.

This report is a look at how the industry will change in the future and how coffee shops

can adjust accordingly.

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Report

The research compiled above gives the client a good understanding of the two main

answers to the research question; a good reputation is invaluable and seasonal products can give

a coffee shop an edge over their competitors. It also gives the client a look at the industry as a

whole, and where they fit in. However, more information on the people that remain on a college

campus and how to best connect with them is needed.

College campuses do empty out during breaks, but there are always people there. For

instance, there are students who remain and take intersession courses, professors, staff members,

and visitors to campus. The students who remain will probably already know about and use the

coffee shop, but the professors and staff members are often more willing to visit places

frequented by students during breaks. The breaks are a unique period when shops are more likely

to see new customers and families because of the lack of students. Campus visitors, such as high

school students taking tours, are another large market, especially during the summer. If a shop

can make itself a campus hotspot during the year, visitors may be encouraged to check it out for

themselves.

Each of the aforementioned groups will need a different marketing strategy, which will

need to be researched. Professors and staff members likely already know about the shop, but will

probably need some form of encouragement to visit, like a sale or new product advertised on

campus. Campus visitors, however, will not know about the shop unless informed by someone

who is familiar with campus, like a tour guide.

The trick to surviving and even capitalizing on the dramatic changes on a college campus

during a break is to look to untapped publics. More research on who those publics are and how

best to reach them is the next step to increasing profits during breaks.