Creativity and Innovation - the Coffee Shop - Essay Example

THE COFFEE SHOP Name: Course: Tutor: School: City and State: Date: The Coffee Shop Introduction A coffee business is one of the easiest and profitable businesses one can ever think of. This is because is it the third place outside of home and work where one can relax and create the right ambience. However, not coming up with an appropriate business plan for the coffee business can lead to an ultimate downfall. As manageable as it seems, it really requires a lot of time, creativity and investment. One cannot just wake and think of getting a coffee business simply because that is what he/she ought to do. A plan is necessary as it helps one differentiate himself from the competition based on what he or she can afford. A coffee business is a low-transaction business and can require a lot of capital in startup costs. There is money to be made out of a coffee shop, but in order to get it, one must invest serious energy and time in innovating. With a comprehensive business idea, a coffee shop business is outstanding provided that the services offered are operative on a large volume basis. Creativity and Innovation When starting a coffee business, creativity has to be a priority as it might determine the success of the business. Creativity refers to the use of original ideas or imaginations that can be useful in finding solutions to problems, communicating with others and entertaining ourselves and others. Being able to think about the building concept, the designs and people`s choices and prevalence can be a great strategic move towards the achievement of a profitable business. Creativity builds the confident of a business and one is assured of having a premium product to fill a gap in the market (Mumford, M. 2012, 16). Creativity also enables one to carry out an in depth Swot analysis thus making provisions for the threats and weaknesses in order to be able to exploit the existing opportunities. One has to think of unique ways of making a business thrive in the competitive world. For instance, one can think of carving out a space on the event floor of a coffee shop where one can grab a seat and rest, can accommodate students and their books, or even meet new people and socialize with them (Thompson & Choi, H. 2006, 15). Innovation is the act of bringing in new ideas, methods or devices. Innovative ideas in a coffee shop business may involve making the coffee shop a favorable place for teenagers and students. Young people enjoy places likely to create more fun in their lives. Therefore offering services like video games, wifi alongside with internet café may increase sells. Another innovative idea is the use of loyalty cards. There is nothing better than seeing a new customer smile when you give them “a buy four get one free” loyalty cards. One should therefore provide quality cards that will probably look good in a customer`s wallet(Thompson& Choi, H. 2006, 17). This is actually the cheapest way to acquire customers and therefore it should be recommended for all coffee shops. Another way that a coffee shop can be innovative is by offering a variety of major brands and get custom- designed cups to serve people. A good menu is also important to ensure that the customer is spoiled for choices. Think of cold warm seasons; why not offer cold coffee and tea instead. Include things in the menu that go hand-in- hand with coffee. Problem Being Solved and the Creative Solution There are few coffee shops located in the area some of which are far from the institutions. Students often find it hectic to walk to those places to get coffee. This is the main reason as to why this business idea is focused on building a coffee brew shop near the schools. This will give it a competitive advantage as students will no longer have to walk for long hours. Coffee shops rarely make deliveries for students. The new coffee shop will work hand in hand with the schools management to ensure that coffee orders are delivered directly to students. Other consumers can also make orders which can be delivered to their offices. These deliveries will help their clients to invest more time and remain focused on their work (Mumford, M. 2012, 26). The idea is focused on making the coffee shop a middle class café whereby all people can access the services offered. Gaining business popularity is not easy, therefore businesses may take quite a long time picking up(Sternberg, R. 2009, 51). However, this will not be a problem in this case as the idea gives a better and effective solution. The coffee shop will use the social media which is common amongst students to help market their products. Creating a website where by consumers can place orders are a good way to make the shop to get recognized. Adverts on new brews and innovations can also be advertised on the website to ensure that clients stay updated (Mumford, M. 2012, 36). Following a research carried out to investigate how the other cafes employees work, the results of the study showed that some of their staffs were inexperienced. The new coffee shop will focus on recruiting a well experienced staff and offer training to them. Being consistent is one of its main objectives in achieving their goals. If employees carry out their duties well, then it will replicate on the entire coffee shop. They are also geared to creating a friendly relationship with their suppliers and ensure they are the best products(Sternberg, R. 2009, 52). Opportunity being exploited The opportunity being exploited in this case is that coffee shops offer the same services. Therefore, the main goal is to make the shop stand out from the crowd. It is meaningless trying to make an impact as a standard high-street coffee shop when the leading chains have that segment of the market well covered, and can manage to challenge the business with better prices. The business idea is focused on developing unique products and services to give students and other consumers a reason to choose that particular product and leave services offered by coffee shops. The shop will offer a selection of ethically or uncommon -sourced brews, or offer reading materials or other changes to give clients a more pleasant experience than the sterile environments of other coffee shops. Basically, the main issue being emphasized is quality – doing things better, differently and with more care, than a similar high-street coffee shop would (Lindsay, Perkins, & Karanjikar, M. 2009, 38). Creative Culture within an Organization In a creative organizational culture, the employee's organizational norms and values form a synthesis. Employees Performance evaluation plays a slighter role, and the organization recognizes that creativity demands risk - both for the company and the employee. All coffee shops desire to deliver good, innovative and competitive products within a particular time. However, innovation and creativity require time for a comprehensive research and quality time to stay in the process without centering on the product. That calls for motivated employees (Sternberg, R. 2009, 54).Organizations should focus on creating a culture where innovation thrives. When this strength is magnified, then it becomes an aspect of gaining a competitive advantage(Lasrado, F. 2014, 86). Success in prominent innovation has nothing to do with the manager having innovative ideas. However, it has to do with the ways that the leader uses to create a culture where creativity and innovation blooms in every corner. In generating a creative culture in the coffee shop business, owners must be focused on directing how the outcomes will be achieved. Clearly, one of the ways that innovation is attained is by having leaders who make sure that the people involved know the strategic goals and outcome of any objective. By converging on the results and outcomes leaders create a lot of energy for the creative culture process of making it happen. Another way is by promoting multiple sells. A coffee shop can never generate enough capital to pay the bills made from the coffee sales alone. Coffee is usually the key determinant for customers to come to the premises, but they must be satisfied with multiple sales ifthe business must be push through. As a target therefore, coffee should be no more than 9% of the daily sales and double item sales per client transaction means one is getting it about right. Coffee shops should make sure coffee is accompanied by other products such as cookies, muffins and cakes. Being inspired is also a way of crafting a creative culture within an organization. For innovation to happen, one has to feel motivated(Lasrado, F. 2014, 102). Employers should inspire their workforce to give more effort and make an extra mile to achieve the objectives of a project. Other ways are; challenging the status quo by cultivating a healthy creative tension between employers and employees and developing a reciprocal trust. Process and barriers to creativity Barriers to innovation and creativity must be recognized and detached to eradicate obstructions to probable creativity. Breaking the barriers is essentially changing what people believe in and how they behave. The following are the barriers to creativity; Lack of trust and motivation: employees lack the confidence and morale to work as a team. When senior management fails to involve their subordinates in major decision making processes, then they tend to get demotivated in working for the success of a company (Lasrado, F. 2014, 106). Others barriers include poor leadership and innovation, turfs and silos, pressure to give immediate results, bureaucratic policies, lack of tolerance and acceptance of criticism in the conflict, authoritarian and conservatism management, fear and personal biases(attitude, beliefs and values). Summary and recommendation To thrive, all businesses require new ideas and thought which are fresh and innovative. Creativity and innovation go hand-in-hand and one cannot operate without the other. The motive to achieving these notions depends on taking advantage of the creativity of management and staff of all organizational and administrative forces for the occurrence and to apply creativity and innovation. Businesses should also focus on dealing with the barriers that may bar them from achieving success. In creating creative strategies to ensure that innovation and creativity is achieved, the following can be recommended for all businesses -; First, they should re-engineer the culture of the organization to ensure that both the culture and employees behavior express the effectiveness of their work in line with organizational objectives. Secondly, they should offer cultural and education cooperation to ensure that the organization achieves a collective thinking in the ways activities are carried out and lastly, managers should appreciate the creative staff by offering incentives and rewards to motivate and strengthen them. Encouraging workers who have had their motives of innovation and creativity as the driving forces should be a common practice for all business owners. References Lasrado, F., 2014. Sustaining Creativity and Innovation in Organizations: a Tool Kit Employee Suggestion System. Trafford :Demand Pub Lindsay, J. D., Perkins, C. A., & Karanjikar, M., 2009. Conquering innovation fatigue: overcoming the barriers to personal and corporate success. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Mumford, M., 2012. Handbook of organizational creativity. London: Academic Press. Sternberg, R. ,2009. Handbook of creativity. UK: Cambridge University Press. Thompson, L. , & Choi, H., 2006. Creativity and innovation in organizational teams. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Read More