Navigating Stakeholder Engagement and Permissions in Research Surveys - Insights on Starbucks Case S

I am in the data collection stage of my dissertation and would like to know how I can reach out to Starbucks Corporate office in the US to obtain their permission to administer questionnaires to stakeholders.

Has anybody obtained permission from Starbucks in the past? If so, when and how did you do this?

Simple answer - write to them and ask. However, you will need to present a convincing case as to what you want to know and why. They are running a business, and most of their "information" is proprietary, so you will understand why if your request is denied.

However, if you are planning to talk to Starbucks franchisees in India, then you probably need to be talking to the Master Franchisee for India, not HO in Seattle.

Hi AussieJohn,

Thank you for your suggestion. I will have to write to corporate in Seattle in the US as permission from franchisees will not meet my school's ethics standard.

It's not the franchisees you should speak to, but the Master Franchise holder for India, which I believe is Tata Beverages.

I suspect Seattle will tell you that, but best to check.

Hi AussieJohn,

I followed your advice and wrote them a very detailed and convincing reason, but unfortunately, Seattle responded promptly to decline my request. The issue is that I'm based in the US, and I don't know how Tata Beverages could give me permission to survey consumers in India. The geographical location is different and, therefore, will not represent a proper sampling population of respondents.

Thank you, as always.

Sorry, I wrongly assumed you were in India. Your profile does not state your location.

Who exactly are you planning to survey? You've mentioned consumers, franchisees, and stakeholders. If Starbucks has expressly said NO to your requests to survey franchisees and other stakeholders allied to the business, then that is that. If it is consumers you want to talk to, then obviously, you cannot survey them on Starbucks premises as it is private property. You would need to find another way.