Research design is used to provide the researcher with the most accurate framework to pursue the research successfully. It ensures the systematic approach through which the research project is going to be completed. Research design is interlinked with some other essential aspects, too. For this research, the researcher implemented a semi-structured interview with the managers and some of the employees of the coffee shops in China. The interview was adopted to perceive the organizational structures of the Chinese coffee brands and how this structure has influenced the innovative traits if the employees of the coffee brands. Therefore, this research has adopted a descriptive design to interpret the research issue. The descriptive design helps the researcher to describe the most accurate aspects of the situation, persons, or events. Additionally, this research design enables the researcher to receive an in-depth corporate perspective. This has also helped the researcher to accumulate data from a vast range of participants concentrating on the research issue (Atmowardoyo, 2018). Hence, this was the most suitable and standard methodology for this particular research. Moreover, the descriptive design has helped the researcher to collect valid and reliable data from the interviewees who are expert and experienced in this organization.

3.2 Sampling/Participants

Research sampling or the participants are the most vital components of a research project. The successful conclusion of the research depends entirely on the sampling or participants (Robertson and Sibley, 2018). For the qualitative research, this researcher has preferred to stay focused on small samples. The interviewed have been selected by the researcher according to their awareness and ability to interpret the research issue. The researcher conducted a total of 10 interviews with the employees and managers of the Chinese local coffee brands namely Nestle, Starbucks, SaraLee, Kraft Foods, and Massino Zanetti. The researcher used purposive sampling for this research as the participants were supposed to interpret the issue most accurately. The researcher ensured that the interviews were systematic, reproducible, credible, and transparent to the utmost level. For this research, the researcher interviewed employees of the above-mentioned coffee brands as well as the store managers of the coffee shops. All the interviewees were having management experience as well as working experience in the local coffee brands of China. With the help of a friend, the researcher was able to introduce himself with the interviewees.

3.3 Methods of Data Collection

For this particular research, the researcher has adopted a qualitative data collection that has helped him to receive a credible and reliable research conclusion. The researcher has implemented the semi-structured interview as the primary sources and the literary articles as the secondary sources. In this regard. Through the semi-structured interview, the researcher arranged the interview sessions through which the interviewees had to follow a structured list of questionnaires. The interviewees were asked several open-ended questions related to the research issue. Ten interviewees were either the store managers or the employees of the local coffee brands of China. The interviewer determined 30 minutes for each interview. All the interviewees were priorly informed by the interviewer through email and all the interviews were done through WeChat voice call.

3.4 Data Analysis

The data analysis was done through three stages namely interviewing, observing, and reporting. These stages are the most critical phase of the research as these require accuracy to support the research findings. For analyzing the qualitative data, the researcher utilized Windows 10 with the support of the SPSS software. Also, with the utilization of the Gioia coding, the researcher has drawn the most accurate and valid conclusion. Additionally, several analytical activities were done with the help of the Microsoft Excel tool. Also, the researcher adopted the discourse analysis method to interpret the issue more systematically. The interaction with the interviewees revealed several aspects of the organizational structure of the Chinese local coffee brands and how these structures influence the employee motivation of those brands. Discourse analysis helped the researcher interpret the issue effectively with the help of social interaction (Johnstone, 2018).

3.5. Ethical Consideration

While pursuing the research, the researcher ensured that all ethical considerations were maintained accordingly. The researcher took a prior appointment with the interviewees with email and also ensured that the interviewees were allowed to discontinue with the questionnaire whenever they wished. The literary sources were cited authentically in the final research paper and all the interviewees were provided with a copy of the questionnaire session. Additionally, the researcher ensured that the accurate data would remain secured and safe to the researcher only and after the completion of the research, the data would be destroyed to avoid further misinterpretation.

3.6. Chapter Summary

Research methods is the most pivotal part of a particular research project. This helps the researcher to complete the research within time and systematically creating a conceptual framework of the tasks. For this particular research, the researcher has adopted the qualitative data collection method with the help of descriptive design and discourse analysis. Along with the advanced software data analysis tool, the researcher has drawn the most accurate conclusion.

Chapter: 4 Findings

4.1 Overview

The coffee industry is a rapidly growing industry in the Chinese market. The country has more than 3,000 shops of Starbuck. The data of this study is collected from the interview of the employees of this industry. This study provides the current situation of the coffee industry in this country. This study includes the competition of the organization, motivations of the employees, and the problems of this industry in this country.

4.2 Findings

4.2.1 Current Situation of Chinese Coffee Market

The current condition of the Chinese market is a positive position from time to time because of the competition in the coffee market in this country. The competition of the market is divided into two categories. They are benign and malignant. The benign business of this market is the global advancing solution for the business, which provides an accurate solution for the business and the trend of this business market. The Starbucks of this country has a model for the autonomous. It helps them to order faster and customer satisfaction is high. This company introduced APP software. It is based on the different segments of the customer. This software takes a few minutes for the processor to take 10 minutes if it is slowed. They launched Alipay at the beginning of 2019, which helps to manage the membership of the customer concurrently. This software is associated with WeChat. It helps to retain the customer of this industry in this country. This country is the largest growing market in this industry. This country has a market growth rate of 5 % to 9% per year. The market of this country has the largest segment the volume of the market is more than $7 million in 2019. This country is expected to become the biggest market of this industry in the upcoming years. This country has more than 3,000 Starbucks coffee shops.

4.2.2 Competition of Coffee Industry in Chinese Market

The pricing factor of the coffee of the small stores is a specialty in the coffee marking. Starbucks, the New Cloths, and the Koscar are in the war for the pricing of the coffee. The average price of the coffee was $15. The price has increased significantly. The new price of coffee in this country is $20 to $27. The people of this country are loved to buy the coffee very. Therefore, these companies have a large number of customer segments in this country. The structure of the coffee industry is centralized. The stores of this country do not have systematic training for the employees. The stores are followed by the fixed model of this industry in this country. They have followed this model and it trains the employees accordingly. It helps to save the cost of the general speed. The stores focus on the efficiency of the employees but not in the quality of the coffee. The main disadvantage of this model is the quality of the coffee. The employees of this industry do not have sufficient knowledge about the quality of the coffee. The companies of this country save the cost of every of aspect of the business of this industry in this country.

4.2.3 Organizational Structure of this industry in Chinese Market

Organizations of this industry in the business market of China are followed by the centralized system. The decision-making power has the front desk and the back office of the organizations of this industry. The front desk is making the decisions for the stores of the organizations and the back offices are making the decisions for the business market of the organization in this country. The back office is responsible for the market of the business region of this country. The decisions are business activities are made with the help of the regional manager then the head of the various department of the organization in this industry. The decision-making process is transferred from the bottom to top approach then it comes from the top to bottom approach of this industry according to the interviewer. The organization has a chain all over this country. This managerial approach has the advantage, which it can concentrate on the entire company. It overcomes the messy management of the chain stores of the organization of this industry. The reward system of the organization in this industry helps to improve the awareness of the sale on the employees. It helps to enhance innovation from the employees of the organization. This system helps increase the overall sale of the organization.

4.2.4 Motivation for the Employee to Innovate

Many people in this country drink coffee from Starbucks. This company has a good brand image in this industry, which is an advantage for this company in this country. The people of this country do not like to drink coffee because of its bitterness. The people of this country prefer the sweet taste in the coffee. Therefore, they drink sugary coffee which good for the business in this country. The coffee of this country needs to change the taste according to the customer of this industry. The taste of the coffee needs to be lighter and it needs to be adjusted slightly according to the customer of this country. It is considered the innovation from the employees of the organization of this industry. The centralized system has the advantage and the disadvantage of the innovation of the employees. The new ideas and the action for innovation have the disadvantage of the implementations. The motivation of the employees for innovation is depended on the attitude and abilities. The reward mechanism can motivate the employees for innovative ideas. The sales of the company have the objective to achieve. The employees are needed to achieve the objective effectively. The management of the organization needs to reward the employees accordingly to motivate for innovative ideas.

4.2.5 Development of the Coffee Industry in the Chinese Market

The general thing in this market of this industry is the price is high for the coffee. The demand of the customer is significantly increasing from time to time. The other stores of the coffee are more affordable for the customer in this country. The service for the customer of the small stores in this country still needs to improve for the satisfaction of the demand of the customer. Organizations need to develop the authority of the store manager for the operations of the business. The training and the requirement for the partners are actually standardizing the store and it helps to the betterment of the food safety. The formal management of the store needs to develop. It provides better customer service, which is beneficial for the business of the organization in this country. The innovation of the employees needs to be developed. The management of the organization encourages the thinking pattern of the employees which the heart of the employee for the work. The effective leadership, which is not biased, motivates the employees of the organization for innovative ideas. The demand for coffee in this country is high for high-level employees. The lower level employees only consume the coffee when they actually needed. The consumption level of coffee is low in this country.

4.2.6 Organization affects Innovation Behavior of the Employees

The coffee is not for the people of this country only. The worker needs coffee as well. The domestic demand for coffee in this country is low but the potential of the growth of this industry is high in this country. Good development and promotion is the environment of the entire market. The coffee has a part in this industry, which is dominated by the milk and tea in this country. The organization can affect the innovation behavior of the employees in many ways. The organization of this industry provides the resources for the employees, which helps to build personal commitment depending on the goal of the organization. The commitment from the organization is the maintenance of the relationship with the employees and provides them the purpose of the work. The innovative behavior of the employees is depended on the leadership style of the management. The motivation and communication help to provide the atmosphere for the innovation of the employees in the organization. The employees of the organization need to think freely and communicates with the other members of the team in the organization. The trusted relationship between the employees provides the experience from the learning and the technical knowledge of the employees. It helps to enhance the innovative ideas of the employees in an organization.

4.2.7 Advantage and Issues of the Coffee Industry in the Chinese Market

Innovation of this market in this industry has a problem. The maximum store in this market is the chain store. The innovation is coming from the head office of these stores to the management of the stores. It includes the innovation for the product and the marketing of the product. There is no such way to control the behavior of the organization. The coffee consumption a level per capita is increased in recent times compared to past data. This market has a large number of small and medium-sized organizations. The recent growth rate is significantly high in this industry in this country. The specialization degree of the organization is higher as well. It is the current scenario of this industry in this market. The education of the talents of the professional, which includes the rapid improvement in professionalism and it, provides the better direction of this industry. There are many products related to this industry has a large number of ongoing innovation with the upgrading market of this country. The operation management of the organization has updated the performance, which provides a better direction for the business in this country. The bad direction can affect negatively the profitability of this industry, which can be up to 30%.

4.2.8 Innovation of the Coffee Industry in Chinese Market

Innovation behavior of employees of this organization is divided into two categories. The innovative idea of an employee and it goes for the practice are the two categories for the innovation in this business market. These categories are needed to meet and it is considered as the innovative behavior of the employee of an organization. The companies of this industry are focused on innovation for the taste of the coffee. The innovation is the market demand of this country. The market of this industry is continuously growing and developing in recent times in this country. Innovation is not only for the product. It includes leadership as well. The management of the organization leads to the development of the product. The management of the organization trains its employees for the gradual development of this industry. This is the development model for the organization in this industry, which is similar to the innovation according to the changing environment. The power of the decision marking is on the high-level management of the organization in the centralized model and another system is the formalized system for the decision-making. The management has a large number of regulations that guide for the industry in this country. The behavior of the employee is the power of the integration and they need to communicate freely for the effective development of the organization in this country.

4.2.9 Problems of the organizational structure for Innovation

There are many problems with the organizational structure in the innovation of the product of this industry in this country. The innovative ideas are entirely depended on the culture of the organization. The management of the organization does not eager to change the product once it developed. The leadership is the problem of the innovation of this industry in this country. Effective leadership can successfully develop the product with a high amount of innovation. The lack of strategic and objective can change the result of the taste of the coffee. Organizations need to have a clear structure for the innovation of this industry in this country. The employees need to have sufficient knowledge about the coffee, process, and the objective of the organization.

4.3 Summary

The coffee industry in this market is the fastest growing industry. The organizations of this industry in this market use the centralized method for business operations. The higher management of the organization does the decision-making process. The completion of this industry in this market is high. Starbucks and other companies are in the pricing war. The innovation taste is crucial in this market. Therefore based on the above study it is clear that the local brand of the organizational structure motivates its employees for the innovation.

Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1 Organizational Structure of the Chinese Local Coffee Brands

Starbucks is the leading coffee brand in China. It has implemented a unique organizational model that the competitors feel hard to imitate. This distinguished organizational structure has strengthened the profitability of Starbucks. It concentrates entirely on the customer-centrism and keeps changing the structure according to the consumer preferences (Neilson and Wang, 2019). Also, the coffee brands of China prefer to follow the centralized structure while the stores have a fixed model to train the employees. Also, unified and convenient management has accelerated the profitability of these coffee brands to a great extent. The coffee stores focus on the employee motivation approach by proving the employees with rewards and incentives according to their performances. The organizations have been capable of aligning the business obligations with the corporate mission to deliver the best organizational performance. However, the coffee industry in China needs to develop and promote the organizational structure more strategically to gain more productivity and growth. Also, pricing is one of the most significant drawbacks for the coffee stores in China. The local coffee brands keep on competing with one another in this regard. Quality is another vital component that is creating more awareness among the coffee brands of this country in the recent years. Product and quality innovation are the two key areas that the organizations are striving to enhance. Another crucial aspect of the organizational structure of the coffee brands depend on the decision-making power of the senior management. Determining a set of policies and guidelines, the coffee brands have been able to survive for long in the Chinese business market (Jia, Gosling and Witzel, 2019).

5.2 Factors Influencing the Organizational Structure of These Coffee Brands

Several factors influence the Chinese coffee brands. Among them, the most vital aspect is the consumer behavior. To keep pace with the customer’s changing preferences, the coffee brands keep on renovating their organizational structure. Also, the social, political, economic, and environmental aspects are influencing the organizational structure of the Chinese coffee brands to a great extent. Moreover, the increasing competition in the domestic and foreign brands is also becoming a prevalent factor that influence the organizational structure of the coffee industry (Cha and Seo, 2018). To acquire the highest market revenue, the competitive brands keep on changing their pricing, quality, and infrastructure to offer the customers the most affordable and an excellent quality of coffee as well as a relaxing environment in the stores. Pricing has also been an essential factor to evaluate the organizational structure. Moreover, to attain sustainable growth in the domestic as well as in the foreign markets, most of the coffee brands of China have adopted the top to bottom organizational structure where the decision-making power is in the hands of the senior management only. The drinking habits of the Chinese people has also initiated the demand for renovation of the organizational structure. Moreover, the constantly increasing demand for coffee in China has given rise to changing organizational structure, too. Also, the rising medium-sized coffee stores have accelerated the number of specialized people in the coffee industry of China while the professionals are constantly improving their ability to enrich their potential regarding this industry. All these aspects have been influencing the organizational structure in China (Kim et al., 2018).

5.3 Influence of the Factors on the Innovative Employee Behavior

The above-mentioned factors have influenced the innovation behavior of the employees in a manifold way. The strict organizational structure and standard management model lead to the employee’s innovation skill to the utmost level. The growth and productivity of the coffee brands are dependable on the employee behavior to a great length. Therefore, the management constantly strives to keep the employees upgraded and trained with the innovation. The regular organizational structure has led to inhibit the innovation behavior of the employees. Also, many of the coffee brands have provided some internal APPs for stimulating the employees’ innovative behavior. The top to bottom organizational structures have enabled the organizations to implement new ideas for the employees and then execute among the employees accordingly (Fauzia et al., 2017). Also, this increases the obedience capability of the employees that in turn helps them to adapt to the innovation more effectively. The centralized organizational structure has initiated the utmost innovative behavior of the employees. Also, the management of the majority of the coffee brands of China keeps on motivating the employees with rewards and bonuses that encourage them to enrich their potential including the innovative behavior of them.

Chapter 6: Conclusion

6.1 Limitation

Coffee is the most growing industry in the Chinese market. Many new coffee shops are opened every day. Many of them are going bankrupt in a short period. It is the biggest problem of this industry in this country. The investors of this industry do not have the proper and sufficient knowledge about the coffee. It leads to the unclear and position for the investment because it has a lack of scientific and objective data (An and Zhang, 2019). The foreign companies of this industry in this market fail to gather better data about the market research and the taste of the people of this country. These are the main problems of this industry in this country.

6.2 Recommendation

There are many ways to develop this industry in the Chinese market. The companies of this industry need to understand the different behaviors and the culture of the people of this country. It helps to launch the product successfully of the organization. The small and medium companies of this industry need to understand the taste of the people of this country. The taste is different in the various region of this country. The managers need to understand the cultural differences to provide the coffee according to the customer’s taste. The managers of the companies of this industry need to enhance the quality of the product and it needs to find the other market segment of this industry in this country (Pang and Li, 2018). It helps to enhance the profitability and the innovation of the small and medium companies of this industry. The small and the medium companies of this industry needs to build a complete and accurate database about the coffee related data which provides the overview of the value chain of this industry for the stable development of this market.

6.3 Conclusion

With the increasing competition in the contemporary business market in China, the organizations keep on changing their structure frequently. Each coffee brand of China maintains a unique organizational structure to sustain the market revenue. However, most of the coffee brands are now embracing the centralized organizational structure and a top to bottom design that help them develop their productivity as well as improving the innovative behaviors of the employees. Most of the coffee brands prefer customer-centrism and concentrate on enriching the product quality with the changing preference of the consumers. Additionally, the senior management of each coffee brand consistently motivates the employees and leads them towards attaining the utmost innovative behavior. However, the increasing rate of coffee consumption by the Chinese people has initiated the growth of several small and medium-sized coffee stores and the rise of such stores can affect the entire coffee industry negatively. Without proper leadership and renovated organizational structure, the collapse in the coffee industry will be witnessed soon if not taken appropriate measures immediately. The centralized organizational structure may lead to employee turnover in the industry. Therefore, to sustain domestic as well as international profitability, the Chinese coffee brands should focus on better integration of the organizational structure and employee satisfaction.

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