In a story that is getting more notice, the CEO of Starbucks in a memo, observes that Starbucks is losing its focus, or perhaps, soul. In this Forbes posting, a consultant discusses the importance of what a being about your brand.
I see a current ad asks whether you want a car, or a Porsche? Now that says it all about a product. This relates back to the TQM experience that Deming describes concerning customer satisfaction. Now a Consumer Reports survey has MCD coffee as better, and cheaper, yikes, than Starbucks. Rolex, Chanel, Armani, no dilution there. Indeed, TCU has made the decision to limit its size to about 7500 students. At last report, Rice was not holding classes in its football stadium.
I believe the universities are guilty ofthe same thing. Now universities routinely promsie that graduates will make more money than foks that do not have a degree. Well, we just interviewed several 'counselors' with masters degrees no less that are making less than $35K per year, so much for that argument. Rather, universities have full bore operations to allow anyone to get all the loans they can for, not necessarily the college experience but certainly the quest for the college degree. One Monster.com survey revealed that 67% of university students really have no idea why they are in a university. Classes are big, and getting bigger most places, if in fact they meet at all (is on line learning really the wave of the future or are we just diluting the Starbucks experience, if you get my drift).
The article makes the point that Starbucks started as a coffee shop but has ended as a ubiquitous commodity, it's everywhere for everyone. Whether one has the Starbucks experience in a Target Store is indeed pretty far stretch from the original Italian Expresso House. The aroma of fresh ground beans wafing round a comfortable shop of folks dawdling over their lattes amid comfortable chairs, curled up with a book, and no particular place to go, that's what it's all about. Is my analogy too far fetched here? My concept of a university is about like that coffee house experience. A comfortable place to visit and explore, find your focus and make new friends.
What say you, are universities delivering the experience, or are we just a re labeled Maxwell House generic in Department store atmosphere?
I think online classes are definitely diluting the Starbuck's experience. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I want them to disappear but I do think that they should be offered for a minimum of coursework. In fact I am very greatful for online classes because they are what allowed me to continue my education. However, they should not be the reason I finish, because there is so much more to getting a degree than sitting infront of your computer. I can't tell you how greatful I am that some of my coursework is not being offered online. This has forced me to alter my life in order to accomodate in-class sessions, if I want to finish. This extra effort has added value to my education and openned the door to experiences I would have otherwise missed out on. I would have loved the college experience, as it was originally intended, but there were different plans for me at the time.
Posted by: [email protected] | March 31, 2007 at 09:10 AM