Abstract
Purpose
The main purposes of this paper were to identify the business success factors as perceived by independent cafes/coffee shop owners who have been in business for longer than two years and to identify the latent constructs of the various success factors affecting them.
Methodology
A literature review identified 24 (manifest) variables frequently reported as success factors for SMEs Then an empirical survey of 81 independent coffee shop owners was conducted using a questionnaire structured around these variables. The responses were analysed using SPSS v25 to determine descriptive statistics and to conduct Exploratory Factor Analysis in order to structure the factors.
Findings
Results indicated that the top 3 critical success factors were: friendly staff, high standards of hygiene and good quality food. The Exploratory Factor Analysis resulted in a framework of 8 success factor constructs. The study therefore proposes 8 constructs for success, namely; “Support aspects”, “Staff aspects”, “Product/service aspects”, “Operations aspects”, “Business skills aspects”, “Financial aspects”, “Image aspects” and “Location aspects”. These constructs account for nearly 73% of the total variance in the data.
Practical implications
The factorial structure of the success factors presents themes for classifying success factors and can provide guidance to owners of coffee shops and researchers in that field who need to recognise and control them. Furthermore, the conceptual model developed from the exploratory factor analysis in this study can be further tested in order to validate the framework of construct and manifest variables.
Limitation
The main limitation is the small sample size. A larger sample may provide more valid and reliable results.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to investigate the success factors for independent coffee shops and cafes and to develop a model of their factorial structure.
The main purposes of this paper were to identify the business success factors as perceived by independent cafes/coffee shop owners who have been in business for longer than two years and to identify the latent constructs of the various success factors affecting them.
Methodology
A literature review identified 24 (manifest) variables frequently reported as success factors for SMEs Then an empirical survey of 81 independent coffee shop owners was conducted using a questionnaire structured around these variables. The responses were analysed using SPSS v25 to determine descriptive statistics and to conduct Exploratory Factor Analysis in order to structure the factors.
Findings
Results indicated that the top 3 critical success factors were: friendly staff, high standards of hygiene and good quality food. The Exploratory Factor Analysis resulted in a framework of 8 success factor constructs. The study therefore proposes 8 constructs for success, namely; “Support aspects”, “Staff aspects”, “Product/service aspects”, “Operations aspects”, “Business skills aspects”, “Financial aspects”, “Image aspects” and “Location aspects”. These constructs account for nearly 73% of the total variance in the data.
Practical implications
The factorial structure of the success factors presents themes for classifying success factors and can provide guidance to owners of coffee shops and researchers in that field who need to recognise and control them. Furthermore, the conceptual model developed from the exploratory factor analysis in this study can be further tested in order to validate the framework of construct and manifest variables.
Limitation
The main limitation is the small sample size. A larger sample may provide more valid and reliable results.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to investigate the success factors for independent coffee shops and cafes and to develop a model of their factorial structure.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 22nd Excellence in Service International Conference |
| Subtitle of host publication | Perotis College, Thessaloniki (Greece), 29 and 30 August 2019 |
| Place of Publication | Italy |
| Pages | 219-235 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Publication status | Published - 30 Sept 2019 |
| Event | The 22nd Excellence in Services International Conference - Perrotis College, Thessaloniki, Greece Duration: 29 Aug 2019 → 30 Aug 2019 http://sites.les.univr.it/eisic/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Call-for-papers-EISIC-2019.pdf |
Conference
| Conference | The 22nd Excellence in Services International Conference |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Greece |
| City | Thessaloniki |
| Period | 29/08/19 → 30/08/19 |
| Internet address |
Keywords
- Critical success factors
- SMEs
- Principle component analysis