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DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi — SME Case Study (UAE)

Ahmed Al Fahim, Alex Jones, Chris Jones
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National Leadership Academy
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Published: 2021-12-02
Executive Abstract

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is one of the top UAE coffee sellers. It is a unique café that combines different services, particularly hospitality. The main intention of coming up with DRVN Coffee was to create a space where customers would enjoy coffee, a coffee bar, coffee services, and displays of various classy cars. Founded by Rashid Al Fahim, the company intends to operate in multiple nations, including Panama, Costa…

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Introduction

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is one of the top UAE coffee sellers. It is a unique café that combines different services, particularly hospitality. The main intention of coming up with DRVN Coffee was to create a space where customers would enjoy coffee, a coffee bar, coffee services, and displays of various classy cars. Founded by Rashid Al Fahim, the company intends to operate in multiple nations, including Panama, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Brazil. As the specialty fresh ground coffee retailer and coffee-shop operator, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi began its operations at DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi. The organization not only sells coffee, but it also produces an experience of coffee-drinking in its stores and meets its clients’ unconditional requirements. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is a high-customer business that DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi actively involves its clients changing their marketing strategies and adjusting them. The developers aimed to make DRVN feel at home. It paid attention to specifics and the environment to ensure that it felt as relaxed as possible to its guests. The staff roast its beans and make the most refined coffee well-known for its specialty coffee. Therefore, it is essential to look at the marketing strategies of DRVNs’ Coffee Abu Dhabi and evaluate its effectiveness.

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Mission & Vision

“To inspire and nourish people with a high level of experience, by producing high-quality coffee.” Vision “To treat people like family and be faithful and give the best experience to them.”

Organizational Structure

In an organizational structure, the main person who makes final decisions and conclusions is Rashid Al Fahim, the company’s founder. In addition to that, he comes up with new ideas and generates ideas. Then, the manager runs the primary operations focusing on roasting the coffee, quality, and importing green coffee.

Dish Washers The Core Founder, Rashid

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Leadership, Team & Founders

Manager Waiters Kitchen Staff Team Others Figure 39: DRVN Coffee organizational structure hierarchy Leadership Rashid Al Fahim founded the company. The ownership of the company was formed in less than two years. Fahim currently works with the government of Abu Dhabi, but his interest in cars and vehicles led him to establish the café.

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Restructure

In the restructuring, DRVN coffee had to adjust to the market due to the pandemic. First, it changed its services by using a lot of time serving only customers. It awarded any dine-in customers to get the experience coming for dining in DRVN Coffee (Al Madina, 2021). The company also shifted the business’s accounting side to its sourcing company that would help, lot in terms of offices, savings, and more. The main product is coffee, premium coffee that is imported around the world.

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Product Description

DRVN Coffee Mix Abu Dhabi consists of high-quality coffee, Neapolitan pizza, espresso and tea, and food, such as baked goods and breakfast sandwiches. In DRVN Abu Dhabi, new products, including VIA and Tazo tea, were continually launched. Here the team roasts its in- house beans and spring the finest coffee. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi has added to its balanced customer menu a healthier range of food. Many other kinds of milk, including Oatly, Japanese Hokkaido milk, almond, and coconut are also available. Coffee and vehicles are its primary target, and through this venue, one can feel the passion (Al Madina, 2021). The DRVN cafe class is characterized by specialty coffee, displaying world-class cars like Aston Martin and Mercedes Benz. An independent team that is always attentive and able to direct you into the correct choice of a dish and subjectively blend customers’ tastes with the right suggestions in a coffee menu.

One cannot visit DRVN without the real authentic Neapolitan pizza, fresh on request and baked in a special pizza oven. A dessert menu, special all-day breakfast, burgers, salads, and sandwiches are available. In addition to that, it also has a Za’atar flatbread (53.33AED), acai bowl (49.52AED), the coffee menu with the V60 (33.33AED), brownie chocolate (23.81AED), Bresaola pizza (61.90AED), and an iced Spanish latte (27.62AED).

Luxurious DRVN Coffee Shop is split into two segments: a mezzanine floor with coffee bars and cars on the ground floor. Appealing wall paintings, trendy chandeliers, and a mix of rustic table-chairs will redefine the word ‘open interior’ and make you convey a ‘classy’ look for the whole set, with stylish cars displayed next to your table. DRVN Coffee serves high-grade specialty coffee, roasted in a different roast and brewed with various techniques. DRVN Coffee has roasts in-house, so the time between roasting, smearing, and fermentation is maintained. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi also makes its registered trademarks on other platforms, including licensed shops, food goods, and national accounting for food service.

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Business Strategies

a. Customer experience by selling premium quality coffee The market strategy of DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi can be defined as a differentiation strategy. Therefore, the coffee chain giant insists on the quality of its goods, and consumers pay high-quality premium rates, focusing on their experience. The coffee dealer’s competitiveness is further improved by outstanding customer service as a sound source of competitive advantage to DRVN Coffee Shops Abu Dhabi.

b. Provides an Insight From Home and Work The DRVN Coffee Shops Abu Dhabi is a ‘third location’ away from home and work, where customers spend time with mates or on their own in a comfortable and cozy atmosphere. In the DRVN Coffee Storage Abu Dhabi, clients are also welcome to do their job. Free Wi-Fi is offered in all the corporate stores and most business stores abroad. DRVN Coffee Shops Abu Dhabi has been carefully designed to ensure customers stay longer, purchase more, and return to visit again.

c. Expansion of the Global Economy International market growth emphasizing developing markets is part of DRVN Coffee Shops Abu Dhabi’s long- term business plan. For instance, Panama, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Brazil DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi stores will start in the next two years, and the global market segment of the Panama and Costa Rica sales is expected to be more than 10% of total revenues for the next five years.

d. Integration of Technology into Different Operating Processes DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s goal is to develop its website or process payments more efficiently for people waiting in line with new technologies. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is categorical. By incorporating technology across various business systems and practices, the coffee chain gains technical added value, such as new product creation, marketing coordination, sales completion, and consumer satisfaction monitoring. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s most relevant valuation instances include introducing a mobile order and payment functionality, which allows consumers to shop without linearizing (Al Madina, 2021).

In addition to that, the start of a voice order application and SMS alerts provision to customers in the Costa Rica area when mobile orders have been ready.

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Operational Strategies

a. Design of Employment as a Family and Human Services In all industry sectors, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s human resources administration incorporates corporate culture and treats all employees as family members. It supports those in need and treats employees, managers, dishwashers, and waiters on the same level. The first attitude of employees to DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi staff is part of this organizational culture. The organization also uses baristas’ work teams in cafes. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi uses highly prevalent aspects of the company, such as HRM posts and stock management positions, with less focus on working teams. In this decision- making field, the emphasis is on ensuring that the DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi community is interwoven and fulfills all technological principles.

b. Goods and Services Design For its products and services, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi emphasizes luxury quality. The premium nature and its premium pricing policy are related to the company’s broad differentiation branded strategy. Other businesses, such as suppliers, also participate in designing certain items, such as DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi tassels. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi ensures that its products and services represent the enterprise’s high-end brand image in this decision market.

c. Control of Quality In quality control, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi also uses the premium character. The company sells its coffee beans to coffee growers who meet DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s quality requirements. Farmers accredited in the DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi Coffee, and Farmer Equity (CAFE) scheme also buy coffee from the company (Al Madina, 2021). Excellent service through leadership from servants and a friendly community is assured. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi implements high-quality goods in this decision- making area to fit the company’s luxury brand value.

d. Capacity Architecture and Operation One of the contributors to DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s success is process and capacity-efficiency. The processes of the organization are highly effective and can be seen in its cafeterias. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi also optimizes the use of capacity through the design of processes for demand fluctuations. Processes in business cafes, for example, are versatile to adapt workers to unexpected demand changes during peak times. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi tries to optimize the economic efficiency by efficiency of workflows and processes in this decision field of operational management.

e Strategy for Location DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s location strategy focuses on urban centers, particularly with large populations of middle and upper classes. The bulk of its cafes are situated in heavily populated areas. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi often uses strategic categorization of cafes in the same geographical region to boost its market share and push its rivals away. This business management decision field demonstrates that DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi emphasizes places where affluent customers can afford premium-priced goods.

f.

Plan and Strategy Layouts DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi cafe’s architecture optimizes the performance of workflow. It also promotes a warm and welcoming environment that correlates to the corporate culture. This design approach does not maximize the usage of space for tables or chairs since DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi focuses on its customers’ luxury experience, which ensures that more room is paid in the cafés. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi prioritizes customer service over space usage in this field of operational management.

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Marketing Strategy

To be recognized by customers and establish a brand identity, each organization must implement an effective marketing strategy. In this segment, the marketing strategy of DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi will be defined using the core marketing strategy, identifying the positioning and marketing mix, and an overview of its climate, mainly advertising itself in social media.

a. Strategy for Social Media Use An overview of a critical marketing strategy explores segmentation, concentrating, positioning and differentiation. The analysis of the kind of service that the company needs to offer, which type of product it offers, and whom it should understand. It does this by exploring and advertising itself on social media. It has friendly customers, and word-of-mouth spreads quickly.

Below is the comparison between old and new DRVN Abu Dhabi: (Figure 40) Market Penetration Diversification Market Development Product Development Product MARKET PRESENT PRESENT NEW NEW Figure 40: Old and New DRVN b. Segmentation The largest class for demographic segmentation is between the ages of 26 and 40 with high incomes, with the middle category between 17 and 25 and belonging to wealthier families. This is where most profit is made.

Segmentation in psychographic terms reveals that clients belong to the upper-middle class and have general training at school. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is positioned between retail marketing and sector marketing; it targets a broader audience. However, specific requirements should be met, such as higher sales or a younger generation.

c. The Location of DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi Marketers have not gained much attention from positioning, but are very useful in identifying and changing the product’s visible characteristics and intangible understanding. At DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi, clients purchase a high-quality, expensive product, but it also has the customized experience in-stores, which is enhanced by qualified staff. For instance, the customer’s name is written on a plastic bowl in which their beverage is served.

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi can distinguish goods and services and achieve strategic advantages over the competition through the unique sales proposal. In DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi, clients can either spend some time in the cafe and enjoy the friendly atmosphere and Wi-Fi, or buy a drink quickly and keep going. You are known for excellent customer service and a quality in-store experience. The consumer is intended to offer a special experience in both situations. In the rapidly moving world, where technology is increasingly personalized and where social connections are decreased, the idea of this unique sale is fundamental. In DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi, consumers can find human encounters in their daily lives (Al Madina, 2021). While DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is the market leader. Starbucks’ individualized approach to customers is vital for many reasons. The business lost “some of its magic,” and the experience was not intimate any more when DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi opened numerous new stores. Customers feel ignored and perceived as typical fast-food customers, which goes against its unique sales proposition during its development and eliminates DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s competitive edge over its rivals.

d. Extended Marketing Mix The expanded marketing mix helps everyone consider DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s core operations to address its unique business needs better. Three kinds are listed for the product: served drinks and food, homemade coffee, and bowls. Drinks tend to make the most profit, but cups are increasingly a community for people worldwide and have helped DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi establish its worldwide signature product. Lastly, it launched packaged coffee, which could be enjoyed at home and now is available in supermarkets. Customers notice that coffee has a more inferior quality in large retail shops, less satisfaction and that DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi wants high profits rather than a friendly climate.

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi workers are highly educated and are quick to deal with issues according to the organization’s models. Motivation at DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is high because its workers, who can build careers and have flexible working time, also have an obligation to society. Motivation in a community is very strong.

Workers work in a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere that benefits workers and customers alike.

The development process at Starbucks is straightforward and available to the public, as the origin of its coffee or tea is known to individuals through reporting from fair- trade organizations. The environmentally friendly nature of the interiors that individuals choose to be involved in provides more physical evidence.

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Business & Legal Challenges

a. COVID-19 Pandemic The coffee industry was heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, which made DRVN Coffee adjust to government directions and misunderstanding of its information. It had challenges in understanding the government, for instance, if it was allowed to dine or not.

Therefore, it did not have a clear understanding of how to undertake operations.

b. Diversity In business, people from various backgrounds, genders, religions, and social positions interact. Indeed, the company’s diversity presents a significant problem for management, which must ensure unilateralism for investors and business customers. Indeed, the organization could only achieve sustainable growth by impartiality. Therefore, the administration had to figure out how to deal with the problems before the operations escalated.

c. Interest Dispute There is a conflict of interest in this business when one’s ambitions influence one’s roles and performance level.

Furthermore, it reduces the credibility of a person and may cause company anxiety. In particular, the organization’s ethics calls for staff, partners, and clients not to be distracted to the detriment of their commitments by their interests (Al Madina, 2021). This might undermine the goods’ quality and honesty, so there can be no link between self-interest and the character of the duty.

d. Other Challenges The experience of the business is the slow provision of coffee for the preparation of beverages. This means that the amount obtained from manufacturers, even in Abu Dhabi, is short of consumer demand. This illustrates the need to increase coffee production to meet the rising demands. Furthermore, like goods fixed on like products by small restaurants, the price of like goods is also considered a weakness by the big business because some of its consumers have been lost.

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How to Overcome Challenges

Due to COVID-19 challenges and restrictions, the company had to follow direct orders from the government.

Rashid’s owner also helps the company make essential descriptions, find solutions, and take immediate action business-wise. The business should focus on creativity to accommodate diversity and enhance offerings for its consumers to improve its brand profile, reduce conflicts of interest and raise selling volume (Al Madina, 2021). Secondly, the quality of its goods should be emphasized, and they must remain at their highest level.

It should also introduce good promotional promotions encouraging more customers to shop from their stores.

Most purchasers will rethink their choice for the goods of the company.

Successful Best Practices

The company’s primary focus is on people, ensuring all the customers get the experiences they expect from the company. Also, it focuses on its colleagues, making sure they are comfortable by getting paid on time, bonuses, and getting support on both their career and personal issues. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s consumer analysis approach is also extraordinary and distinct from multinational companies’ multimillion-dollar marketing research budgets. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi preferred casual and informal customer chats to contain general mood, to gain insight and useful input from rigorous and nuanced customer surveys. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi does not perform quantitative analysis on the market (Al Madina, 2021). It has also used its research results effectively in many nations to shape its market penetration strategies. The main argument here is that the organization’s perception of customers is not static and compartmented. With these creative, clever methods of knowing its customers, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi has created an iconic global brand that has been around for almost fifty years with customers all over the world.

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi has succeeded in concentrating consumer attention on the nature of the service, the fun memories you can weave together in your stores, and not on the price of your goods with a pleasurable and calming customer experience. Because neuroscience research explores shifts in brain functions concerning products and price points, the findings were considered more reliable than conventional market research (Al Madina, 2021). The real proof of intensity for the brand is its success, though prices are higher than many of its rivals. A responsible and socially ethical organization must be another cornerstone of the DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi brand philosophy. This entails responsible procurement, including funding for farmers’ loans and forest conservation groups, and incentives through training and jobs.

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Failed Practices

a. Too Much Aggression Too many outlets were opened by DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi too quickly. Well, it turned out to be a tragedy because DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi did not provide consumers with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the brand and grow this ‘need and loyalty.’ A scheme, such as loyalty cards, should have been created by the company to track repeat transactions strictly and frequently reward clients for bringing in friends.

b. Did Not Grasp Consumer Psyche DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi regarded coffee as a commodity, but it’s not like others see it. Coffee is an experience for Abu Dhabi. It is not rare for customers to know and remain with their local barista personally, rather than wasting their cash on a foreign brand. The coffee culture of Abu Dhabi focuses more on socialization and perhaps less on coffee (Al Madina, 2021). Most cafes have separate owners, so personal relationships and familiarity are an essential part of cafe culture. Before it was released, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi should have held multiple focus group interviews in Abu Dhabi. This would have helped the business to consider what customers want when they go to a café.

c. Items Had Not Been Adapted to the Local Public The first failure of DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi was to say all Abu Dhabi coffee lovers would like them and the second error was that Abu Dhabi people wanted the same succulent drinks that the company produced.

Again, it backfired — the menu was too delicious. So the company had to adapt its products to the market in Abu Dhabi to their normal cafés and baristas. It should not have depended on its intuition when it comes to marketing.

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The Company as of Today

When the company started, it only had 15 colleagues. In less than two years, it has approximately 70 employees with just two branches. It is planning to extend to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and internationally in two years.

It roasts about 200 kilograms of coffee per month, but today, it roasts almost 2 tons of coffee per month. At the start, in selling both wholesale and retail, it sold about 50 kilograms of coffee per month, but currently, it sells about half a ton per month. As of today, the company has vital management decisions compared to when the company was starting. In reality, management’s decision to develop very rapidly was the exponential growth of the company. The introduction of automatic espresso machines, increasing service speed and performance was one of these decisions. Together with the aroma packaging, these coffees could sell freshly roasted coffee both internationally and in Abu Dhabi. It had to streamline its shop design to achieve efficiencies in scale and retain a robust return on investment (ROI). Indeed, these decisions at the time were correct and it made DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi financially, without a doubt, a massive success.

Compared with the early DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi, the current one positively impacts its service growth programs. Service innovation refers to change in one aspect of a market, i.e., new technologies, which affects other service aspects, i.e., manufacturing processes.

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s service innovation will include its service method based, for instance, on the introduction of espresso equipment, flavor-lock technology, the simplified design of stores, and more.

The focus of the business solution on the customer is essential to successful service innovation. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi indeed asked, “How does the customer do?” While it renders radical changes to its current programs, such as using flavor-locked packaging (Al Madina, 2021).

The cause and effect of aroma-lock bags in the stores were not ignored. This led to an increase in fragrance – possibly the most potent nonverbal signal ever implemented in their stores – and workers who scooped fresh coffee off the bins and freshly smoothed it before customers to improve their tradition and heritage.

Finally, under the global economic climate, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s accomplishments demonstrate how well it is conscious of developments in every regional sector in which it operates. Hopefully, its partners and customers will have the latest priorities for 2021.

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Recommendations

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi Coffee Company’s business climate poses numerous obstacles due to its mild diversification. The coffee shop faces rivalry, imitation, and social movements in local markets instead of foreign actors. Given the present market state, the imitability of goods and the resulting danger of imitation, the competitive threat of low-cost sellers, and independent coffeehouse movements are among the most significant strategic management issues identified.

DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s company is recommended to defend against imitation, particularly in the field of product growth, by actively innovating. Innovation will make it harder to copy the company’s goods. The DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi Corporation should also consider selling strategies that attract more clients. Bundle pricing, for example, can help to address the risk of low-cost sales competition. This situation also fits to incorporate innovative marketing strategies and branding strategies that contribute to DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s corporate image as part of community growth. Such a picture will lead to reducing the socio-cultural opposition. These guidelines aim to minimize the adverse consequences of the factors listed internally and externally.

Lesson Learned ¡ A respectful treatment of colleagues. It’s not just a career, part of the work mission in DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi. Employees enjoy what they do, and thus respect and integrity treat everyone employed in the business.

¡ Coffee is about quality. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is proud of its product’s consistency. It wants to ensure that all customers have the best coffee. In other terms, consumers will have to pay a little extra, but it’s valuable.

¡ It is establishing a culture. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi needs the experience to be separate. It also belongs to every store and wants to be “good neighbors.” to ensure they are.

¡ Customer Connection. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi ensures that the food satisfies its customers. Still, sometimes, they see a sign saying, “If you’re not happy with your order, please let our barista know.” They think, too, that it’s not just good customer service to go higher and higher. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi needs its customers to relate to them.

¡ Actions and alliances. In order not only to promote its brand but also to enable others to expand, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi has reached different companies.

¡ Innovation and Marketing Brand. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is finding new and creative ways of promoting the brand. Some of the best attention from consumers was by word-of-mouth.

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Conclusion

Instead of investing millions of dollars in ads that bring no social benefit, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi is an excellent example of a business that has developed its marketing strategy around its clients and ethical actions. The business’s benefit is the market in which it operates; coffee demand is still high, with people visiting cafés frequently before work or spending time with others close by. The challenge is to attract and envy those customers to return. Corporate social liabilities are one of DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi’s powerful strategies. The goal is to save the world through more eco-friendly shops, reduce water consumption, and serve coffee in recyclable cups to improve coffee and tea farmers’ lives. Also, its participation in social media is part of its marketing strategy by engaging individuals in initiatives and proposals for potential developments and consumers’ free research and growth.

Although DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi can be criticized because it spreads too quickly and destroys local cultures by converting them into an Abu Dhabi experience, it is valued by most customers in social media and widely followed. With this expectation, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi can broaden its product range and track near new technology trends. DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi must be well-organized and follow a customer strategy with a rising number of customers that make the brand special and have regularly returning customers. In all, DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi has nevertheless been very successful and consistently raises profits every year.

Executive Case Worksheet

Case Questions & Discussion Framework

Designed for classroom analysis, executive seminars, or self-study reflection.

Question 1

the industry a competitive advantage?

Question 2

from the previous DRVN Coffee when it started?

APA 7th Edition Citation

Ahmed Al Fahim, Alex Jones, Chris Jones (2021). DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi — SME Case Study (UAE). NLA Academy Research & Case Collection.

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DRVN Coffee Abu Dhabi — SME Case Study (UAE) | NLA Case Study