Starbucks Case
Each company has what sets it apart from other companies in the same industry. This ideology excludes not Starbuck. Starbuck has a history and right from its inception, the founders wanted something that would offer fine coffee to the society that settled in Seattle. This has all along been the case. To accentuate this phenomenon, there was a time Howard Schultz had to travel to Italy to explore more of the Italian coffee tastes offered in Italy coffee bars and come back to customize the same in America. Unfortunately, upon his return he resigned from Starbuck and formed his own company. However, a few years after he formed his company, Starbuck went on sale and this led Howard Schultz and other investors to mobilize resources and purchased Starbuck. Schultz’s coming back to Starbuck has seen the company go through lots of ups and downs. The company got a rare opportunity of realizing the original ideal he envisioned of it when he returned from Milan (Webb & Schultz, 2011). The vision was to make Starbuck a place to be for all its clients and potential ones.
Competitive Strategic Approaches used by Starbuck
Companies put in place strategies that make them survive rough competitive business environments and this includes Starbuck. Competitive strategies are at least classified in five ways. First there is differentiation strategy that can either be focused or broad. Low cost strategies are also categorized as focused, general or best-cost provider.
Starbucks’ original vision was to make the company part of the community (GAUDIO, 2003). Being a community’s meeting place, means that the company had to provide a variety of products that would accommodate every member of the society. In that regard, you find that ...
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...t think global is soon bound to be out of business. Secondly, Starbucks has specialty coffee that is not offered anywhere else. Thus Howard needs to concentrate on exploiting the growing demand for this kind of coffee both home and globally. Finally, as long as Starbucks will want to continue benefiting from the word of mouth marketing style, it needs to diversify its campaign strategies lest its competitors overcome it.
References
Seaford, B. C., Culp, R. C., & Brooks, B. W. (2012). Starbucks: Maintaining a clear position. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies. The DreamCatchers Group, LLC.
Webb, A., & Schultz, H. (2011). Starbucksʼ quest for healthy growth: An interview with Howard Schultz. McKinsey Quarterly, (2), 34-43.
GAUDIO, R. P. (2003). Coffeetalk: Starbucks™ and the commercialization of casual conversation. Language in Society.
In 2002, unexpected findings of a market research showed problems regarding customer satisfaction and brand meaning for Starbucks customers. The situation was unacceptable for a company whose overall objective is to build the most recognized and respected brand in the world. Starbucks was supposed to represent a new and different place where any man would relax and enjoy quality time, alone or with others. But the market research showed that in the mind of the consumers, Starbucks brand is viewed as corporative, trying to expand endlessly and looking to make lots of money. This huge gap between customers' perception and Starbucks' values and goals called for immediate action.
Shah, A. J., Hawk, T. F., & A, T. A. (2011). Starbucks' Global Quest in 2006: Is the Best Yet to Come. In A. A. Marcus, Management Strategy: Achieving Sustained Competitive Advantage (pp. c468-c495). New York: McGraw-Hill.
The importance of economic indicators to the strategic planning process in any organization is the ability to benchmark economic conditions that contribute to improve profitability, business growth and market size. Leadership sets up the mission “to establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world.” In doing so, they have created a set of industry-leading, comprehensive coffee-buying guidelines addressing coffee quality, financial transparency, social and environmental responsibility. Starbucks strategy is also expanding market in globally to provide high quality coffee in convenient and visibility locations. They are continuing to innovate and extend the business with imaginative new ready-to-drink beverages and expanded packaged coffee offerings (Starbucks Corporation, 2007).
Starbucks not only shapes a defined importance on its product, the coffee, but also the relationships on its partners, its customers and its shareholders to create diversity, “to create a place where each of us can be ourselves” (Starbucks Coffee), to treat all related partners with dignity and respect at the greatest corporate level. In this sense, Starbucks involves its customers, its neighbors and is shareholders to participate in the community to “be a force for positive action—bringing together [its] partners, customers, and the community to contribute every day (Starbucks Coffee).
Schultz, H. (2011). Onward: How Starbucks fought for its life without losing its soul. New York: Rodale.
Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice opened its first store in April 1971 in the Pike Place Market in Seattle, by owners who had a passion for dark-roasted coffee that was popular in Europe, but hard to find in the U.S. (Harrison et al., 2005; Venkatraman & Nelson, 2008). The company’s mission was to provide Seattle with the best access to dark-roasted coffee, and sought to educated customers about the product. As a matter of customer education and acceptance of the product, Starbucks grew and expanded into the successful domestic market it is today. Much of this success can be attributed to a focus on the total customer experience and s...
In addition to being best-known supplier of the finest coffee and promising only the highest quality products, Starbucks emphasizes firm values, provides guidelines to enhance employee self-esteem. This is to ensure continued customer satisfaction. Moreover, diversity has become a priority to providing an inviting environment to all consumers. Starbucks continues to abide by a strict, slow growth policy in which they set out to dominate a market before moving on to expand, thus history has shown this strategy to be successful for Starbucks, making them one the fastest growing companies nationwide.
The structure of Starbucks business communication is exceptional. Rather you are in their store buying a Caramel Frappuccino®, visiting their website or watching one of their advertisements on television; as the consumer, the message is loud and clear. Pick up any newspaper and you are likely to find an article about the coffee giant. Starbucks pledges a commitment to their over 172,000 partners (employees) and the community. “We realize our people are the cornerstone of our success, and we know that their ideas, commitment and connection to our customers are truly the essential elements in the Starbucks Experience” (Starbucks, 2008).
Starbucks was bought out by current CEO Howard Schultz in 1987. Since then, Andrew Harrer (2012) reports the company has grown to operate over “17,244 stores worldwide” (para. 1). Fortune (n.d.) reports in its yearly 100 Best Companies to Work for that Starbucks employs “some 95,000 employees”. From only a handful of stores in 1987 to a billion dollar franchise today, the success of Starbucks is due in great deal to their corporate culture, specifically how employees, or as Starbucks calls them, partners are treated. Joseph Michelli (2007) echoes this sentiment, “A great cup of coffee is only part of the Starbucks success equation” (p. 767).
The book begins with a thorough description of Schultz’ upbringing, and he reveals that, “As the oldest of three children, I had to grow up quickly and started earning money at an early age” (P15). He also tells readers that his widowed mother encouraged him, “To challenge myself, to place myself in situations that weren’t comfortable, so that I could learn to overcome adversity” (P 16). Clearly, by the time Schultz had reached his teenage years he had experienced incredibly unfortunate circumstances, and yet had emerged as a hardworking and driven individual, determined to do bigger and better things. By 1982, Howard Schultz had quickly attained a respectable position at Hammarplast, a division of Perstorp; however he left and moved to Seattle quickly, because he “Saw Starbucks not for what it was, but for what it could be” (P 5). Schultz absolutely fell in love with Starbucks, and understood how incredibly marketable high-quality coffee could be; before other retailers and individuals caught on. His entrepreneurial spirit found a perfect application when he was introduced to Starbucks, and upon tasting the product and seeing the company in Seattle he told his wife, “I know where I want to live: Seattle Washington. It was my Mecca. I had arrived” (P 28). Schultz found what he had always
Starbucks is an international coffee house and it was created in 1971 when they opened the first store in Seattle, Newcastle. Currently, they own 21,000 stores in 65 different countries of the world, and their passion for the great coffee, excellent service and community interaction exceeds cultures and languages (Starbucks, 2014). This company is the number 1 brand coffeehouse chain in the world due to the best roaster, marketer and seller of speciality coffee. Its main slogan: “Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time” (Jurevicius, 2013).
... middle of paper ... ... Strategic planning kit for dummies, 2nd edition. Retrieved from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/strategic-planning-diversification.html “Starbucks”.
Starbucks case study: background 1971-87; private company 1987-92. (1997). McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved March 20, 2007, from the McGraw-Hill Companies website: http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/thompson/11e/case/starbucks-1.html
Starbucks is a worldwide company, known for is delicious brews of coffee and seasonal varieties of tasty drinks for any occasion. Starbucks opened with two main goals, sharing great coffee with friends and to help make the world a little better. It originated in the historic Pike Place Market of Seattle, Washington in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. The creation of Starbucks’ name came from the seafaring tradition of early coffee traders and the romance evoked from Moby Dick. At the time, this individual shop specialized in the towering quality of coffee over competitors and other brewing services enabling its growth to becoming the largest coffee chain in Washington with numerous locations. In the early 1980s, the current CEO Schultz saw an opportunity for growth in the niche market. After a trip to Italy he brought back the idea of a café style environment of leisure and social meetings to the United States we now see in Starbucks locations today. Schultz ultimately left Starbucks to open his own coffee shop, Il Giornale which turned out to be a tremendous success. Fast forward a year later, Schultz got wind that Starbucks was going to sell all their components of Starbucks including their stores and factories, he immediately acquired the funds to buy Starbucks and linked both operations. Within five years he was able to open more than 125 stores starting in New England, Boston, Chicago, and gradually entered California. He wanted Starbucks to be a franchise system based on the mission of telling the truth and emphasize the quality,