Green Mountain Coffee Case Study Essay

Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s Keurig Single Brew system is dominating the U.S. market with an overwhelming market share. Analysts expect sales of single-cup brewing systems to continue to grow in the U.S. and competitors are eyeing a piece of the pie. An analysis of Keurig’s current position, based on Michael E. Porters 5-Forces, highlights a number of key areas of opportunity and risk for the company. Handled correctly, the Keurig product line should continue its growth, however, a number of significant pitfalls threaten its dominance.

The owners came up with the idea for Mr. Coffee automatic coffeemaker in 1970 and their invention was an instant success. With sales of over one million units for the first 4 years, Mr. Coffee gained a market share of 10%. At this time the company was relying mainly on national TV commercials in

Although the company is known for their coffee, they also drive a great portion of their revenue from baked good sales, which differs greatly from the Keurig Green Mountain strategy. Dunkin does compete against Dunkin intensely in the New England market, as both companies were founded and based in the area.

starbucks Corp., an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, has expanded rapidly since its opening in 1971. These outrageous success was due to its well-developed strategy vision which lay out the company's strategic course in developing and strengthening its business. Starbucks is a global corporation that sells authentic coffee in 30 countries, reporting revenues of nearly $5.1 billion in 2006. The main goal of Starbucks is to embrace diversity by applying the highest standards of excellence. Starbucks strives to perfect the relationship with the working class by making the service as fast as possible because they believe that every customer has their own personal rate. One

Keurig should insist on their plan to launch the new Keurig-Cup even if the GMCR holds the opposite view since it can protect the profits of KAD and roasters when new products are introduced to the market. If Keurig differentiates the at-home market from office market, the previous office brewer users could not go to the direct commercial channel to purchase K-Cups at a lower price (if the at-home used Cups is cheaper). It won’t cause the customer loss of OCS

In October Bunn, a leading commercial beverage equipment producer, launched its home version of its single-serve coffee machine called MyCafé. Unfortunately for Keurig, the MyCafé is the first to capitalize on the expiration of Keurig’s patent on

1. In the beginning, how was Starbucks different from other coffee options for coffee drinkers in the United States? What activities and assets did Starbucks leverage to differentiate itself from competitors?

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) was founded in 1981 as a small café and combined with Keurig in 2006 (About GMCR, 2004-2009). GMCR produces specialty coffee and coffee makers; Keurig is the maker of a single cup coffee maker as well as specialty teas and coffees. Keurig was founded in 1998 on the concept that one should be able to make coffee one cup at a time rather than one pot at a time (Coffee.org, unknown). Today, GMCR has acquired and merged with several specialty coffee brewers and Keurig

The system allows consumers to buy a variety of coffee and make a cup of coffee that has the quality like the one you would buy in a gourmet coffee house for upwards of $3 to $5. Based on the surveys and focus groups that had been conducted people were looking for convenience, minimal clean-up, and great taste. Keurig made its decision to promote the system based on those factors and with units succeeding in local businesses now was the time to strike, while the “iron is hot”, a large percentage of survey takers said they would gladly buy the units that were proposed based on the information they were given.

Imaging if there was no more coffee in this world, how would you feel? Nowadays, coffee becomes an important part of people’s life. People who often work overtime, they drink coffee because caffeine can make you awake; people who have to wake up early in the morning, they drink coffee because instead of making breakfast, coffee is more convenient; people drink coffee during the free time, because it also tastes good.

Keurig has been successful in selling its coffee brewing system to the office coffee segment (OCS) of the US market. This success led its leaders to ponder entering the consumer market. While making the move might seem like a reasonable next step in the development of the company core business, it also presents unique challenges.

I've chosen the Starbucks Corporation on which to do my case assignment for the session. I first became interested in Starbucks while working on a paper for a previous marketing class. I became intrigued at the entrepreneurial spirit that such a large corporation had managed to maintain throughout its massive expansion. Starbucks corporation, unlike many of its now-defunct rivals, has done an outstanding job since its meager beginnings in 1970 with the execution of its strategic process; resulting in it currently owning 40% of the specialty coffee market and boosting annual sales exceeding $7 billion according to Burt Helm. Historic successes and recent turmoil within the company, including a near 40% decline in 2007 in profits (Sullivan

Starbucks dates back from 1971 and is based in Seattle, Washington. The company was founded by Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegl and it

Starbucks extends their coffee experience to everyone: kids, teenagers and adults. Part of their success comes from their ability to create new products that fit the culture of the country. In Japan, for instance, Starbucks launched green tea lattes, which later became popular in other countries (Allison). Starbucks is well established in countries like Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom. In the US alone, Starbucks sells 4 million cups of coffee per day (Horovitz). Their products and services have transformed the way customers view coffee. Changing the way customers order, Starbucks makes it very chic to purchase custom drinks. Starbucks is like no other coffee shop: the dimmed lights

One of the biggest barriers from GMCR’s standpoint is that they realize they can possible build up sales and marketing for the Keurig system once they start producing and endorsing the product. They are capable of doing so because of the position that GMCR is in as an emerging