Howard Schultz, Owner Of The Starbucks Corporation

Since Starbucks entered the coffee retail business, the company has made many trade-off business decisions. The first major trade-off was made when Howard Schultz wanted to acquire present day Starbucks from three entrepreneurs Baldwin, Siegel and Bowker. Therefore, Schultz prior to the acquisition made the trade-off to open his own coffee bar in 1986 instead of staying at Starbucks as the manager of retail sales and marketing. A bold feat, Schultz was able to replicate success and was offered to buy Starbucks for $4 million. At the time of the acquisition, many investors, including the former Starbucks owners, would not expect that the American consumer would pay a premium for coffee products. Schultz, after calculating the opportunity cost, was convinced that Starbucks would become a large coffee chain not only in the United States but internationally too. Reflecting this approach, Schultz’s trade-off worked. Starbucks, according to our book has revenue exceeding $13 billion and nearly 200,000 employees. The company has also expanded to 40 countries with 17,000 stores (Hill et al., 2015).

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).

Howard Schultz, as depicted in the article “Howard Schultz: Building Starbucks Community” by Bill George, George denotes Schultz has the qualities of an authentic leader. Authentic leadership is a method of leadership that fosters not only success, but meaningful relationships. In today’s increasingly competitive corporate

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

2) Garthwiate, Craig; Busse, Meghan; Brown, Jennifer; Merkley, Greg “Starbucks: A Story of Growth” Harvard Business Publishing, July 2012.

The extraordinary success Starbucks experienced during the early 1990s resulted from Howard Schultz’s passion and vision to create a coffee culture in the United States similar to the coffee culture he experienced while traveling to Italy. Schultz’s vision of the Starbucks brand evolved around providing a quality product while delivering exceptional customer service in an inviting atmosphere. Starbucks’ success can be attributable to the following factors:

First of all, Howard Schultz had a clear vision about his company. It is important for a great leader to have a clear vision about what to achieve. The emphasis on importance of employees is the outstanding point in his vision. This is why Starbucks has been investing in their

Starbucks is undoubtedly an international brand. The history of coffee traces back to Ethiopia, Africa, India, Arabia, and Europe, and has been traded abroad since the 11th century. Understanding the demand and widespread market for coffee, Starbucks has triumphantly capitalized both the domestic market, and the varied international markets as well. Possessing about 6,500 retail sites worldwide, Starbucks’ net is spread across thirty countries and has been found as one of the most recognized brands all over the globe in equality to McDonalds and Toyota. This organization’s ability to build an international brand has been unprecedented- particularly since it represents a specialty

business model may seem, there is plenty of hard work invested and financial risks taken to grow

Howard Schultz didn’t just build a company, he built an empire. Starbucks’ Coffee is a benchmark in the coffee trade, for coffee drinkers and, even non-coffee drinkers. He nursed a small company in the big city of Seattle, to a global

In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.

The company has also developed a structure and control system. With the realization that human capital holds a vital role in the development and sustainability of any institution, that of Starbucks included, it has taken to task to protect the same. To develop this, the company has an elaborate system that ensures the production levels of the company are met with pride. This like other leaders in the same has entailed ensuring they have an empowering corporate culture, topped by ensuring their employees enjoy competitive benefits.

This case assignment discusses the history of Starbuck’s accomplishments as they entered the American coffee culture heritage. In 1983, The chairman and CEO Howard Schultz traveled to Italy and had a dream to carry the Italy coffeehouse ritual back to the United States. Schultz was focused on creating an environment meeting company that makes good coffee but also be a social experiment. Starbucks today opened more than 19,000 stores functioning in 62 countries. Starbucks has numerous rewards that globalization has offered and they have significantly benefited from it, while in the coffee industry. Starbucks has a wide-range in marketing strategies to benefit the customers. During the different obstacles that Starbucks has encountered, they must stay reliable in quality and uphold to adjust to different customer values.

Following its success in the United States, Starbucks ventured overseas and quickly became a globalization icon. With its rapid globalization strategy, Starbucks expanded from about 5000 stores to an estimated 15,000 stores in 2000 (Groth, 2011). By mid-2000s, Starbucks’ supply chain faced many issues, resulting with challenges of having to fulfill expansion strategies yet minimizing escalating operation expenses. By 2008, Starbucks’ stocks fell by 42% (Schultz, 2011). The rapid expansion took a toll on the sales growth and stretched the limits of the existing supply chain, which then rippled down to erode the customer-valued ‘Starbucks experience’ (Gibbons, 2011).

Starbucks is one of the world’s largest success stories when it comes to the business world. What began as a little shop in Seattle has turned into more than a house hold name; it’s a name that everyone everywhere can associate with. Even if you have never stepped foot in a store, or don’t drink coffee at all you know the name. Starbucks has spread into global markets in the last few years, and with its U.S. ventures has been received very well, even in cities that weren’t forecasted to have open arms for the corporate giant. There really is nowhere for the company to go but up, especially at this time, Starbucks survived the recession, and along with a few other businesses all across the