Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul

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).

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:

This assignment is based on the Starbucks case study; Trouble Brews at Starbucks written by Lauranne Buchanan and Carolyn Simmons (2009). The aim of this paper will be to discuss the the changing consumer experience, competitive landscape and external circumstances affecting marketing opportunities for Starbucks, while determining how Howard Schultz can provide Starbuck’s customers a greater long-term value.

Once he graduated from Northern Michigan University, Howard’s inconceivable career began as he became the sales manager for the technology famous company “Xerox Incorporation.” After several years of gaining experiences in sales, he moved on to the Swedish company “Hammarplast” where he sold household products, and most importantly coffee makers. The reason Hammarplast is so important to Howard 's career is because the Swedish company led to his success and involvement with “Starbucks.” As Howard was working at Hammarplast he had one unusual buyer who would purchase a huge amount of coffee makers, and this company was known as “Starbucks” which is one of the most successful companies today. Howard wanted to understand why Starbucks was buying so much of his products, which then led to Howard personally attending the Starbucks in Seattle, in which he admired the company for its innovation and creativity and suddenly wanted to become a part of it. The Howard Schultz era of Starbucks began, as he constantly begged the owner Jerry Baldwin for a job with the company, and after several disturbances, Howard became the marketing director of Starbucks. Howard felt that he could substantially use his creativity and ideas to enhance the growth of Starbucks, and that’s exactly what he did, as he brought in new recipes, new traditional values, and new energy to Starbucks, where he led the modern day prosperity of Starbucks and

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

When Schultz returned to the States he presented his new-found discoveries, of what he believes a coffee shop should be like. However, his bosses didn’t share the same belief, that creating a coffee shop with “artistic and joyful experiences” was less as important as making coffee that sells well. So, Schultz quit and he went on to raise money to fund his own coffee shop establishment , “Il Giornale.” The store started very small, with only two, or three employees, to keep labor costs down. Only sixteen months into his new founded company, Schultz found himself in the position to buy his former employers’ small scale coffee shop. To Schultz it was a no brainer to buy the company which first sparked his love for coffee, so he did. And at only thirty-four years old Schultz had one-hundred employees, several locations throughout the city of Seattle, and a dream to create a nationally recognized brand of “Starbucks Coffee.”

the warm feeling of a neighborhood store.” Starbucks attempted to put the focus back on coffee and increased the price of coffee, and this was one of the reasons why the company took a hit during the economic slowdown in 2008. Andon January 8, 2008, Schultz returned as CEO ofStarbucks after a gap of eight years, replacing Jim Donald. Then Schultz had nurtured the company since 1982 when it had only four outlets. He had served as CEO from 1987 to 2000 and had presided over the company’s public offering in

Starbucks first opened its doors in Seattle’s Pike Place Market with the name being coined from that of Moby Dick’s first mate (Schultz & Yang 1999). It has spread its shops across North America, all over Europe, the Middle East, Latin America as well as the Pacific Rim with an estimated 35 million customer weekly (Michelli, 2008). With tremendous growth from a small time coffee shop, the company has matured to an international icon that today it is one of the world’s leading retailer, roaster and brand specialty coffee (Story, 1971). The company offers whole bean coffees, espresso beverages, and confectionery and bakery items.

This particular case starts off by telling the background of Starbucks as it is today. 30 years ago, Starbucks was a single store in Seattle 's Pike Place Market selling premium roasted coffee. They decided to change their traditional customer experience in the 1980s. When the company 's director of marketing, Howard Schultz, came back from Italy, he felt enchanted with the coffee house experience of Italy. Mr. Schultz wanted to duplicate this experience in his own coffee stores.  The new strategy consisted of selling their already proven products in a tastefully designed coffee house setting. With this strategy, Starbucks became one of the best-known brands in the country in a decade. There stores became places for relaxation, reading the newspaper, holding business meetings, or even browsing the web.

Founded in the streets of Seattle, Washington during the 1970’s. Howard Schultz certainly never anticipated creating a brand that has become the largest coffeehouse company in the world. Starbucks has dominated the world with its aromatic and fine quality coffee beans. It is not just a mere coffee house, it is a brand, a lifestyle, a culture and most evidently, it is an iconic figure, an identity. (Koehn 2002)

The CEO (Chief Executive Officer), Howard Schultz pointed that the main reason from the decline of “Starbucks Experience” was that the number of Starbucks shops increased sharply from only 1,000 to 13,000 within ten years. Other people considered their brand has been commercialized, and the customers hadn’t had enough enthusiasms to appreciate every moment of their coffee any longer. He suggested that Starbucks should re-find its origin. Nevertheless, his advice apparently was opposite to the

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.

In 1981, Howard Schultz, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Starbucks, walked into a Starbucks store for the first time. Highly impressed of the great coffee and the company’s concept, he joined Starbucks a year later. In 1983 he traveled to Italy, where he became fascinated with the coffee culture in