SWOT Analysis of Starbucks

Starbucks is dominant coffee brand in North America, which also is well-known worldwide. Established in 1971 as coffee shop oriented to a niche of coffee purists, in late 1980’s it turned to be a constantly growing chain of stores that sold whole-beans and premium-priced coffee to mostly affluent, well-educated customers. In years 1992-2002 company was showing at least 5% annual growth. And by 2002 Starbucks was serving already 20M customers in 5886 stores (both operated and licensed) around the globe, had $3.3 billion net revenues and was opening 3 new stores a day in average.

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

Starbuck’s began their journey in the coffee market with the grand opening of a small cafe, back in 19711. The name for this company is quite unique and there is a clear back story behind this. The original owners were inspired by the story of Moby Dick and its thought to “evoke the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders.” Since the first Starbucks store, the company was famous for its community development and its active participation within society. Starbucks began to witness great change within their company once their management changed, in 1987 Harvard Shultz was appointed the Chief executive officer. Inspired by the traditional Italian design, Schultz adapted this design and integrated it within the lighting, layout and music choice played in the cafe’s. As a

Starbucks Corporation has been around since 1971. What makes Starbucks unique from other coffee-bar shops is not only their wide selection of products, but the environment they provide to all customers. Starbucks sustains competitive advantage by constantly looking for new ideas, new products, as well as new experiences for guests. Starbucks also offers a selection of music, and unique designed coffee mugs. The company even hires designers to come up with artwork for commuter mugs. Starbucks’ forte is incorporating differentiated features such as their different flavored coffees that no other company offers. They

In this paper, I will talk about Starbucks Company. I will define the influence of the vision, and mission of the company and primary stakeholders along with their overall success. An examination will be conducted to categorize five forces of struggle and their effect on the corporation. I will carry out a SWOT analysis to determine the opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses. Founded on the SWOT analysis, a technique of opportunities and advantages will be exploited while threats and weaknesses will be diminished. Several types and levels of techniques will be talked over to operate the profitability and competitiveness. I will outline a plan of communication to make approaches known to all investors. Two corporate authorities will be designated to assess the efficiency of the regulating managers. I will also assess the effectiveness of management within the Company and come up with sanctions for upgrading.

Starbucks employs the product, promotion, place and price method of marketing. They place great emphasis on their products and have established themselves

For many multinational companies, they have begun global expansion. The Asia Pacific region is a potential market to get more profits. Starbucks is one of the international companies, who expand the market in the AP. This report will introduce Starbucks firstly, and then articulate the strategies of the company and use SWOT to analyze the internal and external environments. Some recommendations for Starbucks managers are given according these analyses.

First, Starbucks has effectively applied the product differentiation strategy. To achieve it, the company has specialized in different product mixes, aligned its business locations to a specific ambiance that suits the context, and varied the customer experience, thus resulting in a higher customer service satisfaction. Further, Coskun, Basligil, and Baracli (2008) note that Starbucks prides in having their customers enjoy a premium service. Therefore, the company’s signature strategy has worked well thus far, as competitors find it difficult to imitate. Second, the enterprise has coordinated its acquisition and portfolio strategy, thus consolidating the market. As discussed in the background chapter, Starbucks has a portfolio network of eight brands under its stable. Third, Starbucks’ international expansion strategy has worked well, with a presence in 70 countries (Starbucks, 2017). These factors, coupled with its financial capability, offer Starbucks an edge over its

Starbucks is known as the dominant specialty-coffee brand in North America. Beginning in 1987 when Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer, purchased the single-location coffee-house from the original founders, Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Ziev Siegl, he had a vision to create “a place for conversation and a sense of community. A third place between work and home” (Starbucks, 2015). Starbucks created and continues to offer this “third place” through exceptional customer service and inviting environments that provide an experience that becomes part of the customer’s daily life. In 1992 the company completed its initial public offering and by 2002 Starbucks had rapidly expanded from a local Seattle company to an international corporation with 5,886 retail stores on four continents posting its highest net earnings in its history despite the economic downturn during the 1990s.

Starbucks can be categorized as one of the biggest and famous coffee company in the world. In 1971, Starbucks start its first business in Seattle. Nowadays, it owns a large amount of retailer stores which is more than 17,000 stores in 30 different countries (Scribd, 2016). The main product sold in Starbucks is coffee. Starbucks aims to provide their customers with high quality whole bean coffee and best coffee experience. Furthermore, it is more focus on two level of customers which are high end and upper middle class customers (Slideshare, 2016). The goal of Starbucks is to become the most recognized and well-known brand in the world ( Personal, 2010).

One of Starbucks key strengths is found in its Marketing strategy and the product and services that it offers. The coffeehouse in itself was not a novel concept in the United States; coffeehouses were always popular in college and university towns. Starbucks took the concept, refined and duplicated that concept and sold it to the masses.

Starbucks achieves this through a vast range of high quality products that positions them as a premium coffee producer and distinguishes itself from its competitors.

In a world where consumers value convenience, price, service and quality, Starbucks has become a major identifiable brand and competitor worldwide. Starbucks operates under the retail coffee and snack shop industry and relies heavily on consumer confidence, spending, preferences and overall economic climate, making the industry highly volatile. The hiring and use of employees to perform the daily operational tasks and duties to provide service and various industry products become an important element in this industry. Because the skill set of the individuals hired in this industry are relatively low, the cost in wages are minimal. The industry reportedly has generated over $30.2 billion in revenue, $1.8 billion in profit and has seen a growth of 2.7% from 2009-2014. Future projected annual growth in this industry is forecast to grow 3.8% over the next five years (IBISworld, 2014).

Starbucks has been a household name for over 20 years. It is the largest coffee house in the world with over 17,000 stores in 50 countries (Wikipedia Website, 2011). How can a giant like Starbucks stay on top of the coffee market yet retain its personal small coffee house feel? Starbucks continuous strive and strategic management plans have proven beneficial in keeping to the goals of the organization.

Once Howard Schultz led the Starbucks and became the CEO of it, the organization was changed and re-designed to be among the best brands in the US market. He finds himself able to oversee and save the organization from its troublesome position into aggressive coffee around US. To achieve this success, it’s not one day work, it’s need hard work and with a specific end goal to finish such huge pivot. Mr. Howard Schultz believed that all issues and difficulties need a supportable solution in order to handle those challenges ahead of Starbucks. Based on the realities that happened in the case study following are some of the significant efforts that Mr. Howard Schultz did which made a huge change in the entire organization.