Starbucks And Mcdonalds : Building Global Brands

The “Coffee Wars – The Big Three: Starbucks, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts” article focuses on the company analysis of the Starbucks brand and how its main competitors, McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts, has affected their brand and driven competition higher. Even though there are many companies trying to enter the specialty coffee market, these three companies own the majority of the market share. With Starbucks’ top quality and above average prices they hold a different market than the fast coffee/food market of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks; yet the competitive moves Dunkin’ Donuts has made over the years in order to compete with Starbucks and surpass McDonald’s has driven competition up between all three companies. The competition has stiffened ever more in the past ten years due to the changing economy. This led to “the big three” to come up with different techniques to gain competitive advantage over the other. Although the competition between these companies is to gain most of the market share, consumers are still loyal to a certain brand; this makes it difficult to gain each other’s clientele. McDonald’s continues to appeal to customers who want value and speed, Dunkin’ Donuts focuses on the middle-class, while Starbucks a customer who desires a higher quality product along with being recognized for using the brand.

Founded in 1985, Starbucks is one of the largest coffeehouse companies in the world with over 16,000 stores in 50 countries. This report evaluates major internal and external factors affecting Starbucks using various analytical techniques. Based on the Starbucks brand in UK, it identifies suitable marketing strategies for Starbucks to expand its business in the UK market within the next two years. In line with the chosen marketing strategies, recommendations for the marketing mix are discussed.

McDonald’s is not some ordinary fast food restaurant with its trademark logo advertised almost everywhere in the U.S., many people all over the world know about these famous golden arches. The McDonald’s franchising started in 1955 and in less than fifty years, McDonald’s was introduced all over the world in countries such as, China, Japan, Great Britain, Sweden, France etc. McDonald’s global expansion has intermingled with cultural traditions because these countries are becoming more westernized. Since East Asia is becoming more westernized it also means that there is a cultural difference because of the influences from outside the country. The cultures are being changed because of how ideas are expressed by people and not by their

McDonald is recognized as one of the biggest and leading fast food chains all around the world. McDonald retains a strong market position in the worldwide food market with various branches opened in several geographical locations globally. From the perspective of customer retention, its success image is primarily upheld by its increased concentration over the strategy of sustaining its brand image in the market. Researchers contributing to the subject under discussion stated that one strategy to implement is to use operations and coordinate its policies, together with the vital factor

Specific target audience: In the 1990’s, Starbuck primarily targeted towards the affluent, well-educated, white-collar patrons (skewed female).

Starbucks’ lead in the specialty coffee industry exemplifies the result of deftly executing a well-planned business strategy. Moreover, Starbucks is well positioned for what is expected to be a continuing rise in the popularity of specialty coffee products. The question before Starbucks’ leadership, however, is what avenues will lead to Starbucks’ goal of remaining true to its core, the highest quality coffee products while providing a “total coffee experience” for its customers?

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

Four million people worldwide make their daily stop at Starbucks in the desperate need for a coffee fix, just don’t forget to ask them to hold the side of exploitation, modern slavery and deforestation.

While McDonald’s and Burger King have fought over a percentage of the same market share, each company has a unique strategy with which they’ve approached the market. McDonald’s aims to deliver an inexpensive, standard, quality meal with high level of uniformity both in burger structure and in delivery times. Burger King also strives for an inexpensive, quality meal, but focuses on allowing the customer a degree of flexibility in the menu – a goal reflected in their long-time slogan, “Have it your way.” This difference results in distinct objectives for each restaurant that resonate

I believe Starbucks is dealing with problems such as raising competition from fast food chains. Also, Starbucks is falling behind in terms of breakfast menu to their competitors such as McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts. Many of these fast food chains do product bundling, meaning they create set menus that allow consumers to purchase a meal with drink. Not only this method is cheaper for producers, but also as fast food chains are known as low-priced competitors, Starbucks seem to have hard time in competing price wise.

By creating unique brand products, such as: chicken McNuggets, Big Mac, and McFlurry. McDonald’s is setting itself apart from its competitors. The “innovation strategy is used to create new and unique products like, chicken tenders and Newman’s own salads” (Skenazy, Lenore). As well as special celebrity endorsements (athletes, actors/actresses), partnerships/sponsorships (music, Olympics, special movie toys), charities (Ronald McDonald House), games/promotions (monopoly game), which allow McDonald’s to develop their unique corporate image that sets them apart from their rivals.

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.

1. What factors in the global environment provide opportunities or threats for Starbucks? How do Starbuck’s strengths and weaknesses match up to its opportunities and threats?

"i 'm lovin ' it is a key part of McDonald 's business strategy to connect with customers in highly relevant, culturally significant ways around the world."

Starbucks’ retail entry model in the United States does not have the same strategy as their international model. In the states Starbucks holds great control as a corporation, but in international territory, country partnerships, cultural, government laws and politics play a very important role in Starbucks’ entry strategy. Starbucks has set it sights globally since the coffee market has come close to saturation in the U.S. which will give them the opportunity to continue to expand without fierce competition. Starbucks has looked to countries like India and other emerging markets with great growth potential to set down new roots. Starbucks recognizes India as a great choice to expand business internationally but also recognizes the complexity in the same market after several attempts to enter without success.