Starbucks Case Study

The problem of controversy sparked from a video created by a regular Starbucks costumer and conservative Christian Joshua Feuerstein, who claimed “that Starbucks wanted

I believe that Starbucks have to understand the employment rules and regulations at the host government, one example which show that how much critical to understand the

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).

With Wal-Mart being the site of various lawsuits little perplexity is left surrounding the multitude of cases involving discrimination and violations of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) laws. In 2006, there was an average of 5,000 lawsuits per year, or about seventeen suits per day; as well as, a video documentary, that was made public knowledge of the aspects involving Wal-Mart’s policies and procedures, and the company’s regard for respect of its employees (Brantner, 2006). After reviewing, two of the most recent cases of Wal-Mart’s discrimination of the company’s employees, one is left to wonder if there is ever going to be a change in Wal-Mart’s compliance with the EEOC laws?

KEVIN R. JOHNSON, 48, has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Juniper Networks, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance networking products and services, since September 2008.

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?

Another case were “Wal-Mart in Rodriquez V. Wal-Mart. A Hispanic manager over the age of 40 was placed on disciplinary status for violating the store’s associate purchase policy and warned that any other violation of company policies would result in her terminations. After seeing photo of her co-workers who called in sick at a 4th of July party, she went on one of the co-worker Facebook page and accused the employees by name of lying about being sick. The co-worker reported the incident to Human Resources. HR determine that the manager violated Wal-Mart’s social media policy by publicly chastising employees under her supervision instead of waiting until they return to work to talk to them in private. The policy statement for employees

Starbucks is known for their Frappuccino’s; unfortunately they are on a downward spiral in sales due to competitors such as McDonalds. In 2008 Starbucks admits to its losses due to their competitors. “Company executives now freely admit that such thinking is largely to blame for the woes that led to Tuesday’s announcement that Starbucks will close 600 U.S. stores and eliminate thousands of jobs. The coffee giant’s missteps have come at a spectacularly bad time, hitting as the economic slump deepens and consumers are seeing their discretionary spending eaten up by rising gas prices and grocery bills (Linn).”

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’ regional manager should send a signed, written apology to Jeremy Dorosin on company letterhead (see Exhibit 1). An apology letter will not only comply with Mr. Dorosin’s request but it shows Starbucks’ culpability in what occurred. Since the employee involved in Mr. Dorosin’s negative experience was not displaying the traits of a model Starbucks barista (see Exhibit 3), the employee should be retrained. The other employees and the manager of the store involved should also be required to go through retraining courses in order to not only show why what they did was wrong but how to behave in the future. One facet of the retraining should involve role playing (see Exhibit 4) in order to better understand real-life situations. In following these recommendations along with the gift card and machine repairs, Starbucks should be

An administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled that several New York City Starbucks violated some of the workers rights during their attempt to show their support for union.

The context change in form that Starbucks found itself competing with smaller chains that resembled its former pre-expansion model with competitors focusing in creating symbolic-expressive value and fast food restaurants that had started to offer specialty coffee with more aggressive advertisement at a lower cost. The competitive context changed for Starbucks because it’s focus in mass distribution channels and its retail footprint strategy stated its product within a standard performance product value; this affected the value perception of the product.

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

Starbuck’s strategy focused on three components; high-quality coffee, intimate service, and ambient atmosphere. Starbucks worked closely with growers in Africa, South and Central America, and Asia-Pacific regions to insure the quality of its product. Starbucks called all employees' "partners" and worked hard to train them with the skills necessary to best serve the customer. The atmosphere at Starbucks was crafted after the European-style espresso bar. The company goal was to create ambience through the Starbucks "experience" and by making the area comfortable, yet upscale.

With Starbucks being on basically every corner, it is hard for other coffee shops to come in and be competitive. Another ethical issue that Starbucks faces is their use of hormone-addled milk in their coffees (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2015). With all of Starbuck’s unethical aspects and criticisms of their company, they are well-known for their ethical values. One of their top ethical attributes is their employee relationships. Their employee relationships with the company are what Starbucks is known for if you work for them. Starbuck’s offers their employees top healthcare and benefits. Naturally, their employee turnover rate is not high, and as I stated before, they are one of the top companies to be employed