Starbucks Case Study

Dear Diary, this is Howard Schultz writing to you today. I am sitting here reminiscing about my early years at Starbucks. I remember working at Hammarplast, when my curiosity got the better of me, and I wondered why this small coffee shop was ordering so many plastic cone filters. It is worth noting, that I had no ulterior motives when visiting Starbucks in 1981. Subsequently, I was impressed with their operation, and expressed my desire to work with the company. Consequently, it took me over a year to convince them, but eventually, I was awarded the marketing director position. Then, shortly after, during a trip to Milan I discovered the romance of coffee. Interestingly, I knew that there was a way to incorporate what I learned in Milan into the Starbucks brand, I just had to convince the owners. I remember the guys rejecting some of my ideas, thinking that my style was unsuited for the laid back atmosphere. Unfortunately, I was unable to convey my vision effectively, it was never the right time or the right path for those guys. Shortly afterwards, I left to pursue my dreams, of an espresso empire. Surprisingly, a few years later, I found out Starbucks was available to purchase. Somehow, I was able to raise the capital needed to purchase Starbucks, and this is when my dream began to blossom. Thus, I always felt that, I was the only one that was able to envision what the company could be. First, I started with the employees. Moreover, I wanted the employees to feel as if

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:

Most know Starbucks, the ubiquitous retail chain that, in the 1990’s, turned coffee drinking into a national pastime. However few know Howard Schultz, the humble chairman, CEO and mastermind behind Starbucks’. Schultz is credited with bringing Italy’s “coffeehouse culture” to the United States and packaging it for mass consumption. This maverick marketer transformed a little-known four-chain store in the leading retailer of specialty coffee in North America.

Starbucks today is widely recognized as the megabrand for coffee, and there clearly are no close competitors that have its international recognition and scope. Starbucks has grown to employ over “160,000 people and generates about 13.6 billion dollars annually” (Forbes). Much of Starbuck’s success is attributed to a man with a clear vision and drive: Howard Schultz. Howard Schultz’s passion for delivering quality coffee along with a positive café experience has given him the motivational determination to demonstrate exceptional leadership traits. This paper will give a brief overview of the history of Starbucks, and will then investigate the changes that were made after Schultz stepped in. Furthermore, problems that

Howard Schultz, owner of the Starbucks Corporation, is well known in the coffee industry today as an innovating contemporary leader. Schultz began his career with the Starbucks Corporation working in the operations department for 5 years. He purchased the company in 1987, and assumed responsibility as CEO, chairman, and later as a chief global strategist. Under Shultz’s leadership, Starbucks grew from 17 coffee shops to 4,000 stores rapidly and then he led the unrivaled Corporation into international markets around the world. The Starbucks Corporation has experienced tremendous growth and success in the US and internationally, (Lemus, Feigenblatt, Orta, & Rivero, 2015), and currently has 24,000

Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul. Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordon. New York: Rodale, Inc., 2011. 331 pages.

In 1982, Starbucks coffee changed forever. While traveling in Milan, Italy, head of marketing Howard Schultz was intrigued by the coffee shop atmosphere – patrons sitting, relaxing and chatting over café latte. Wanting to

Bryan C. Seaford, TIAA-CREF Robert C. Culp, Tuscan Sun, Inc. Bradley W. Brooks, Queens University of Charlotte

In 1971 Pike Place Market in Seattle founded the first Starbucks. Owners Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegal, and Gordon Bowker focused on selling coffee beans and equipment. Starbucks, after the first mate in Moby Dick, investing in the green coffee beans from Peet’s, a specialty coffee roaster and retailer they began introducing the gourmet coffee. In 1983, the final entrepreneur, Howard Schultz, joined the company and began selling not only coffee beans but espresso drinks as well. Schultz idea was not agreeable, he started his own company called II Giornale coffee bar chain in 1985. In 1987, the original owners of Starbucks sold their chain to Schultz’s II Giornale. Schultz changed II Giornale outlets to Starbucks chains and quickly began to expand. Foremost, Starbucks faces three major obstacles first competition in the fast pace economy, continually changing atmosphere, declining industries and the shift in consumer preference. Through competition, the price of Starbucks coffees and products sales creates the buying power of the consumers. In this situation, Starbucks needs to provide prices are constructive to company and the consumers. As the largest coffeehouse company in the world, Starbuck attained 16,120 stores in 94 countries such as in America, Australia,

Starbucks is at this point a household name in many countries. This small Pike Place; Seattle, WA partnership founded in 1971 has gone from a retail coffee bean and equipment store to a huge publicly traded company that has set sites that rival that of McDonald 's. However, the Starbucks ' Grande mocha latte was a long transition in the making. The original partnership of three; English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker, were in the business of roasting coffee beans and selling the equipment to turn those beans into high-end coffee, not that of biscotti and mocha.

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.

When it comes to the introduction of Starbucks , The Starbucks was initially opened in 1971; the store was in the pike place market in Seattle and sold coffee beans. Where three coffee lovers were huge lovers to their day today coffee was the initials to this world renowned business , Starbucks grew slowly , what they differentiated from the ordinary coffee’s is they looked beyond it

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.

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

Starbucks opened in 1971, at that time, the syndicate was a solitary store in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market. Beginning with merely a slender store overlook, Starbucks presented some of the world’s premium fresh-roasted whole bean coffees. The given name, motivated through Moby Dick, evoked the excitement of the high-seas and the nautical ritual of the initial coffee traders. From the launch, Starbucks embark on binge a distinctive style of business; whereas, one which not simply commemorated coffee and the luxuriant traditional, however one that additionally produced an atmosphere of correlation.