Starbucks' Coffee Supply Chain: An Analysis

As the world’s number one specialty coffee retailer, Starbucks sells coffee drinks, food items, coffee beans, and coffee-related accessories and equipment. In addition, Starbucks sells whole-bean coffees through a specialty sales group and grocery stores. Starbucks has grown beyond coffee into related businesses such as coffee-flavoured ice cream and ready-to-drink coffee beverages. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Starbucks business strategy, customer value proposition, company’s operations and the risks to financial results and reporting in the short term.

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.

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 is rated as the number one World’s leading coffee distributor. Customers satisfactions are always be in the center of their business and the company works consistently to maintain it as customer look forward to a unique experience when visiting one of Starbuck stores. With over 12,000 stores worldwide, Starbucks has always aimed at achieving and maintaining competition in the industry.  Starbucks success reside in many factors :  the company is admire and respected worldwide,employees are recognized and respected for what they contribute to the success of the company. Open communication

Starbucks Corporation, generally known, as Starbucks Coffee is the leading retailer and a brand of world’s forte coffee in the world, with more than 15,000 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim, wherever in this world where premium quality coffee is in demand. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world ahead of UK rival Costa Coffee, with 20737 stores in 63 countries and territories, including 11910 in the United States, 1496 in China, 1442 in Canada, 1052 in Japan and 772 in the United Kingdom. The first Starbucks was open in 1970. The name was inspired from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, a definitive American novel regarding the 19th century whaling industry. The nautical name matches seamlessly for a store that imports the world’s finest coffees to the cold thirsty people of Seattle. In May 1998, Starbucks have finally successfully entered the European market through its acquirement of 65 Coffee Company stores initially originated from Seattle in the UK. Both companies shared a common culture, focusing on a great commitment to customized coffee, similar company values and a mutual respect.

* Starbucks expanded to pursue sales of products in a variety of distribution channels and market segments. Products were marketed to restaurants, airlines, hotels, universities, hospitals, business offices, country clubs, and select retailers. In the airline industry, Starbucks coffee was served in flights United Airlines and United Airlines. Packets of Starbucks coffee along with coffee making equipment were made available in each room in Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton, Radisson and Westin Hotels. Coffee service was also provided in several Wells Fargo banks in California. Foodservice distributors such as Sysco

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

In the inventories section, they are directed at the lower of cost (primarily moving average cost) or market. Starbucks records inventory reserves for obsolete and slow-moving inventory and for estimated shrinkage between physical inventory counts. According to trends, inventory reserves are based on inventory obsolescence, historical experience and application of the specific identification method. As of September 27, 2015 and September 28, 2014, inventory reserves were $33.8 million and $31.2 million, respectively. We see that the carrying amount (lower of cost or market) as of the balance sheet date of inventories less all valuation and other allowances. Excludes noncurrent inventory balances (expected to remain on hand past one year or one operating cycle, if longer).

Coffee is a growing part of people’s daily lives. Just before the 9-5 weekdays, and even during the 9-5, it is common for the working class to drink a cup of coffee. To support this accustomed part of our culture, it involves a complex supply chain that allows those coffee beans to turn into a cup that can be consumed. This paper is structured on how Starbucks, the top coffee supplier in the world, can supply its stores, from raw materials to manufacturing, right to the start of someone’s day.

Accounting helps to measure an organizations activities, process data into reports, and translate the results to decision makers. Financial statements and reports help to present the company to the public in financial terms. The information on these data statements can used to evaluate the company through vertical and horizontal analysis. Vertical analysis is the proportional analysis of a financial statement. Normally, vertical analysis is done with a financial statement over a period of time. When using vertical analysis, a line item on a financial statement is listed as a percentage of another item (Harrison, 2015). A horizontal analysis is the comparison of information or ratios over a series of reporting periods. Horizontal analysis helps investors and analysts to control how a company has grown over time. Analysts and investors could use horizontal analysis to compare a company's growth rates in relation to its competitors and industry.

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

In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.

In this report we will understand the operations process of Starbucks, find the main problem areas and provide suitable suggestions that will help them maximize their profits. Starbucks is one of the world’s leading coffeehouses located all over the world with 17,000 plus stores, with 6 roasting plants and over 70,000 deliveries per week. As s global business, Starbucks showcases their organizational culture through maximizing quality of service. Their most significant operations decisions include; Quality Management where the coffee beans are carefully sourced from the coffee farmers that meet the Starbucks Standards; Process and Capacity Design where the organization carefully utilizes capacity in a way that it meets fluctuating demand (ability to increase personnel to cater to increasing demand at peak hours) and aims to maintain cost effectiveness by efficient workflows and processes. The Location Strategy of Starbucks is that they are located in populated urban cities across the globe that have a significant number of middle to upper class members of the society that can

To support this statement, I would like to present Starbucks ' supply chain reorganization started in late 2008. The initials first step was to simplify a complex structure in four essential supply chain functions. Every supply chain job fell in plan, source, make, and deliver. If someone involved in production planning or replenishment or new product, was part of the planning department. Sourcing functions split between coffee and "non-coffee" procurement. At that time Starbucks spent in the average US $600 million on coffee a year and total US

Starbucks then reorganized their supply chain – developing new cost-effective models, relooking into suppliers and reconsidering expenditures by ingredient instead of purchase price (Cooke, 2010). The supply chain was streamlined into 4 categories: Plan, Source, Make and Deliver, adopting a simplified system where coffee beans were manufactured in the same region where they are sold (Starbucks, 2012b, November 30). This was modeled by existing