Starbucks Operation Strategy

The Starbucks former strategy was centered in offering a high quality product to a narrow consumer segment (coffee lovers), therefore, a

Starbucks Coffee originated in 1971 as a coffee and tea café opening in a small neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (Starbucks Corporation, 2010). Starbucks continued its service for Seattle residents for a decade when the new director of retail operations and marketing, Howard Shultz, decided to make some beneficial changes to the company. After two years of employment Howard Shultz decided to expand Starbucks outside of the Seattle area. In 1987 Starbucks was entering in the coffee market and the few numbers of Starbucks were now becoming a corporation (Starbucks Corporation, 2010). Fast forwarding to current times, Starbucks is

Starbucks Corporation the leading coffeehouse in the world. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker in Seattle, Washington. Howard Schultz was the key person who turned the company a huge success around the globe. Since the beginning Starbucks has been facing many tough challenges and yet it is still remains as the best coffee House in the world. The mission of Starbucks is to inspire and nurture the human spirit- one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Their main competitors are include Dunkin Donuts, Biggby Coffee, Caribou Coffee, McDonald 's, Panera Bread, and Einstein Bagels, ,Secret Recipe, Old Town White Coffee and Coffee Bean. The political stability shows what

Starbucks has made a success offering the consumers something different than nice store bought brands of coffee. Howard Schultz acquired Starbucks in 1987 he wanted to copy the idea of espresso bars that he saw on his visit to Milan. His idea was to provide the consumer a place where they could relax and socialize with coworkers or friends that he called the third place. (Ferrell & Hartline, 2013).

Starbucks’s has been able to surpass its rivals and continue being one of the premier roaster and retailers of specialty coffee in the world since its inception in 1985. Such an accomplishment has been sustainable due to a concrete company strategy. When Starbucks’s first debuted back in 1985 it was the first coffee shop to bring specialty coffees to the mass market in the United States. Along with only purchasing and roasting top quality coffee beans they designed their strategy in a way which gave the customer the ability to customize their drinks to meet each person’s individual preference. They also included free Wi-Fi in all of their stores, which in turn increased an already competitive advantage even more by not only offering customers

Their strength is in competing on quality and comfort rather than convenience. Starbucks craftily created

This key acquisition is one of Starbucks’s main strategic goals for diversifing its brand by

1.Analyze the business-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the business-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.

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.

Nevertheless, this was not embraced until 1987 were he would come in with several local investors to purchased Starbucks and rebrand. What a better location than Chicago. In 1991 is where Starbucks took off and became the took the position to offer to its full and part time employees. They also were able to take the lead in the coffee world by offering their Frappuccino’s. They continued to do well that in 1995 they joined forces with Pepsi-Cola and offered their consumers a ready-to-drink Frappuccino that could be purchased through local grocery stores or convenient stores. Drinks in 1996. It was also in 1996 that Starbucks opened its first store outside of North America in Japan. The company acquired Tazo Tea Company in 1998, and collaborated with Conservation International in 1999, to promote environmentally responsible methods for growing coffee. Starbucks has continued to grow over the years, launching its VIA™ Ready Brew coffee in 2009 (Starbucks Timeline, 2010). They have continue to work aggressively to serve the public as of today Starbucks has more than 15,000 stores in 50 countries, and have taken their name to be known as the world’s premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee (Starbucks Heritage, 2010).

Starbucks is competing in an industry where marketing principles has to follow the differentiator strategy or they will lose market share. The company goal is to create high value for its customers, or the customers will simply find another place to spend their money. Starbucks marketing principles are the basis of the company's competitive advantage within the coffee industry. Starbucks products are associated with high quality, and the company dedicates itself to producing high quality products. Because of this association with high quality, Starbucks has been able to charge a higher price or premium for its products. As long as the company can protect its reputation for high quality and strong values, it will be able to maintain its premium prices.

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

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.

Starbucks was established in 1971 to sell high quality whole beans coffee. Starbucks air is to provide high quality of coffee to its consumer and aim to achieve product innovation, retail expansion and provide service quality for long term. Within a couple of years, the company grew from a regional and small business into the undoubted leader of the coffee industry.

These days Starbucks owns more than 18,000 stores in 62 countries and is the premier roaster and retailer of exclusive coffee in the world. Back in 1971, when the first Starbucks opened, the company already had two intentions to give to people every single day till now: share specialty coffee with friends and help to make the world a little better.