Starbucks SWOT Analysis

With time the small industry of coffee has modernized into a multibillion dollar industry that surrounds the world. With the growth of the industry there has been many world wide changes. Over the past 30 years coffee shops have jumped to the front of the public culture. New coffee shops have changes the face of American cities along with British, German, Colombian, Kenyan and Indonesia towns to name few. (Coffee a comprehensive guide to the bean, the beverage, and the industry) Around the world coffee has become part of the daily culture and coffee shops have grown to accommodate the massive demand that people ask for. Without the growth of the industry there would be a shortage of the product and many would have to go without their beloved beverage. In the United States alone there has been a massive increase in the number of coffee shops. In 1980 the number of coffee shops was a year 2,000 and by 2008 there was an astonishing 27,715. (Coffee a comprehensive guide to the bean, the beverage, and the industry) This was an increase of over ten times in the short time. 11,000 of those stores, almost half, were Starbucks one of the biggest coffee brands in the worlds. The growth of Starbucks is due to the work of Howard Schultz a worker for the company before they became as massive as they are today. Starbucks started very small in Seattle, Washington in the mid 1970’s. Howard bought out the owners and then went on to turn the small company into a massive corporation. (Coffee a

Starbucks has created a competitive advantage with their product quality by setting themselves apart from their competitors. “The Company has stayed with the upper-scale of the coffee market, competing on comfort rather than convenience, which is the case with its closest competitors, McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts” (Mourdoukoutas, Panos). Consumers believe they are receiving a better product and experience when they purchase from a Starbucks as opposed to another large food service company that may sell coffee.

Starbuck’s began their journey in the coffee market with the grand opening of a small cafe, back in 19711. The name for this company is quite unique and there is a clear back story behind this. The original owners were inspired by the story of Moby Dick and its thought to “evoke the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders.” Since the first Starbucks store, the company was famous for its community development and its active participation within society. Starbucks began to witness great change within their company once their management changed, in 1987 Harvard Shultz was appointed the Chief executive officer. Inspired by the traditional Italian design, Schultz adapted this design and integrated it within the lighting, layout and music choice played in the cafe’s. As a

Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Ziv Siegl founded Starbucks in 1971. Their goal was to sell the finest quality whole beans and ground coffees (Starbucks timeline and history, 2004). In 1982, Starbucks had grown to five stores and started serving coffee to restaurants and espresso bars. Harold Schultz was employed as the director of retail operations and marketing. Harold Schultz convinced the founders of Starbucks to open a downtown Seattle coffee bar, which opened in 1984. With the success of Seattle coffee bar, Schultz left Starbucks to start his own company named Il Giornale. In 1987, Il Giornale acquired Starbucks retail operations for 4 million dollars. In addition,

The original idea for the Starbucks format came from the 1980´s when the company´s director if marketing, Howard Schultz, came back from a trip to Italy enchanted with the Italian coffeehouse experience, the idea was to sell the company´s own premium roasted coffee and freshly brewed espresso-style coffee beverages, along with a variety of pastries, coffee accessories, teas, and other products in a tastefully designed coffeehouse setting. The focus was to sell a “third place experience”.

quality of coffee which it charges a premium price for. While its prices are much

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

The fast food industry in the United States produced roughly 191 billion U.S. dollars in 2013. By 2018, this figure was estimated to surpass 210 billion. The lion's share (77.3%) of this huge business is involved on-premises restaurants and drive-thru, the rest comprises of off-premises dining out and buffets and cafeterias. In 2013, there were more than 232 thousand fast food foundations in the U.S., providing employment to more than three and an a large portion of million individuals .

One of the main strength of Starbucks is their robust financial performance which in turns helps it to become the market leader in the category of coffee. According to (Forbes, 2014) Starbucks Market cap is around $55.94 Billion which is the main edge over its competitors. Achieving the Top of the mind strategy, whenever we listen coffee or best customer care and quality, we automatically refer Starbucks in our mind. With over 21000 stores in more than 65 countries, it shows great expansion and connection in the world (www.Starbucks.com). Due to great expansion, Starbucks can afford a premium price of coffee and other products. Starbucks is known for its management skills in terms of quality and customer service. They put a lot of emphasis on people skills and soft skills which is critically important in terms of success and failure. It creates a soft ambiance for its employees in which they remain happy and at the end of the day they make customers happy. My StarbucksIdea.com enable customer to provide their feedback on the customer and product services. On the other hand Starbucks uses experiential marketing, in which customer always wanted to experience the environment of Starbucks.

Starbucks was founded in 1971 and opened their first location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market (“Company Information,” 2015). Although the company’s website did not give any information on the founders, further research provided the names of three young businessmen. Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker opened the store where they only sold coffee beans and coffee making machines (“History of Starbucks,” 2014). In 1981, Howard Schultz became the director of operations. Howard was fascinated by the coffee industry, and a year later took a trip to Italy to gain further insight on the operations of coffee shops. When Howard returned he had acquired new ideas and wanted to serve drinks, not just make the beans. When he could not convince the owners to agree with his ideas, he set out on his own in 1985 and founded Il Giornale. Just two short years later in 1987, Howard Schultz acquired Starbucks with the help of local investors and took over the business (“Starbucks Company Timeline,” 2014). From there, Howard expanded the company and made it into what it is today. The biggest factor overall that has contributed to the company’s growth was when Howard Schultz first started working for the company. From the beginning, he wanted to make the company into so much more than what it was. A specific way that Howard contributed to the growth was when he traveled to Italy. This experience gave him insight on the operations of coffee

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.

• Events at specialist training firms- this is when staff member are sent to conferences, seminars or CPD training. I use this method to educate my staffs of new techniques and styles that are currently available. • Day courses – this is when staff is sent to classes to become trained in a specific subject. I use this method to send my staff on day training courses to become advanced in certain techniques within the resturaunt. • Evening classes – this is when staff is sent to classes after they finish work, in order to learn new techniques. This could be for a promotion or learn new dynamics within their fields. I would use this method to train my staff in verifiers and qualifiers qualifications in NVQ managment Level 2.

Starbucks has been a household name for over 20 years. It is the largest coffee house in the world with over 17,000 stores in 50 countries (Wikipedia Website, 2011). How can a giant like Starbucks stay on top of the coffee market yet retain its personal small coffee house feel? Starbucks continuous strive and strategic management plans have proven beneficial in keeping to the goals of the organization.

Starbucks, unlike other American restaurant chains, typically favor one of two business models: the standard retail business model or the license model. To this day, most of Starbucks net revenue is generated by the retail locations the company owns. Starbucks targets highly populated areas with large volumes of foot traffic. Additionally, Starbucks is accommodating globalization by loosening its licensing agreement requirements, and using pieces of the franchise model to rapidly expose itself to developing markets’ share.