Starbucks Case Study

Seattle based, Starbucks Corporation is the leading coffeehouse chain in the world. The company has its operations in more than 44 countries. The main products offered by Starbucks various kinds of drinks, snacks, coffee beans. The company also operates in the field of marketing of music, books (The Company, 2008).

a) The nature of Starbucks’ business is to generate income based on operating activities. When referencing the Statement of Cash Flows and looking at their operating activities, you can see that Starbucks generates $2,908.3M in net cash provided by operating activities. Investment is a significant item in this statement as well. The company spent $785.9M in investments in the year ending September 29th, 2013. Strong investment activities show that Starbucks is investing through buying and selling (Sales, maturities, and calls of investments $1,040.2M) and using their spare cash to invigorate future growth and fund future obligations.

Starbucks Company was established in 1971 with their first store in Western Avenue from that same year to 1976. They started as retailers of ground coffee tea and spices with a single in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market. Starbucks is named after the first mate in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and their logo is inspired by the sea-featuring a twin-tailed siren from Greek mythology. Starbucks had always wanted to inspire the human spirit. They believe in serving the best coffee by growing the coffee under quality standards. Starbucks believes rendering good services to customers is very significant to the success of the company. From just a narrow storefront, Starbucks now has more than 20,000 stores in over 60 countries and

* Starbucks is a global coffee shop chain and it's headquarter is based in Seattle – U.S. It is considered the largest coffee shop company in the whole world.

Starbucks is expanding their international retail presence, primarily through company-operated retail stores. The company has recently moved into China as part of its plan to operate 500 stores in both Asia and Europe. In 1998, Starbucks acquired a London-based Seattle Coffee Company. This gave the company an immediate presence in the U.K. and laid a foundation for future expansion in the European market. Starbucks has been involved with overseas expansion along the Pacific Rim markets such as Japan, Hawaii, Singapore, New Zealand, Philippines, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan. Starbucks expects non-U.S outlets will eventually outnumber domestic stores. Starbucks is positioning itself as a company independent of domestic growth constraints as evidenced by it becoming one of seven NASDAQ stocks listed on the Hong Kong stock market. The Wall Street Journal quoted company Chairman Howard Schultz as saying, "We are no longer building an American company. We are building an international one that is as relevant in Hong Kong as it is in Seattle" (Wall Street Journal, 2008). To develop a successful presence in any of these markets Starbucks must understand the environmental influences to the companies business. Some of the major factors that affect business the foreign markets are technology,

There are many opportunities for Starbucks to succeed in their industry. These opportunities include expanding of product offerings, entering foreign markets, and brand awareness. In expanding of product offerings, we have seen Starbucks

Starbucks started in 1971 and by creating a cozy third place to customers beyond home and work and offering a slightly higher price yet fine quality coffee, within 25 years, it had opened just over 1000 stores. In order to maintain its leadership position, Starbucks had continued pursuing growth opportunities by selling Starbucks products through mass distribution channels and expanding its retail footprint. Along with the rapid expansion and success, Starbucks has encountered financial downturn in 2008, and the rise of competitors from both high price independent coffee shops, smaller coffee chains that resembled pre-expansion Starbucks model, to low price fast food restaurants chain McDonald’s and Dunkin’s Donuts has deteriorate the

Starbucks Corporation is an American coffeehouse chain, founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971. It operates worldwide and has been experiencing revitalized prosperity. They have grown to more than 23,043 stores in over 68 countries and have about 238,000 employees. (Appendix 1) At that time the company was a single store and offered one of the world’s finest fresh roasted while bean coffees. Now, Starbucks also offers a selection of premium teas, fine pastries and other delectable treats to please the taste buds. They are committed to creating global social impact in neighborhoods around the world. From the start, it set out to be a different kind of company. One that not only celebrated coffee and the rich tradition, but that also brought a feeling of connection. (Bain, 2016)

The Starbucks Company was founded in Seattle in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Seigel with a dream to inform American customers about the fine coffee drinking experience. In a short time, they became a multi-million-dollar company in the industry from a small coffee business house by keeping their standards high and only purchased premium quality coffee and by giving a unique experience to their customers. Currently, the company is considered on top in the coffee line, and has over 12,000 locations in more than 35 countries. (Starbucks Company Timeline)

Howard Schultz asked Bowker and Baldwin to allow him to partner with them. Although the pair was leery of him, and questioned his dedication, they eventually gave in. The two initially denied his request, but Schultz was able to convince Baldwin that he could do it. Baldwin agreed to hire Schultz. Schultz became the head of marketing and appointed the task of overseeing all of the retail stores in 1982. He quickly became knowledgeable about the day-to-day operations of Starbucks. His dedication and love for coffee was no longer in question. He brought new ideas to streamline the ordering process and make for a smoother in-store experience.

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.

Since its ' 1992 IPO, Starbucks has continually focused on growth. Initially, the growth was targeted to enable Starbucks to achieve their goal of becoming the leading North American retailer of specialty coffee. The early success they achieved resulted in Starbucks expanding their original goal to that of becoming the most recognized and respected coffee brand in the world.

1- I think the most important management skills for Schultz to have are the conceptual skills. Since Schultz is the chairman of Starbucks, which means he is the top manager of the company, the conceptual skills are the most important for him to have. Mostly because conceptual skills help him see the organization as a whole. It helps the manager understand the relationship among the various subunits, and visualize how the organization fits into its broader environment. In fact the conceptual skills are defined as the ability to think and to conceptualize about abstract and complex situations. But as we can see in the case Schultz proved he had good conceptual skills when he decided to open his own espresso chain after

Starbucks was started by three former students of the university of San Francisco named Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. Their plan was to sell high quality coffee beans and roasting equipment but did not expect the success that their company would achieve in the future.

Starbucks  is an international coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 19,435 stores in 58 countries,