Essay about Starbucks

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 was bought out by current CEO Howard Schultz in 1987. Since then, Andrew Harrer (2012) reports the company has grown to operate over “17,244 stores worldwide” (para. 1). Fortune (n.d.) reports in its yearly 100 Best Companies to Work for that Starbucks employs “some 95,000 employees”. From only a handful of stores in 1987 to a billion dollar franchise today, the success of Starbucks is due in great deal to their corporate culture, specifically how employees, or as Starbucks calls them, partners are treated. Joseph Michelli (2007) echoes this sentiment, “A great cup of coffee is only part of the Starbucks success equation” (p. 767).

Howard Schultz took a small three-store coffee shop and grew it into the largest specialty coffee retailer in the world. With twenty-five thousand locations, 105 million customers a week, and 191 thousand employees. Let’s start with the beginning.

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.

Seeing a Starbucks sign reminds a person of the tantalizing flavors that are brewed from the store that sells millions of people their first cup of coffee every morning. Upon walking into the store, it is inviting and welcoming. The staff is friendly and helpful and the crowd is eager to enjoy that bittersweet java on the taste buds. When an order is made, the staff prepares each individual cup of coffee fresh, and exactly to the customer’s preference. Starbucks Corporation is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world. Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz has built a booming empire, with 13,500

The company’s founder and CEO, Howard Schultz, has been successful in creating Starbucks into something that we didn’t really know we needed until we had it. He has meticulously crafted a brand for the company that adds a psychological value to its offerings. Thereby, when you buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you buy an experience. The somewhat quiet, not-so-rushed atmosphere along with dimmed ambience and friendly

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

Howard Schultz stated that he always wanted to do something to make a difference for the society therefore he started to do that. The values that I admire from Schultz was his belief in employee satisfaction driving them to create customer’s satisfied and pleasant about their coffee, having his employees satisfied by having communication and training in the workplace, making high quality beverages quickly and make it how the customer would like it to be e.g. with one sugar, skim milk or caramel sauce

Starbucks is an American coffee company which is widely known as the representative of coffee and other beverage distributors globally. Alongside many other coffee companies all around the world, Starbucks has been able to distinguish itself from others by application of many customer friendly factors such as quality, taste and as well as good customer experience. These factors have successfully been able to raise it recognition in many parts of the world as well as popularizing darkly roasted coffee.

In the early 1980s, how did Howard Schultz view the possibilities for the specialty coffee market?

Howard Schultz didn’t just build a company, he built an empire. Starbucks’ Coffee is a benchmark in the coffee trade, for coffee drinkers and, even non-coffee drinkers. He nursed a small company in the big city of Seattle, to a global

Many Starbucks business practices concern activists and international advocacy groups. Even the consumers have expressed issues. So, the company should take these into account to continue holding consumers’

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 is renowned for its morality due to their innovative sustainability and environmental policies and operations. They strive to go beyond mandated regulations by implementing ethics as part of their core practices. However, no matter how flawless their code of ethics is; they, too, face ethical issues and commit unethical acts. First, they are responsible for putting small, local coffee shops out of business which creates a uniform retail culture throughout cities. Second, they advertise to provide 100% fair trade coffee when it is not truly 100% fairly traded. Third, they use hormone added milk that is detrimental to the human body as well as the environment. Fourth, they set unrealistic, unattainable recycling goals, so they were unachievable; in turn, their trustworthiness is hindered and their reputation is tarnished. Lastly, it was revealed that Starbucks discovered ways to avoid paying taxes in the UK. To this day, Starbucks continues to be recognized as an ethical company. Although sometimes controversial, they are innovatively striving to positively change the ways of society and business operations.