Business Strategy

9. What recommendations would you make to Howard Schultz to sustain the company’s growth and support continued strong financial performance in the years ahead? Consider both the US and International strategies. • Lower Prices- In order to reach more consumers who may shy away from Starbucks due to their high coffee prices Starbucks may want to think about slightly lowering their prices. This would help to reach more consumers who don’t feel comfortable with the current high prices. Alternatively if the management did not feel comfortable in doing this perhaps by offering new deals such as a buy one get one free offer during obscure hours for example, from 3-6pm on week days. This would help increase the flow into Starbucks during the non-“rush hours”. This would also attract more consumers who perhaps have never tried Starbucks but are interested in the deal. When they taste the high quality of the brew they may be more willing to splurge on a good cup of coffee. • K-Cup Availability- The Keurig system has become increasingly popular within the United States. Especially during the recent recession when consumers are more likely to make coffee at home than buy it on their way to work. This opens up an opportunity for Starbucks to break further into the at home coffee market. The Keurig machines brew single cups of coffee using their K-Cups, which are easily disposable after use. This system allows you to make coffee mess free and quickly at home. Starbucks could easily partner with Keurig in order to create Starbucks K-Cups for sale. They could start with basic blends of Starbucks coffee for sale in local grocery stores. Starbucks’ competitors such as Dunkin Donuts have already broken into this market, and I believe it would be a golden opportunity for Starbucks to do the same. • International Growth- Although Starbucks is currently located in over 50 countries, I believe the idea Howard Schultz had to expand into Japan and China is a good one. Japan