Starbucks and the Segments of the External Enviroment
Starbucks and The Seven Segments of the General Environment
RHanna
October 23, 2011
Starbucks and The Seven Segments of the General Environment
Starbucks is one of the most recognizable coffee retail chains in the world. Their brand focuses on high quality coffee using specialized roasting of beans from many countries around the world. The company began in 1971 in Seattle, Washington with one retail store and it grew to over 2,600 stores in 13 countries by the early 2000’s (Schultz, 2011). They now have operations and retails stores in more than 50 countries around the world (Harrer, 2011). The CEO, Howard Schultz, has developed a mission and guiding principles of how the corporation should handle their day to day business. Starbucks’ mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” (www.Starbucks.com). Starbucks has faced many economic, social, and competitive challenges along the way. Some of these include new entrants of competitors like McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts who offer similar products at lower prices. However, these competitors have yet to imitate the Starbucks environment of what they call “the third place” (Schultz, 2011). This will be explained more as we look further into how the seven segments of the general environment have, and still do, affect Starbucks. The general environment can be defined as uncontrollable factors in society that can indirectly affect a firm’s industry. It is important for a firm, such as Starbucks, to continually monitor and assess these changes or influences that are occurring in society. Many companies fail when they do not properly assess these elements that ultimately affect their strategic competitiveness (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2011). Let’s begin by looking into their demographic segment. Starbucks can now be found in almost every community. They strive to bring people and places together
RHanna
October 23, 2011
Starbucks and The Seven Segments of the General Environment
Starbucks is one of the most recognizable coffee retail chains in the world. Their brand focuses on high quality coffee using specialized roasting of beans from many countries around the world. The company began in 1971 in Seattle, Washington with one retail store and it grew to over 2,600 stores in 13 countries by the early 2000’s (Schultz, 2011). They now have operations and retails stores in more than 50 countries around the world (Harrer, 2011). The CEO, Howard Schultz, has developed a mission and guiding principles of how the corporation should handle their day to day business. Starbucks’ mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” (www.Starbucks.com). Starbucks has faced many economic, social, and competitive challenges along the way. Some of these include new entrants of competitors like McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts who offer similar products at lower prices. However, these competitors have yet to imitate the Starbucks environment of what they call “the third place” (Schultz, 2011). This will be explained more as we look further into how the seven segments of the general environment have, and still do, affect Starbucks. The general environment can be defined as uncontrollable factors in society that can indirectly affect a firm’s industry. It is important for a firm, such as Starbucks, to continually monitor and assess these changes or influences that are occurring in society. Many companies fail when they do not properly assess these elements that ultimately affect their strategic competitiveness (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2011). Let’s begin by looking into their demographic segment. Starbucks can now be found in almost every community. They strive to bring people and places together
References: If you just have one or two references, you might want to just type them by hand, following these examples: Hall, K. G. (2005, August 29). Web page title. Website title. Retrieved from http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/12506343.htm Smith, A. (1999). Article title. Journal name, 8, 243. Wilson, J. B. (1999). Book title. Place of publication: Publisher. Make sure you delete this text before you turn in your paper!