Starbucks Case Study
NAMES: Rolando Montenegro Campollo - Federico Monzón Nájera
STARBUCKS- CASE STUDY
Starbucks Discussion
Questions
1. In the beginning, how was Starbucks different from other coffee options for coffee drinkers in the United States? What activities and assets did Starbucks leverage to differentiate itself from competitors? Starbucks strategy at the beginning was based upon creating a symbolic-expressive value trough a social meaning concept of offering the American community meeting places; this positioned its original products and made associations to identify consumers with self-expression providing personal, social and sociocultural meaning.
Assets acquired such as Starbucks-branded locations were decorated with detailed patrons to define a symbolic environment focused in giving privileged interactions with specialized staff (baristas) to support status and privilege. Starbucks focused in assuring supply chain innovation upon differentiation in the coffee tone providing unique flavor products and consistency in the product quality, specialized service and speed.
2. When Starbucks was rapidly expanding its store locations in 2006–2009 it made specific changes in order to facilitate that growth. What did Starbucks gain—and give up—as a result of each change?
Starbucks made operational changes to facilitate its rapid expansion. First, it changed La Marzocco machines for Verismo models, which were automatic and produced espresso quicker. This reduced the costs of training baristas and reduced the time of the process, so customers were served more quickly. However, some customers argued that the new machines produced lower quality coffee and the customer-barista relationship was lost.
Other operational change was coffee grinding. At the beginning, coffee was grounded throughout the day for best tasting. In order to reduce time, Starbucks started shipping pre-ground coffee to its stores. However coffee quality could be compromised by
STARBUCKS- CASE STUDY
Starbucks Discussion
Questions
1. In the beginning, how was Starbucks different from other coffee options for coffee drinkers in the United States? What activities and assets did Starbucks leverage to differentiate itself from competitors? Starbucks strategy at the beginning was based upon creating a symbolic-expressive value trough a social meaning concept of offering the American community meeting places; this positioned its original products and made associations to identify consumers with self-expression providing personal, social and sociocultural meaning.
Assets acquired such as Starbucks-branded locations were decorated with detailed patrons to define a symbolic environment focused in giving privileged interactions with specialized staff (baristas) to support status and privilege. Starbucks focused in assuring supply chain innovation upon differentiation in the coffee tone providing unique flavor products and consistency in the product quality, specialized service and speed.
2. When Starbucks was rapidly expanding its store locations in 2006–2009 it made specific changes in order to facilitate that growth. What did Starbucks gain—and give up—as a result of each change?
Starbucks made operational changes to facilitate its rapid expansion. First, it changed La Marzocco machines for Verismo models, which were automatic and produced espresso quicker. This reduced the costs of training baristas and reduced the time of the process, so customers were served more quickly. However, some customers argued that the new machines produced lower quality coffee and the customer-barista relationship was lost.
Other operational change was coffee grinding. At the beginning, coffee was grounded throughout the day for best tasting. In order to reduce time, Starbucks started shipping pre-ground coffee to its stores. However coffee quality could be compromised by