Starbucks Going Global Fast
TO:
FROM:
DATE: Tuesday, February 8, 2011
ARTICLE: Case 1-1 “Starbucks—Going Global Fast”
RE: MARK 4700
Starbucks is known worldwide as one of the largest and most successful coffee shops. The green circle and mermaid symbol, that has become so well known, it can be seen in nearly every US city, and the company has ambitious plans to expand rapidly off-shore. Howard Schultz started the company in 1987 when he bought out his bosses and began expanding. Starbucks expansion, so far, seems to be rather successful as they have opened over 16,000 coffee shops in 44 countries and have no plans of slowing down. Although the company has experienced exponential growth and unprecedented success it is not without its problems. For one, there is an increasing level is dissatisfaction with employees which seems to stem from Starbucks aggressive expansion. With so many employees and stores nation and worldwide employees are becoming increasingly jaded and out of sync with the original mission statement of Starbucks, which was to focus on superior customer service, and service with a smile. Workers are also complaining about being over worked and under compensated. Still bigger problems present themselves. The baby boomers, Starbucks bread and butter consumer, are slowly disappearing, giving way to the more thrifty, down-to-earth generation X, who have become increasingly weary of powerful and rich corporations and whose focus seems to have shifted from the mainstream to the local in most consumer categories. Generation X’ers are feeling out of place in expensive coffee shops and seem to prefer cheaper alternatives, or prefer to simply make their own coffee. Generation X’ers are also wearier because of some shady practices that Starbucks engages in, such as predatory real estate, which lends to X’ers already heightened alert for corporations. Starbucks also does a lot of things right. They cater new products to new markets, such as a green tea Frappuccino
FROM:
DATE: Tuesday, February 8, 2011
ARTICLE: Case 1-1 “Starbucks—Going Global Fast”
RE: MARK 4700
Starbucks is known worldwide as one of the largest and most successful coffee shops. The green circle and mermaid symbol, that has become so well known, it can be seen in nearly every US city, and the company has ambitious plans to expand rapidly off-shore. Howard Schultz started the company in 1987 when he bought out his bosses and began expanding. Starbucks expansion, so far, seems to be rather successful as they have opened over 16,000 coffee shops in 44 countries and have no plans of slowing down. Although the company has experienced exponential growth and unprecedented success it is not without its problems. For one, there is an increasing level is dissatisfaction with employees which seems to stem from Starbucks aggressive expansion. With so many employees and stores nation and worldwide employees are becoming increasingly jaded and out of sync with the original mission statement of Starbucks, which was to focus on superior customer service, and service with a smile. Workers are also complaining about being over worked and under compensated. Still bigger problems present themselves. The baby boomers, Starbucks bread and butter consumer, are slowly disappearing, giving way to the more thrifty, down-to-earth generation X, who have become increasingly weary of powerful and rich corporations and whose focus seems to have shifted from the mainstream to the local in most consumer categories. Generation X’ers are feeling out of place in expensive coffee shops and seem to prefer cheaper alternatives, or prefer to simply make their own coffee. Generation X’ers are also wearier because of some shady practices that Starbucks engages in, such as predatory real estate, which lends to X’ers already heightened alert for corporations. Starbucks also does a lot of things right. They cater new products to new markets, such as a green tea Frappuccino