Starbucks

Al Akhawayn University

MGT3302 05: Individual Take home case study

Starbucks Case Study

Starbucks—Introduction

Community. Connection. Caring. Committed. Coffee. Five Cs that describe the essence of Starbucks

Corporation—what it stands for and what it wants to be as a business. With more than 19,000 outlets in

62 countries, Starbucks is the world's number-one specialty coffee retailer. The company also owns

Seattle’s Best coffee, Teavana, Tazo, Starbucks VIA, Starbuck Refreshers, Evolution Fresh, La

Boulange, and Vermismo brands. It’s a company that truly epitomizes the challenges facing managers in

today’s globally competitive environment. To help you better understand these challenges, we’re going

to take an in-depth look at Starbucks through this case

The Beginning

“We aren’t in the coffee business, serving people. We’re in the people business, serving coffee.” That’s

the philosophy of Howard Schultz, chairman and chief global strategist of Starbucks. It’s a philosophy

that has shaped—and continues to shape—the company.

The first Starbucks, which opened in Seattle's famous Pike Place Market in 1971, was founded by

Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin, and Zev Siegl. The company was named for the coffee-loving first mate

in the book Moby Dick, which also influenced the design of Starbucks’ distinctive two-tailed siren logo.

Schultz, a successful New York City businessperson, first walked into Starbucks in 1981 as a sales

representative for a Swedish kitchenware manufacturer. He was hooked immediately. He knew that he

wanted to work for this company, but it took almost a year before he could persuade the owners to hire

him. After all, he was from New York and he hadn’t grown up with the values of the company. The

owners thought Schultz’s style and high energy would clash with the existing culture. But Schultz was

quite persuasive and was able to allay the owners’ fears. They asked him to join the company as director

of retail operations and...