Starbucks

1. What was Howard Schultz’s original strategic vision for Starbucks? Is his 2010 strategic vision for Starbucks different from the one he had in the 1980s? How many times has his strategic vision changed?

Schultz thought that Starbucks had a huge potential and therefore had to expand its premises even outside of Seattle and exposing people all over America to Starbucks coffee. During a conference in San Francisco he presented his ideas for opening Starbucks stores across the United States and Canada. His main vision basically was to combine good quality coffee with a friendly place in which people can meet friends and visit. It had the idea after a trip in Italy: he wanted to create the American version of the Italian coffee bar culture, in particular concerning the atmosphere and the bartender attitude. But Schultz wanted to do so by maintaining a top-quality, fresh-roasted, whole bean coffee and then export this idea, first throughout United States and then in Canada.

Obviously his strategy from 1980 to 2010 has considerably changed, but the principles that are at the basis of Starbucks (e.g. friendly atmosphere and top-quality coffee) are still intact. The strategy changed many times in order to suit to the new market's requirements, to fulfill customer's needs and to adapt to the changing in the American culture. The strategy has changed many times but we can identify what are the main differencies for us: first of all, the first strategy is the one when Schultz entered the company which was to expand the culture of coffee (and Starbucks) outside Seattle. Then, another strategy was the one he decided to adopt after his trip to Italy that is to offer different products (like the Frappucino and many more) and to adapt the atmosphere to the Italian one. Another important change in the strategy was when he decided to diversify the services Starbucks offered, to enter new market segments and to purchase new services to the customers such as...