Starbucks

STARBUCKS: DELIVERING CUSTOMER SERVICE

In mid-2002, Christine Day, Starbucks’ senior vice president of administration in North America, sat in the seventh-floor conference room of Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters and reached for her second cup of toffee nut latte. The handcrafted beverage – a buttery, toffee-nut flavored espresso concoction混合topped蓋with whipped cream and toffee sprinkles – had become a regular afternoon indulgence愛好for Day ever since its introduction earlier that year.

As she waited for her colleagues to join her, Day reflected on the company’s recent performance. While other retailers were still reeling倒退from the post-9/11 recession, Starbucks was enjoying its 11th consecutive year of 5% or higher comparable store sales growth, prompting its founder and chairman, Howard Schultz, to declare: “I think we’ve demonstrated that we are close to a recession-proof product.”

Day, however, was not feeling nearly as sanguine懷著希望的, in part because Starbucks’ most recent market research had revealed some unexpected finding. “We’ve always taken great pride in our retail service,” said Day, “but according to the data, we’re not always meeting our customers’ expectations in the area of customer satisfaction.”

As a result of these concerns, Day and her associates had come up with a plan to invest an additional $40 million annually in the company’s 4,500 stores, which would allow each store to add the equivalent of 20 hours of labor a week. “The idea is to improve speed-of-service and thereby increase customer satisfaction,” said Day.

In two days, Day was due to make a final recommendation to both Schultz and Orin Smith, Starbucks’ CEO, about whether the company should move forward with the plan. “The investment is the EPS [earnings per share] equivalent of almost seven cents a share,” said Day. In preparation for her meeting with Schultz and Smith, Day had asked one of her associates to help her think through the implications捲入of the plan. Day noted,...