Starbucks Company Analysis (Research Paper Sample)

Name Instructor Course Date Starbucks Company Analysis Introduction In the year 1971, Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle's Pike Place Market. At the time, it engaged in selling ground beans over a small counter. In addition, the location was an open-air market, and its beginning, was more or less similar to a hobby. The friends, who started the now renowned global company, were not profit oriented. However, the joining of Howard Schultz is the primary cause of its current growth. He first expanded to Italy, and in the year 1990, the firm began expanding in the United States. The company expanded its headquarters in Seattle, built other plants, including stores in renowned cities in nationwide (Green). Its growth was partly because of the contracts the director negotiated with the United Airlines, Nordstrom, Barnes and Noble, and the Sheraton Hotel. In addition, the director made efforts to expand beyond the United States, and managed to open stores in Hawaii, Britain, Japan and Asia. Initially, the strategy behind the growth of the firm was "a Starbucks on every corner," which saw the company saturate in the markets. There was a Starbucks shop sometimes a block away from one another. Gradually, the firm grew, and operated and licensed over 14,000 coffee shops in over 40 countries (Green). The firm offered various premium coffee drinks, and Starbucks brand merchandise. The strategic concept was that the shops would attract many people, especially because of the locations in destination points. At such points, several people could meet and get coffee, read or complete homework. Many companies collaborated with Starbucks, such as, HP, Visa, which further contributed to its growth. In addition, Starbucks leveraged its popularity to expand the brand beyond coffee to provide some home goods, including lifestyle products. For instance, the firm collaborated with Amazon.com to sell coffee supplies, and kitchenware. In other instances, Starbucks marketed its product through grocery stores, and used licensing to grow the company (Green). Mission and Vision The company's mission statement is to nurture the human spirit, one person, one cup, one neighborhood at a time. The mission statement is a typical ambitious driven statement, which endeavors to change the perception of a cup of coffee to be uplifting and nurturing, and a builder of neighborhoods. The suggestion here is that a cup of coffee, particularly from Starbucks will make someone nicer. Starbucks' vision is to design an inclusive environment, which comprise of people and their individual variances (Gullati, Huffman and Neilson 1-8). This is regardless of age, race, gender, origin, culture, religion and other attributes. The company's vision and mission are strategic, in the sense of planning and management. They both help people to understand the objectives of the firm. In addition, the vision of the firm helps the company in developing other aspects of strategic planning. Furthermore, the vision must be in line with the mission, main strategies, aims and the implementation should follow evaluation to establish the results (Starbucks). Strategic Plans Starbucks has had humble beginnings, and its growth has been typical. Similar to other renowned organizations, it began because of hobbies. In addition, it has similarities to other organizations, exclusively when it comes to the facet of growing, and venturing into other fields of business. The company was negotiating with French yogurt maker Dannon to create yogurt products, which will have Starbucks' label. The yogurt, which the company dubbed "Evolution Fresh, Inspired by Dannon" will reach grocery stores by the year 2015 (Horovitz). In addition, this move will put the company a step further beyond the juice business. Alternatively, the firm has also expanded into tea business by purchasing Teavana, and into pastry business by purchasing La Boulange (Horovitz). In addition, expanding is another strategic plan the company seeks to achieve. The drive behind this is to gain entry to other large markets. Owing to its current situation, the firm will not find it complicated to expand to other promising countries. Although this is the main motivation, the firm is not ready to sacrifice its morals to achieve the strategic plan for expansion. The firm also plans to be the leader in all facets of business. The company aims to raise its standards, which the competitors will find hard to emulate. One of the ways the firm aims to achieve this is through the fair trade coffee. Fair trade coffee is an approach where the peasants get fair prices for their coffee and additional finance for improving their community. This is how Starbucks shows that it will appreciate the farmer's efforts. In addition, this adds to the social responsibility of the firm. Although the company may be offering high prices for their products, the firm has done a good job to improve the life of peasant farmers. In addition, the quality of the coffee also demands for high prices (Gullati, Huffman and Neilson 1-8). Organizational Design and Culture Organizational Design Many businesses that deal in similar products with Starbucks run independently as small businesses. Starbucks runs its business through a vast network of coffee houses. The structure of the company varies greatly with other firms. The variation is due to the complications that arise with the creation and maintenance of such a global brand. The company's structure is general where the executives oversee the activities of the company from Seattle, Washington. In a given country, district managers are responsible of activities, and stores. Similar to other organizations, the district managers report to the management (Iversen). In every store, the store manager serves as the chief, and under him or her, there are shift supervisors. They also play the role of the store manager when the manager is absent. Below the supervisors, the company has other employees, referred to as the baristas. Conversely, the firm does not operate through a franchise system, but the firm licenses its storefronts. They are common in grocery stores, bookstores, and other sites, especially where the firm does not have a stand-alone store. Nevertheless, the firm still controls the operations of the licensed store, which is strategic to ensure the stores follow the company's guidelines. This also means that the company approves the products sold in the stores. The motive behind this is to defend the brand, and ensure that the products are of high quality. In addition, the employees of Starbucks are the company's partners. Although there are titles for each of the employee, they are all partners. This illustrates that the company values its employees regardless of how subordinate an employee is, they all share in the success. Social responsibility is another aspect the company works to achieve. The firm practices aims to perform environmentally by having eco-friendly options. For instance, the firm discourages the throwing away of coffee grounds during summer, and encourages consumers to leave the grounds for consumers who wish to use them in their gardens (Iversen). Culture Every global company has its own organizational culture. At Starbucks Corporation, the firm has endeavored to create a culture, which values and respect diversity, and advocates for the inclusion of all employees. The company struggles to gain leadership in diversity and inclusion, which will help in further growth, and maintaining of the company's mission and statement. In order to realize the corporation's goals, the firm has integrated diversity and inclusion as the core aspects in leadership (Starbucks). Leaders in the company are to uphold ethical behavior, and advocate for inclusion. In so doing, the firm will leverage diverse points of views, talents and abilities. In addition, the firm works in teams, functions and corporations, across markets, cultures and societies. Some of the way the firm endorses for diversity is through encouraging and hiring staff from all parts of the globe. This has led to emergence of a diverse workforce, increased cultural competencies, shaped a culture of inclusion and realized a diverse network of suppliers (Starbucks). SWOT Analysis Strengths Starbucks is a renowned corporation, especially in the coffee business. The firm has managed to become the market leader in the industry. Owing to this, the company had 16,858 stores in the year 2010, which have now possibly increased. In addition, the company has a rapid pace of development, both locally and globally. The company is opening many stores globally, and this has led to attraction of many consumers across many countries. Another important strength is that the company is financially stable, which was proven during the years 2008-2009, and the current state is promising. Even though it is promising that the company will have undergone decrease in stock price, the firm has consequently recorded profits throughout. The firm has strong brand recognition across many countries by consumers. People acknowledge that the firm produces high quality products, and consumer friendly environment. In general, the firm has much strength, some of which will emerge through the future. Weaknesses Although the company has much strength, it does not go short of weaknesses. One of the apparent weaknesses is in the price of its products. The company has high prices of its products, and some of the competitors have used this against them. In addition, a large proportion of the firm's products come from coffee, and other beverages. This suggests that with the rising prices of coffee bean, the company takes advantage and increases the consumer products. In so doing, the competitors have realized this weakness. For instance, McDonald and Dunkin Donuts, who are the main competitors, have used this w...