Estudo de caso: Starbucks Coffee Co

Starbucks Coffee Co

You can get a cup of coffee at the diner on the corner for fifty cents. So why do nine million people a week clamour to pay two bucks for the same product at Starbucks? From its beginning in 1971 as a small, whole-bean store in Seattle, Starbucks has grown to more than 1,800 chic cafes where customers sip expressos, double skim lattes, and no-whip mochas. About 10 percent of Starbucks’ customers come in twice a day.

One of the reasons is that customers are buying not just a great cup of coffee, but an experience. In a new store in Beijing, for instance, customers line up to have a barista dispense jolts of java from a “Mercury machine” strapped to his back. Starbucks recruits most of its “baristas”, who prepare coffee drinks, from colleges and community groups and provides them with extensive training in coffee making and lore. Employees’ knowledge, .as well as their as their ability to interact with customers, is key to the hip image and quality service that keeps customers coming back. Starbucks also emphasises listening to the customer and giving them what they want. In Atlanta where business was slow at the company’s first store in the region, employees noted that customers tended to come in later in the day and wanted to feel comfortable lingering for a while. So Starbucks began offering more appealing dessert options and opening bigger stores with amenities such as couches and outdoor tables so that people would feel comfortable just hanging out. The result was double digit sales growth making Atlanta –now home to thirty-three stores –one of the company’s top markets. Starbucks is constantly innovating “You might imagine that we came up with one idea and never looked back” says John Richards, head of Starbucks North American Retail division “But …if we didn’t change we’d be at a real disadvantage”

Despite recent criticisms of Starbucks’ rapid expansion plans and ventures into supermarket sales the company is as strong as ever. The cachet of Starbucks’ keeps loyal customers lining up all over the world .If you wonder why, listen to the answer of Starbucks’ international president Howard Behar “We are not in the business of filling bellies we are in the business of filling souls”

From Daft R., Organisation theory and Design, South Western Publishing

Which of Porter’s generic strategies is Starbucks pursuing?

How have Starbucks created a premium brand from what was once a commodity product?

Is the strategy working?

Will it continue to work in the future?

Are there any threats in the environment?