The Significant Opportunities and Problems Faced by Starbucks

Introduction

It started out as a single store in Seattle, Washington in 1971 with three people Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegel. The name they chose for the shop was Starbucks coffee, Tea and Spice and was located in Pikes Place Market. Initially they did not sell fresh brewed coffee by the cup, but was only used as tasting samples, but later bough their own roster and started making their own blends. They initially sold specialty coffees and tea. Howard Schultz bought the company in 1987 he took it in a new direction brewing espresso drinks under the Starbucks name. By 1989 Starbucks had 28 stores. A new executive vice president of sales and marketing joined the mix Howard Behar. He is considered as the sole of the Starbuck. He planted the seeds of global expansion so he became the first president of Starbucks international in 1995. Now they are the largest coffeehouse chain in the world operating in 55 countries with more than 17,572 stores and 151,000 employees.

Case problem and issue

The significant problems and issues facing the company due to its sheer size and reputation of the brand may be that the customers nowadays are hesitant in going there and spending their money because they don’t want small local shops to go out of business. Other issues may be that the company is company is “having difficulty penetrating Europe's ‘cafe culture’”. (Kyle Spencer, 2012)

Strengths:

Worldwide trade brand recognition through many copyright and trade mark the company has been able to develop a very well known logo. With its very user friendly website, where you can access its mission statement you would be able to see that Starbucks it very active in its employee, customer and product supplier communities. Starbuck is...

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...a bar experience in the tea stores which their very loyal coffee customers might enjoy and keep them coming back to their coffee houses as Teavana products will be available in Starbucks stores also.

Threats

Economic Factor - Threats facing Starbucks is its increasing number of competitors small and big such as Coffee bean and tea leaf, Caribou Coffee, Dunkin Donuts, McDonald and so on. Another threat facing the company are its dependence of the market price of the commodity that it is using, mainly coffee beans and dairy products. Customers fear local shops going out of business, which keep many away from large brand shops.

Conclusion is that the brand recognition, their employee satisfaction and their continued expansion in land and products are proving to benefit the company much more than increasing competitors, bad press which are negatively affecting it.