Starbucks Corporation: Driving for Global Dominance

Starbucks Corporation: Driving for Global Dominance

Starbucks Corporation is a Seattle, Washington-based coffee company that buys, roasts, and sells whole bean specialty coffees and coffee drinks through an international chain of retail outlets. From its beginnings as a seller of packaged, premium specialty coffees, Starbucks has evolved into a company known for its coffeehouses, where people can buy beverages and food items as well as packaged whole bean and ground coffee. Starbucks is credited with changing the way people around the world view and consume coffee, and its success has attracted worldwide attention.

Howard Schultz’s goal is to establish Starbucks as the premier supplier of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining uncompromising principles as it grows. The company’s goal is to become an enduring, great company with the most recognized and respected brand in the world, known for inspiring and nurturing the human spirit.

In order to attain that goal, one of Starbucks strategy is to cover an area completely, even if the stores cannibalize one another’s business. The Starbucks everywhere approach cuts down on delivery and management costs, shortens customer lines at individual stores, and increases foot traffic for all the stores for all the stores in an area. Clustering stores increases total revenue and market share, even when individual stores poach on each other’s sales. The strategy works because of Starbucks size. It is large enough to absorb losses at existing stores as new ones open up, and soon overall sales grow beyond what they would have with just one store.

Starbucks’ coffee quality begins with the purchase of high-quality Arabica coffee beans. Starbucks coffee is strictly Arabica, and the company ensures that only the highest quality beans are used. Starbucks’ personnel traveled regularly to coffee producing countries in search for Starbucks’ premium bean. From the company’s inception, it has worked on developing relationships with the countries from which it buys coffee beans.

Roasting the coffee bean is close to an art form at Starbucks. Starbucks currently operates multiple roasting and distribution facilities. Roasters are promoted from within the company and trained for over a year. The coffee is roasted in a powerful gas-fired drum roaster for 12 to 15 minutes while roasters use sight, smell, hearing and computers to judge when beans are perfectly done.

According to Schultz, Starbucks is not just selling cup of coffee, they are providing an experience. In order to create coffee enthusiasts with the dedication of their counterparts, Starbucks provided a seductive atmosphere. Its stores are inviting and stimulating environment. Starbucks stores tend to be located in high-traffic locations such as malls, busy street corners, and even grocery stores.

While Starbucks enforces almost