The company brand - Starbucks Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The company brand - Starbucks - Case Study Example Taking its name from a character in the novel Moby-Dick, Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, from a small Coffee shop in Seattle 36 years ago its has developed itself to own 7521 self-operated and 5647 licensed stores in 39 countries. Surveys have shown that is the most successful and admired company in United States today, it has revolutionized the way Americans used to view Coffee and rejuvenated the drinking experience into a lifestyle, a trend that has been a successful social epidemic, as Gladwell puts it, for the past two decades. Starbucks' success has been attributed to a number of factors apart from the ones mentioned above, the theories put forward by Malcolm Gladwell are well suited to its case as it had a number of Connectors, Salesmen, the stickiness factor and the power of context all played a major role in it turning out to be a successful trend. Starbucks Connectors and Salesmen involve some big names like the Pepsi Cola and McDonalds. The story of Starbucks represents one of the classical American commercial success stories where three college friends used to meet from time to time to discuss the potential business venture to initiate. An English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev... Background of Starbucks The story of Starbucks represents one of the classical American commercial success stories where three college friends used to meet from time to time to discuss the potential business venture to initiate. An English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker were three people who conceived the idea of Starbucks and opened the first coffee bean roaster and retailer outlet under the banner of Starbucks in Seattle, Washington in 1971. Coffee was a neglected commodity in America at that time mainly due to the procedures and the type of coffee that was available throughout the country. The three founders Siegel, Bowker and Baldwin managed to provide the European style roasted coffee which was a lot different then the percolated brown beverage that the Americans were used to. A unique taste and an innovative product was the primary reason for its Starbucks in the first ten years of its operation. Howard Shultz, the entrepreneur, formerly working for a Swedish Kitchen company felt attracted by the growing success of Starbucks and joined as a Marketing Manager in 1982. Shultz was always ready with new ideas and was hungry for changes that would make life easier for the customer and transform Starbucks into a more user friendly spot. Returning from a tour to Milan, Howard Schultz suggested that the company should sell coffee and espresso drinks in addition to beans. The owners rejected this idea, believing that getting into the beverage business would distract the company from its primary focus. To them, coffee was something to be prepared in the home and they strictly opposed the idea of bringing the Italian coffeehouse culture in United States. But, Schultz was