Starbuck's Chairman, Howard Schultz, has poised the company to take it the next level: $23B in annual sales. To do this, he must triple annual sales in 5 years.
Case Assignment Expectations:
Please write a 3-4 page paper answering this question:
Can CEO Howard Schultz lead Starbucks to reach 23 B in three years? Please perform a SWOT analysis to answer this question. If yes, what strategies does he need to implement successfully? If Not, which are the reasons?
Any answer is correct but needs to be well argued.
Articles:
Readings: (see Library Instructions in the Background page)
Required Readings
Helm, B. (2007). Saving Starbuck’s Soul: Chairman Howard Schultz is on a mission to take the company back to its roots! Oh, yeah– he also wants to triple sales in five years. Business Week. New York: April 09, 2007, Issue 4029, p. 56, retrieved at 07/20/2010, from:
https://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_15/b4029070.htm
Steverman, B. (2009). Is a Turnaround Brewing for Starbucks?. Business Week (Online) New York: Jul 22, 2009, retrieved at 07/20/2010 from:
https://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jul2009/pi20090722_611028.htm
Optional Readings
McRoskey, R. (2008). Starbucks: Big Investors’ Divorce Grounds. Business Week. New York: August19, 2008. Retrieved at 07/20/2010, from:
https://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/aug2008/pi20080818_372022.htm
Helpful Hints:
Please first read in-depth the Background Materials.
Read both articles
Analyze the current situation using the SWOT framework.
Environment such as economy trends overall industry
Competition (other players and newcomers)
Strengths (company strength such as customer base, brand etc)
Weaknesses (premium pricing, saturation, etc)
Given the environment (threats and opportunities) and company (strengths and weaknesses) can S reach 23 B?
Make the decision of Yes or No based on results of your analysis.
Identify facts in the case that match concepts of strategic planning (vision, goals, strategies) and relate them.
Apply these concepts to facts in the case in order to develop your arguments.
Format: Introduction; Main Body: SWOT (each item a separate section), Discussion (Yes and how; or No and why); Conclusions
Format:
In order to develop good business communication skills, it is recommended you write papers using the following structure, using headlines and titles.
Introduction (road map, explain main issue and list and main points)
Main Body: Develop each point in the Introduction, applying theory to facts, in subsections (one subsection per main point).
In this case, there are 5 subsections: 1 per each SWOT factors and 1 for the discussion following the SWOT analysis!
Conclusions: Summarize main paper points
List of references.
Citing your Sources.