Starbucks China Case Study

Coffee has played a major role in the lives of many people around the world. “Yet, poetic as its taste may be, coffee’s history is rife with controversy and politics…[becoming a] creator of revolutionary sedition in Arab countries and in Europe” (Pendergrast xvi). After reading Uncommon Grounds, it is apparent that the history of coffee is intertwined with the aspects of the globalization process, the role of Multi-National Corporations, and global economic issues.

Starbucks began with a single store in Seattle?s Pike Place Market in 1971, it was named after the first mate in Herman Melville?s Moby Dick,

The wildly successful coffee shop that can be seen around the world started from a humble beginning with just one single store in Seattle’s Pike Place market, as a retailer of whole beans

The décor of the stores included earth tones and overstuffed chairs, wood floors and cozy fireplaces that created a home-like feel so that its patrons could linger and relax. La Marzocco machines were put up which added to the distinct taste of the coffee and the Barista that operated the machines stood as a unique attraction. The quasi-Italian lingo included in menu (drinks names and sizes) were very catchy. Starbucks positioned itself as a brand/company offering a “lifestyle product”. The locations were carefully selected where areas with large numbers of wealthy and highly professional workers (“Bobos”) were targeted.

Starbucks coffee company was founded in 1971, opening its first store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market selling coffee beans only. During this time most coffee was purchased in a can directly from supermarket shelves. Starbucks’ concept of selling

Starbucks Coffee Company was founded in 1971, opening its first location in Seattle's Pike Place Market. Starbucks, named after the first mate in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, is the world's leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee with coffeehouses in North America, Europe, Middle East, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. Worldwide, approximately 33 million customers visit a Starbucks coffeehouse each week.

They had become hooked on the dark-roasted coffee Alfred Peet advocated over the light-roasted coffee found in most large stores. Peet had encouraged their desires to bring dark-roasted coffee to the Seattle, Washington marketplace. He taught them that the fullest flavor is from a very dark roasting of the coffee beans (Schultz, 1997). The First Starbucks The three partners initially disagreed over naming their new coffee company. Gordon consulted with a creative business associate, artist Terry Heckler, about naming the store “Pequod” after the ship in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Terry told him, “You’re crazy! No one’s going to drink a cup of Pequod!” (Schultz, 1997). Eventually, the Starbucks name was chosen as a derivative of “Starbo,” the name of a Mt. Rainier mining camp in the 1930s (Skoog, 2002). Baldwin liked the additional connection to Starbuck, a character from Moby Dick.

Starbucks Corporation, an American company founded in 1971 in Seattle, WA, is a leading roaster, vendor and trader of specialty coffee universally. It has about 182,000 employees across 19,767 company functioned & qualified stores in 62 nations. Their produce mix contains baked and handcrafted high quality/premium assessed coffees, tea, a variable fresh food stuffs and extra beverages. They also retail a variety of coffee and tea harvests and licenses their trademarks through other channels such as approved supplies, grocery and national food flair accounts. 1 Starbucks also markets its products mix with

Starbucks is at this point a household name in many countries. This small Pike Place; Seattle, WA partnership founded in 1971 has gone from a retail coffee bean and equipment store to a huge publicly traded company that has set sites that rival that of McDonald 's. However, the Starbucks ' Grande mocha latte was a long transition in the making. The original partnership of three; English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker, were in the business of roasting coffee beans and selling the equipment to turn those beans into high-end coffee, not that of biscotti and mocha.

“In 1981, Howard Schultz, vice president and general manager of US operations for a Swedish maker of stylish kitchen equipment and coffeemakers, decided to pay Starbucks a visit” (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, Strickland III, & McGraw-Hill, 2013). Schultz’s trip was out of curiosity to see why Starbucks was selling so many of his company’s products. However, during his stay in Seattle, Schultz fell in love with Starbucks and shortly after returning to New York, sought a way to become more involved in the company. It took almost a year for Schultz to convince the Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker that he would be a good addition to their company, but in the fall of 1982,

“Where’s the Starbucks,” a question I was familiar with halfway through my first summer working at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA. Seattle, WA is the home of the Flagship Starbucks store. The inside is teeny, and if you blink twice you will miss the familiar sign. It is a tiny store front nestled into a side row of buildings. “On the right, look hard for the sign, after the vegetable stands (Allen, 2015). The Starbucks brand is now one of the worlds most recognized symbol. “Currently Starbucks creates stores with colours(sic) and furniture designed from a central corporate template, which has helped it become one of the most recognisable(sic) brands in the world with more than 16,000 outlets around the globe, with 700 stores in the UK and Ireland” (Hough, 2009). Is the Starbuck’s brand

“Starbucks is known as one of the foremost retailers, roasters, and brands of speciality coffee in the world after working hard in getting succeed.” They are obligated to offering customers the premier quality coffee and the highest coffee familiarity, while functioning in techniques that generate social, environmental, and economic advantages for the society in which they do their business. (Super brands, 2012) Similarly, “they are functioning and authorization beyond than 8,500 coffee shops in more than 30 countries. (Starbucks, 2013). Furthermore, they offer a variety of regular or decaffeinated beverages, comprising at least one coffee of the day with our own choice of Italian-style espresso beverage, cold blended drinks, and a variety of finest teas and packaged roasted high quality of entire bean coffees.” (Starbucks, 2013) They also offer a variety of fresh pastries and confectionaries, sodas, juices and coffee making accessories. Furthermore, they wholesale their whole bean coffees via famous trade group and supermarkets. (Starbucks, 2013) Additionally, they manufactures and wholesales bottled Frappuccino Coffee drink and a finest ice creams via its joint ventures, partnerships and proposals by its entirely owned supplementary, Tazo Tea Company. The company’s main attempt is to touch the success and become the famous and respected brand in the world.

Our story began in 1971. Back then we were a roaster and retailer of whole bean and ground coffee, tea and spices with a single store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

In order to enforce its exacting coffee standards, Starbucks tries its best to control the whole supply chain. The company works with growers in various countries to purchase green coffee beans, oversees the custom-roasting process for the company's various blends and single-origin coffees, and controls the distribution to retail

Throughout history, coffee has played an important role in cultures all around the world. The café society, which developed in England and France between 1680 and 1730, served as cultural exchange by bringing together poets, musicians and artists (Lyons, 2005). To this day, writers and graphic designers can be seen working in coffee shops across the county. Additionally, coffee shops have long been considered a place for intellectual and political discussion ( Blank & Vooren, 2007). Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that during the specialty coffee boom of the 1970’s, company’s like Starbuck’s began to expand into neighborhoods close to museums, colleges, and art galleries ( Lyons, 2005). In short, coffee shops have a long history of attracting intellectual and creative individuals.