Starbucks Organizational Culture and Key Leadership and Management Traits Used to Execute the Business Strategy.

Starbucks Corporation was started way back in the year 1971 when it began as a single shop that primarily focused specifically on coffee in Washington. When the corporation was started, one of the aims during that time was to ensure that it maintained the traditions of the society. Additionally, the corporation aimed at providing one of the best quality coffees to its esteemed customers. The organization would then be able to create a sense a connection with its customers. One of the goals that it has managed to achieve is the combination of both innovation and tradition. Most organizations have failed in the past due to their inability to create a balance between the two (Michael, 1996). Moreover, much of the success that the company enjoys has been as a result of their vision and mission statements that promote the spirit of one-person. Additionally, the statements encourage the spirit of one cup as well as one neighborhood amongst its customers. Such statements have in the past played significant roles in encouraging the customers to live in peace as a single community full of love for one another.

The success that the organization enjoys currently has seen it row beyond the American borders where it currently exists in more than sixty countries. It is estimated that the company currently has nearly eighteen thousands stores across the world (Arthur, 2004). All that success started from a very humble beginning of only one store. What the then CEO had in mind played a significant role in determining the direction taken by the organization. When the CEO Howard Shultz went to Europe, he liked what he saw in Italy and he was determined to carry the traditional coffee bars from Europe back to the United Sates.  His visions were eventually put in to reality thereby enabling the organization to grow worldly to not only become a coffee meeting point but a venue for businessmen to discuss their business ventures. The culture of one neighborhood is being fostered through the business deals that are constantly created and signed into action at the organizations premises. Additionally, a majority of college and university students meet at the joints to have a coffee as they either finish their assignments or just having fun while enjoying their coffee.

Since the organization has been so adamant in creating an environment and cohesion among the community members, the stores have since become points for families to hang out. A number of friends also frequent the starbucks stores to enjoy their time together as they enjoy the welcoming environments. The organization has also ensured that it creates beautiful environment scenarios that are very attractive so that their customers can enjoy such scenarios as they sip their cup of coffee. That kind of thought and innovation has also enabled the organization to achieve a competitive advantage over its rival businesses around that area. That is actually one of the reasons that the company is still in stiff competition with ther rival companies in the same industry.

The management at the organization has consistently played a role in ensuring that the company encourages the development of its culture of effective management to ensure it stays top of its game. Additionally, there is the culture of development and the constant introduction of new products into the market so that they offer their customers a wide variety of products for them to pick from. Additionally, the high standards and level of innovation at the company has played significant role in ensuring that the company remain ahead of their rivals. One of the difficulties that other companies face is coming up with new strategies and innovations to take over the industry by a storm. Starbucks has famously been known for its dark blend roast that a majority of the customers enjoy. Additionally, the organization has been able to host another 40% of coffee drinkers who enjoy the lighter blend. Such are the strategies that the company uses to attract and retain their customers.

The mission and vision statement of the corporation has over the years played a role in the success of the organization. First, the mission statement has always been used to explain the reason of the existence of the company and the aims it has in serving its esteemed stakeholders (Bart and Baetz, 1998). The stakeholders in this case refer to the customers, the employees and the investors who fund the organization. All the stakeholders therefore remain intact and loyal to the organization because they know that the organization has something good for them in store. Since the statement echoes the values of the firm, the stakeholders find it relevant to stick by those values since they also share in the same.

The vision statement on the other hand relays the message of what the corporation expects to do and create in a future period. Such a statement keeps the stakeholders focused since they know what the future holds for them. When the future seems bright, then everyone involved will work extremely hard to achieve that success.

The management of the organization has always ensured that it maintains its strong relations with the suppliers and the vendors since they too form part of the company’s success. The suppliers include te farmers who grow the beans that the company constantly uses for making coffee. Additionally, there are the bakeries that are normally prompt when it comes to the preparation of the company’s food.  Finally, there is the company that manufactures the cups that are used by the institution. All the above mentioned suppliers all enjoy a cordial relation with the starbucks organization. Since the management knows the value of each supplier to the organization, all of them are subjected to a free and fair procurement process. It is through that process that the suppliers get scrutinized and evaluated for their competencies. The procurement process involves and requires participation from a number of departments such as the procurement operations and the product development departments. It is normally considered important for the mentioned departments to be involved in the process. The reason for such a move is to enable the entire organization to be aware of the entire supply chain and how it works from the beginning to the end (Sarah and Ranjay, 2002). Additionally, such moves also enables the organization understand how such process may affect the totality of operations at the institution. The suppliers are also evaluated on their production capacities so that only those that can meet the required production capacities are given the tender. Moreover, those that can effectively and competitively package and conduct distribution of the company’s products are awarded the tenders.   The only companies that are capable of getting partnership deals with starbucks are those that can prove that they are able to grow and keep up with the pace at starbucks (Sarah and Ranjay, 2002). If for instance a company fails to keep up with the production capacity required, then most definitely it will be dropped out at some point.

Starbucks, just like any other company in the world has a vision of becoming one of the most stable and sustainable business units across the globe. In order to do so, the company has constantly come up strategies and innovation processes to create a number of coffee varieties that match the needs of the customers. Moreover, the organization has ensured that it partners with the suppliers with whom they have long term business contracts (Arthur, 2004). Such long-term contracts play a role in ensuring that the prices are not only monitored but also put under close control. The organizations management teams have also invested heavily on their vendors whom they train effectively. It therefore remains the responsibility of the top management to retain such vendors since losing them can be as costly as losing any of their employees. The experience and determination of the vendors do play a role in the overall success of the company. If for instance the institution loses out on their vendors then that would mean that it also loses out on both the time and money it spent on training those vendors. Such loses can be very costly in the long run if they are not taken into consideration within the appropriate timings. The vendors and the suppliers also stand to benefit from such partnerships because of the notion that products from starbucks are of a very high standard. Long term commitments to the suppliers also help in building the reputation of the suppliers, thereby attracting more business.

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