A Brief History of Starbucks

Starbucks is a business which was established by three friends in 1971 and has grown to become the largest business of its kind on the planet. It is one of the most recognizable brands globally and this has contributed significantly to its success in the market as well as facilitating its swift expansion all over the world. This company is can be found in about sixty two countries and has more than 20,000 stores all over the world, and in fact, in most of the developed world, it is one of the most recognizable brands and this has made it extremely popular with the consumers in these countries. Starbucks is a company which has throughout its history, displayed a high capacity for being able to manage the workforce within it, and the competent management of its staff in its different stores has enabled the company to become highly successful, as those who work for it are motivated by its management ability (Fitzgerald, 2013, p.2). The wide range of coffee and other products which this company has put at it customers’ disposal means that it has to hire and maintain a large workforce in order to be able to function effectively. Unlike other companies in the same industry, Starbucks tends to be very careful and selective with the management of its staff because of the need to continuously make a profit. As a result of the competence that has been shown when dealing with its multi-cultural workforce, and also being able to venture into countries which speak different languages, Starbucks has come to achieve success on the international scene where other companies take years to achieve the same.

The use of technological innovations have been found to be very important aspects when running a company such as Starbucks because it is these innovations which have enabled this company to get customers and to make them remain loyal for many decades. It was realized early by the Starbucks management that it has to be innovative in order to survive the very competitive market that is predominant in the world today. It has been found that the key to Starbucks’ worldwide success is that people everywhere know what to expect when they go to the stores that it owns but this does not mean that this company has made any resistance to any changes or that it has refused to adapt when local customs require flexibility (Day, G., & Moorman, 2013, p.18). In addition, it is a fact that this company has come to establish internal social networks to give its employees the opportunity to connect with the management and to support each other. This network has come to provide a space for the company’s stores to share ideas, best practices, as well as customer stories and there is also a forum section that is currently being used to encourage dialogue between Starbucks’ management and its employees as well as discussions between employees from the different stores within the chain. The use of such technology has been proven to be successful in getting the employees more involved with both the company’s management as well as fellow employees.

The introduction of new technology to aid its employees in their work is one of the most important policies that Starbucks has taken in hand. While in many other companies in the market it has been often been found that resistance to change is often related to the introduction of new technology in place of the old ones which many employees are used to, this has not been the case with Starbucks. In fact, the opposite is true because the introduction of new technology at Starbucks has become immensely attractive to the younger generation of workers, who are often quick to adjust to its use, and the older employees have surprisingly not been left out since they have embraced the new technology without offering any resistance to its use, as would have been expected. In order to encourage its employees have come to adapt to the new technological changes within their stores, the management of Starbucks organizes training in the use of the new technology annually for those who do not know how to use it. As the employees come to learn how to use this technology, and they find how much easier it is to use in place of the older system, the employees who have undergone training come to accept it as a fundamental part of their working environment (Crompton, 2013, p.20). With this acceptance the desired technological changes in the company tends to be done swiftly, ensuring that the employees retain their high capacity of production and efficiency. The efficient use of technology at Starbucks has come to enable its employees to feel well accommodated at work and this has created an environment where they are able to work without any need for close supervision, hence enhancing their creativity. The fact that the employees of this company are in a good working environment helps in the increase of their productivity and this can be used as a sign of its global success

One of the ideals of a company that works within a cross-cultural environment such as Starbucks is the empowerment of its customers and one of the ways to achieve this has been giving them forums to air their views concerning what they feel about the different products that are given by this company. The best strategy that Starbucks can adopt is ensuring that it places a lot of value in the consumers of its products and this can be achieved through the development of an empowerment program which ensures that the pool of its customers is maintained through the adoption of marketing strategies that appeal to their vanity (Simon 2008, p.193). Starbucks should work towards ensuring that its marketing staff have sufficient knowledge concerning how the market works and what the public wishes to consume so that they do not take a lot of time to make adjustments to marketing strategies. It can be said that the experience of its customers, after consuming its products, will work in the company’s favor when conducting its activities and it is very likely that Starbucks, through its efficient marketing strategy will be able to get to a global audience faster than rival companies.

It is necessary for Starbucks to work towards the acquisition of enough competent managers to manage its far-flung stores since this is one of the reasons why many companies in the world today have become successful and have been able to retain their success. Starbucks will continue to need competent managers because it is through the employing of such managers that the company will be able to ensure that it does not face any damaging issues because of the mismanagement of any of its stores. Despite the fact that previously it was a subject which was not taken based on merit, the selection of the most competent managers at Starbucks should now become a massive undertaking (Venkatraman, 2008, p.1010). This will increase the need for the company to have people of competence to working in its stores, since not doing so would likely bring about its failure. In addition, the store managers at Starbucks should adopt a strategy that is so well done it touches the emotions of its customers, both old and new so that as long as more people continue to appreciate and enjoy this company’s products, which come from the use of technology by its employees, then it is more likely than not that this company will continue to be a success story all over the world.