The management style of Starbucks is very permissive autocratic. Managers make unilateral decisions at every level of the Starbucks management chain in accordance with their responsibilities. This means that store managers make the ultimate decision on employment, revenue, operations details, and supply-chain. Just as Schultz as unilateral decision making authority on the macro-economic expansion of Starbucks. However, while the chain of command is a very traditional top-down model focused on the function of each specific manager, employees have significant latitude in carrying out their work. The emphasis of Starbucks is to create an employee-centric model since they are ultimately the individuals who define the personality behind Starbucks. Therefore each store employee is given authority within their specific limitations of the workplace; they can make decisions on reimbursements, purchases, discounts and a variety of other small details. The strength of Starbuck's management system in this case is that they built it upon a platform of functions. This means that each individual has complete control within the domain of their functionality within the company. This gives employees the feeling of control and freedom, while giving management the ability to have specifically focused and defined goals. The permissive autocratic style of management has been extremely successful and this is reflected in the successful expansion of Starbucks.

There are many conceptual and physical advantages of the Starbucks management system and style. On a conceptual level, it has allowed Starbucks to maintain a strong vision for expansion, managers on a local level do not have to worry about the overall strategy of Starbucks nor the competitive landscape they occupy. Each level of management only has to worry about their specific niche function within the company and this has done wonders for the overall growth of their brand as well as physical locations. Another important conceptual advantage is that at the micro-economic level Starbucks grants almost complete autonomy to their managers and their employees, thus allowing them to deal with the specifics of their locality and present a very informal and localizing affect for their customers. The actual returns from this practice have been tremendous; Starbucks has grown into one of the foremost admired companies in the world, with the highest overall revenue within the industry. They dwarf their closet competitor by three times their overall revenue stream as well as actual market access. The ability to extend the Starbucks brand on a cross-continental basis has been wholly dependent upon the management style and techniques employed by Schultz. His vision in creating a permissive autocratic management style fits the consumer coffee industry extremely well and has continued to pay dividends for the company.

Schultz, Howard and Dori Jones Yang. Pour Your Heart Into it. How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time. New York: Hyperion, 1997. [somewhat of an autohagiography, but nonetheless interesting background on Big Green]