Starbucks Strategy and Operating Tactics

Organizational Planning Starbucks ranks #196 on the Fortune 500, with $14.89 billion in revenue, $8 million in profits and a market value of $55.4 billion (Fortune, 2014). There are a number of different internal and external stakeholders of the company. The internal stakeholders include the employees, the managers, the Board of Directors and executives, as well as the company's shareholders. Franchise partners should be considered internal stakeholders, and around half of all Starbucks locations are run by franchise partners.

The external stakeholders of Starbucks range from customers to suppliers, to competitors and the governments of the countries in which the operate (especially those from which they source their beans). Suppliers range from the farmers and their cooperatives, to wholesalers, paper companies, other food companies, and equipment suppliers. The mission statement of Starbucks is "to inspire and nurture the human spirit -- one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time" (Starbucks.com, 2015). The company does not have a vision statement, but it does have a statement of values.

Indeed, its mission statement reads more like what a vision statement should be. One goal that can be accomplished through a strategic plan for Starbucks is to expand its global footprint. Strategy reflects an organization-wide focus, so an objective like expanding internationally would be reflected in the allocation of resources at a strategic level. At the operational level, Starbucks would achieve a strategy of increasing evening sales by x%, as this would require specific changes in the way that the company operates its business at that time of day.

Starbucks has many strengths, including a widely-recognized brand, healthy financial condition, vast store network, strong partnerships overseas, and a loyal customer base. The weaknesses could be some of its struggles in certain foreign markets, or its struggles to expand beyond coffee. Even after buying juice and tea companies, Starbucks remains relatively unsuccessful in other businesses.

There are still quite a few excellent opportunities overseas, where the company still has growth on the table in markets in which it already operates (especially China and India) and there are still markets where it does not yet operate. The threats come from competition, the health of the economy (Starbucks suffered during the last recession) and additionally from climate change, which threatens the ongoing availability of quality coffee beans in the volumes Starbucks needs (Jones, 2015).

Part Two: The strategic element of Starbucks' business will be to leverage the existing position in major markets, where there is not much growth but where the company has a large share and enjoys considerable profitability. The U.S., UK, Canada and Japan are all highly profitable, slow-growth markets for Starbucks. By taking cash flows from these regions and funneling those revenues into high-growth markets, the company will earn a higher return, and it will increase its share globally of the coffee trade.

Starbucks has targeted China, India and the Middle East as major potential growth regions, in part because those regions are willing to pay for a Western coffee experience, and because they have a lot of people in their middle classes. By taking money from areas that generate a lot, and putting into high growth areas, and getting more key people into China and India especially, Starbucks can increase.