The Starbucks Firm. The story of Starbucks Essay Example for Free

The Starbucks Firm. The story of Starbucks Essay Starbucks is a corporation or a firm well known for roasting, marketing and retailing of crafted quality beverage that is based on coffee. In 1971, the Starbucks started its operations in Seattle’s Pike place market with Howard Schultz helping in its marketing and retailing efforts (Bussing, 2009). However, today many Starbucks firms have extended in 60 countries in the world, Kuwait being amongst them. Some of the Starbucks in Kuwait include Marina mall, Salmiya flagship, Fashion way, sheikh center salmiya, the palms and Kuwait chamber of commerce, all operating in salmiya and Salwar cities. The objective of Kuwait Starbucks firm is to ensure that Starbucks remain the most honored and recognized brands in the world. The products offered in these Starbucks include coffee-based beverages to enjoy and discover, foods that include high quality pastries and sandwiches made from just simple ingredients. Moreover, the Kuwait Starbucks offer nutritional services in that there are special equipment that determines the nutritional value of the drinks or the foods so that customers can make informed choices. The Starbucks firms in Kuwait have realized many opportunities one of them being expansion of the network of the supplier of coffee beans. In addition, the company has not spared any of the opportunities and continues to explore more opportunities. The Starbucks has limited coffee beans and thus have to get supply from areas such as South America and African countries where coffee is clustered. Furthermore, the firm is increasing its products by expanding the number coffee houses that produce wines and beer thus reaching thus reaching a wider target group. Therefore the company enjoys the large availability of consumers. However, the Kuwait Starbucks firm is exposed to some threats such as increased competitors such as the local cafes that offer a better suited menu for its customers (Gilbert, 2009). More so, the cost of the coffee beans is continuously rising posing a great threat. In addition, the well-established economies have their coffee markets being saturated thus this firm finds it hard to thrive in such economies. The firm has got some strength as well such as well weaknesses. It has tried to outmatch the nearest competitors in terms of its return on capital and investment as well. Also, the company supplies in bulk and has one of the best quality products making it very competitive. Moreover, the reputation of the brand has been well portrayed due to the quality coffee and better customer attendance. Furthermore the firm has well experience in producing coffee that is perfectly blended and there is a warm atmosphere that attracts many customers. To add to this, the firm employs well experienced personnel who are specialized in several sectors of production, and this results to best quality product. However, there are some weaknesses associated with the firm such as being negatively publicized as not being a greener firm. In addition, there are cases of tax evasion and poor supplier relations associated with it. Furthermore , the coffee beans price keeps on fluctuating due to factors such as whether changes and hedge funds. This has made the firm unable to control the price of the coffee beans. Moreover, the price of the firm’s products is high, given that the firm spends a lot in importing the raw materials. In addition, Kuwait partners have been exposed to some facts such inadequate salaries. As a result, the cost of living is quite high in Kuwait as employees are exposed to accommodation and transportation constraints and this has demoralized them. The employees are less motivated, no transport allowances to the experts such airfare whatsoever. The Starbucks becomes less hospitable when it comes to employee motivation. To add to this, the competitors put a lot of pressure to the firm and this is a big challenge to the Starbucks firm. The management and leadership of the company constitute of the overall manager and sub-section managers. Besides, the company also has several maintenance and development engineers who are part of the management. The availability of good leadership skills is what has made the company very famous among its competitors (Gilbert, 2009). The management has a plan of continued expansion and is looking for possibilities of improving their services to the customers. It liaises with the government for support, and this is what is giving it hopes for expansion. In conclusion, the company is doing well but still has a chance of doing better. As discussed, the company has one of the best quality coffee-beverages and has a big and wide market. This assures the company of a future life if it continues on the same note. The management is structured and well skilled with future plans of expansion and quality improvement. However, there are some weaknesses noticed. The firm is recommended to relate well with the competitors and to improve the lives of its employees by considering giving them allowances and raising their salaries. References Bussing-Burks, M. (2009). Starbucks. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Press. Welsh, D. H., Raven, P., Al-Mutair, N. (1998). Starbucks International enters Kuwait. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 15(2), 191-197. Schultz, H., Yang, D. J. (1997). Pour your heart into it: How Starbucks built a company one cup at a time. New York, NY: Hyperion. Gilbert, S. (2009). The story of Starbucks. Mankato, Minn: Creative Education Source document