Custom essays on Starbucks

The company called Starbucks was founded in 1971, and has grown from several coffee shops in Seattle into a large international network of coffee stores in more than 55 countries. It is quite a profitable company, it has created own brand and values, and was included in “Fortune Top 100 Companies to Work For” in 2005. It has been known for its ethical and corporate values, strong mission and vision of the company’s development, and for taking advantage of virtually all available opportunities for growth.
Starbucks has not only become a well-known trademark, but has also changed the way people in different countries drink coffee, and has even created a “Starbucks lifestyle”. Despite several fails that the company has experienced in 2008-2009, the story of Starbucks is the story of success. There are several key ideas of Starbucks which led it to success such as broad thinking, smart partnership, unique experience and innovations, new products and initiatives, good managements and business vision concept using values common to all people (Mitchell, 2006). Analysis of Starbucks’ marketing strategy and view may be of great use to anyone wiling to reach similar international success.
The aim of this essay is to analyze and evaluate Starbucks mission statement (listed at their site in the part “About Starbucks”). First of all, it is necessary to outline the idea of mission statement, its features and essential characteristics. Since every organization has its own market place and a reason for being, mission is meant to outline this reason and objectives of the organization. Hierarchy of strategic objectives consists of mission, vision, business and functional objectives such as production, finance and marketing goals (Hatch & Kostera & Kozminski, 2005). Formulating the organization’s mission is a part of strategic planning which generally includes defining the company’s strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people (Marchand, 2001). Strategic planning (and mission statement as well) deals with 3 major questions: what does the company do? For whom does the company work? What is the source of the company’s success? A clearly developed, articulated and communicated mission statement enables an organization to define whose needs are to be satisfied, what needs require satisfying and which products and technologies will be used to provide the desired levels of satisfaction (Balmer & Greyser, 2003). There is also vision statement which is sometimes confused with mission statement (but should not be). Vision is directed to future, it outlines what the organization wants to be (Marchand, 2001) and described the desired world; vision should be the source of inspiration for customers, employees and partners. Other sources consider that mission statement should necessarily include the purpose of the organization, the business essence of the organization, and the values and principles which guide their work (Mitchell, 2006). Thus, from this point of view, mission and vision statement can be al most the same.
The Starbucks mission statement, in my opinion, is closer to vision statement since it mostly contains the inspiring slogans rather than describes business processes. The product of the company is clearly identified and proper words about quality are used gaining trust of the reader. However, there is no clear message for whom the company is working – the general image of “customers” does not relate to the reader personally and might cause a sense of estrangement despite the light mood and energy of the mission statement and words about “human connection”.
The part concerning partners is quite inspiring and I believe it can work well for motivating and uniting employees. It also creates a sense of belief among customers because the word choice about respect and dignity is quite attractive. The part concerning stores and neighborhood is the one which described the methods and technologies used to provide the desired level of satisfaction. Again, it can be both regarded as part of vision statement, or parts of mission statement – since these two passages are directed to future but also reveal the atmosphere and attitude of the company, and its methods.
In general, the mission statement of Starbucks is attractive both to customers and employees (or partners), it contains the essential elements of mission statement (Fill, 2005) and inspires the direction, but it would be more correct to regard it as vision statement since it is mostly telling about view and values of the company rather than about particular products and services. From the alternative point of view on the company’s mission – where the mission should include purpose, business and values of the organization – the Starbucks mission statement is 100% correctly composed and contains all the necessary elements. From any point of view, the impression about the statement is very positive and attractive; thus, it plays the necessary role – defines the company’s strategy and development.

Sources
Balmer, M.T. and Greyser, S.A., 2003. Revealing the Corporation: Perspectives on identity, image, reputation, corporate branding and corporate-level marketing. London: Routledge.
Fill, C., 2005, 4th Edition. Marketing Communications: Engagement, strategies and practice. London: Prentice Hall.
Hatch, M.J., Kostera, M., and Kozminski, A.K., 2005. The Three Faces of Leadership: Manager, Artist, Priest. London: Blackwell Publishing.
Marchand, R., 2001. Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business. Berkley: University of California Press.
Mitchell, J., 2006. The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary. London: McGraw-Hill.