Starbucks: Company Profile

Starbucks is a worldwide specialty coffee retailer with over 74,000 employees and revenues of $4.1 billion for 2003, (Key, 2005, p. 4). Starbucks operates 3,800 coffee shops in more than thirty countries worldwide, with headquarters located in Seattle, Washington, (Key, 2005, p. 4). USA Today reports that Starbucks is 425th on the Fortune 500 list of companies by revenue, with the company also selling coffee-related equipment and accessories as well as a line of premium teas, (List, 2004, p. 1).

Starbucks employs more than 74,000 employees worldwide who are known as "partners" in the organization, a company that was named 34th out of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2004, (Fortune, 2004, p. 1). The company's mission statement maintains its commitment to its human resources, including providing a superior work environment and treating all "partners" with respect and dignity. Amid explosive worldwide growth, Gretchen Weber (2005, p. 28) asks of the company, "Can it find enough quality employees to keep customers coming back for more?" Starbucks' recognizes the value of quality employees in ongoing growth and success. Even the CEO of Starbucks, Jim Donald, makes eight phone calls every morning. Five of them are to five of his 550 Starbucks district managers in North America, the other three are random calls to store employees to thank them and ask them for feedback, (Weber, 2005, p. 28).

Starbucks also puts its money where its mouth is wher

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efficient, the company is turning to new technology known as radio frequency identification technology or RFID, (Sullivan, 2004, p. 69). Wal-Mart has successfully used this form of technology to greatly improve efficiency, better meet client needs, and lower costs. With more than 40,000 suppliers of everything from milk and coffee beans to teas and CDs, the company will use RFID chips that will electronically record all supply chain management transactions, needs, deliveries, and orders. As Sullivan (2004, p. 69) explains, "Ideally, Starbucks' system would let a delivery person insert a plastic card near a store's door. The card would confirm the supplier's identity and disable the burglar alarm." Such a system will also help make labor costs more efficient by permitting employees to spend all their time filling customer needs. Starbucks has already been using the chip technology to track its cargo containers it uses to shop coffee from Guatemala to Seattle and Tacoma, Washington ports. Global Enterprise The success of Starbucks in global enterprise demonstrates some of the pros of successful marketing. Starbucks global expansion follows a similar pattern, one originated in their entry into the Southeast Asian market. St

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