Running head: STARBUCKS STRATEGY 1
Starbucks Strategy
Victoria Sample
MGT 500
04/27/2015
Dr. McGrath
Strayer University
Starbucks Strategy
Organizational culture has been deemed to be quite a universal debate on its definition.
However according to Carter McNamara, “organizational culture is the personality of the
organization. Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs
(artifacts) of organization members and their behaviors” (McNamara, 2000). On the other
hand, in this research paper, I will be examining the elements of Starbucks’ organizational
culture that help contributed to its success in a global economy, assess the effectiveness of
its management decisions in providing innovative offerings for its customers, determining
one key management competency, and evaluating whether the company would achieve
long-term sustainability as a global leader in the coffee industry without the organization’s
CEO, Howard Shultz.
Starbucks organizational culture
In the case of the success of Starbucks, its organizational culture has been driven and
empowered by the founder and CEO, Howard Schultz. Howard wanted to expand the
company and when he visited Italy prior to the overhaul of the original Starbucks he
wanted to mirror the concepts of the coffeehouses in Italy. The key aspect to realize here is
that organizational culture affects performance. Howard Schultz became the CEO of
Starbucks in 1987. As an entrepreneur, he was influential in convincing investors to
believe in his vision. The next ten years he worked with his team of experienced managers
and built Starbucks from 6 stores and a small amount of employees, to a large national
business with more than 1,300 stores and 25,000 employees.