Introduction
In 1971, Starbucks was established with the main aim of selling coffee and coffee products. The company was established in Seattle, and it was publicized in 1992. Today, the company competes in the international markets. Howard Schultz was the founder of the company. He established the company in partnership with other shareholders such as Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker. The company produces customer-oriented products. The company has improved employee management to encourage the production of quality products. In addition, the company applies the customization strategy, and this has improved customer loyalty for a long time (Starbucks Website 2012).
Management and Organization Plan
Management and organization plan provides an outlay about how the company manages human resources. Human resource management involves the processes and aspects of managing human capital in the company. In addition, the infrastructure of the company has been discussed.
Management Team
The management team ensures that the employees have all resources required in the organizational processes. The team delegates duties to the junior employees. Starbucks has a strong team of managers, and this has placed the company in a competitive position. Starbucks promotes managers who have achieved exemplary performance (Starbucks Website, 2012).
Recruitment and Selection of Employees
The company recruits people with skills to manage their tasks, as well as maintain a good relationship with customers. The Baristas should be friendly, attend to details, and should be committed to the provision of quality services to customers. The process of recruiting and selecting employees is done effectively to identify people with the best skills to work in the company. The process is very strict because the company aims at getting the best workers. In addition, the company has established strategies to attract and retain the most skilled employees in the industry (Robbins & Robbins, 2008).
Compensation and Ownership
Starbucks is a public company. The company sells shares to the shareholders on a regular basis. The shareholders are compensated depending on the performance of the company within a given financial period. Starbucks is owned by mutual funds and institutions (Starbucks Website, 2012).
Employee Reward and Incentive Plan
Starbucks applies monetary and non-monetary incentives to reward employees. Employees with the best performance are appreciated and rewarded. The company has several welfare strategies for its employees. For example, employees are provided with health care benefits and plan to purchase the stock of the company and other benefits (Starbucks Website 2012).
Communication
Starbucks has created good communication with customers, employees, and all other stakeholders. Through communication, the top management team has created a good relationship with all stakeholders. Schultz emphasized that the company is built on the foundation of creating good communication with people. “We are not in the coffee business. It is what we sell as a product, but we’re in the people business—hiring hundreds of employees a week, serving sixty million customers a week, it has all human connection” (Gallo, 2011, p. 1).
Infrastructure
Starbucks has installed structures to improve customer satisfaction. For instance, the company introduced infrastructure to support customers to surf at the premises of the company. This strategy was aimed at improving customer satisfaction, and many customers have been attracted and retained (Starbucks Website, 2012).
Operations Management
Operations management is the process of ensuring that the activities of the organization are directed towards achieving the goals and objectives. This provides a clear guideline about how the processes of the organization are conducted to ensure that the objectives are achieved. This involves controlling inventory and risk analysis. In addition, sales and income projections have been analyzed.
Controlling inventory
Starbucks has an efficient system to control the inventory. The company aims at delivering products to customers when they need them. The company has liaised with suppliers to ensure that there is enough stock. The company has enough capital to buy adequate stock. The management controls the inventory to ensure that customers do not lack the products. In addition, the management ensures that there is no excess stock. Regulation of the stock at the Starbucks warehouses is made using the strategy of the Just-in-Time system. This means that the supplies are ordered when the demand increases. Changes in demand dictate the amount of supply to be ordered (Starbucks Website, 2012).
Providing service
Starbucks provides services to customers to ensure that they are comfortable. For example, the company has introduced internet services to allow customers to surf within the premises of the company. The company aims at delivering good services to customers.
Security Systems
There is a need to ensure that security standards are followed. There is a high rate of insecurity, especially from terrorists. This indicates that Starbucks should create security measures to protect customers, employees, and other stakeholders. This can be achieved by monitoring the security issues that may surround the company. The customers should feel secure while on the premises of the company. In addition, employees should feel secure while at the place of work. This strategy will improve the confidence of the customers, employees, and all other stakeholders.
Regulatory Compliance
Starbucks operates in the international market, where there are many legal regulations. The company should ensure that the products comply with consumer standards that have been required by many countries. In addition, the company should ensure that it promotes a greener environment. The company should also comply with business competition regulations. The management should ensure that corporate social responsibility is maintained. These strategies will reduce the conflict of interest with the regulatory agencies.
Risk Analysis
There is a risk that competitors will overcome the strategies of the company. Starbucks has established many retail stores, and managing the stores is challenging. This may provide competitors with the opportunity to serve customers with better products. The company also faces the risk of financial changes. The international market has unpredictable market changes. This creates a huge risk to the company.
Financial Plan
There should be a balance between expenditure and revenues. The company should make profits. This can be achieved by making sales revenue exceed the expenditure. The company should cut down the costs by improving the efficiency of the production system. The sales can be increased by promoting the products of the company. The financial plan should be geared towards the breaking-even point, and this will ensure that the company makes profits.
Start-up costs
There are high start-up costs because the capital required to establish a retail store is high. Creating a subsidiary of Starbucks requires a huge capital outlay to develop the structures and transport the materials and supplies. In addition, there is a need to attract many customers in the area. Therefore, one is required to conduct an intensive promotion and advertising campaign.
Sales Projections
For the last three months, Starbucks has been performing at an increasing rate. For the month of September, October, and November, the company has reported sales revenue of $13,299,500, $11,700,400, and $10,707,400, respectively (Starbucks Website 2012). This indicates that the company is performing well. It is projected that sales will increase in the future.
Income Projections
The performance of Starbucks has been high in the last years. For instance, in the months of September, October, and November, the company had net income of $ 1,594,500, $1,419,400, and $1,093,700, respectively (Starbucks Website 2012). This shows that the company will perform better in the future. The earnings are expected to increase because there is an increasing trend in the performance of the company.
Conclusion
Starbucks has been operating for many years. The company aims at providing excellent services to customers and employees. The management focuses on improving communication with all stakeholders. Starbucks has applied a customer-oriented marketing plan ever since it was established. The products of the company are developed to match the needs of the customers. The company also applies niche marketing to serve the market segments that have not been reached. Starbucks produces a wide range of products to capture the demand of the ever-increasing number of customers. The company has developed a sales plan by creating many subsidiaries so that many people can access the products of the company.
The company has created many retail stores in almost many towns. The management team has excellent skills to manage the resources. This is meant to achieve the maximum benefits. The organization has an organizational plan, with the chief executive officer being the top leader. There are managers and junior employees. The company has a board of directors to oversee the overall management of the company. The company operations are managed by the managers at each subsidiary. Starbucks has achieved success in creating appropriate business models. The company has achieved success in achieving high customer loyalty. However, the management of the company should develop appropriate strategies to ensure that the retail stores are established properly. The company should also regulate the number of retail stores so that customers can achieve maximum satisfaction.
References
Gallo, C. (2011). Starbucks CEO: Lesson in Communication Skills. Forbes. Web.
Robbins, S. P., & Robbins, S. P. (2008). The truth about managing people. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education/FT Press.
Starbucks Website. (2012). My Starbucks Idea. Web.