MKT 450 – Fall 2016

Mishari Alnahedh

Starbucks Corporation, April 2012: Case Guidelines

Below is a guide on how to tackle the Starbucks Corporation’s case questions. These questions
will form the bases of our class discussion of the case. Please read the case carefully and think
analytically about the answers of these questions.

1. How is Starbucks performing?

Start with looking at and analyzing financial numbers. Pay attention to trends.

2. What is Starbuck’s strategy?

Remember: what is strategy? How do you define a firm’s strategy?

3. Assess Starbuck’s strategy in terms of its fit (with its business environment and its
internal resources/capabilities) and its internal coherence.
The objective here is to identify why Starbucks’s strategy has been so successful. How do we
evaluate the success of a strategy? The question has three parts: a) fit with external business
environment, b) fit with the firm’s internal resources/capabilities, and c) the internal coherence
of the strategy.

4. Is Starbucks’ success sustainable?

Note: this is the recommendations question

What makes a good strategy? What makes a good strategy sustainable? Focus on the challenges
Starbucks is facing now and ahead in the future.

Your case analysis should conclude with clearly articulated and presented recommendations.
Make recommendations based on case facts, using clear logic and reasoning. Vague answers,
random hunches, and too general recommendations with no details will receive ZERO points.