World’s Greatest Strategist ‘Schultz somehow knew back in 1985, that we would pay up if he tumed an ordinary cup of “joe” into a Venti latte. He also hoped his cool coffee cafes would change the culture, as they have in cities and suburbs alike. Roughly, 30 years later, 20,000 Starbucks stores circle the globe, generating revenues. Now, the boy from Brooklyn is pushing into tea, baked goods, and digital commerce with Starbucks $25 million equity stake in Square, a mobile payment start-up. Following a record year with the stock nearing an all-time Schultz is turning his focus to Starbucks’ mission, growth initiatives, the convergence and integration of retail and e-commerce, digital card, and mobile assets around the world. H uultz: Starbucks ‘But when you really believe yourself, in your dream ~ you just have to do everything you possibly can to take control and make your vision a reality. No great achievement happens by luck.” © “It’s one thing to dream, but when the moment is right, you’ ve got to be willing to leave what's familiar and go out find your own sound.” * “Whatever your culture, your values, your guiding principles — you have to take steps to inculcate them in the organization carly in its life so that they can guide every decision, every hire, every strategic objective you set” * “Every step of the way, I made a point to under promise and over deliver. In the long run, that’s the only way to ensure security in any job.” © “lf you want to build a great enterprise, you have to have the courage to dream great dreams. If you dream small dreams, you may succeed in building something small.” * “Whatever you do, don’t play it safe. Don't do things the way they've always been done. Don’t try to fit the system. If you do what's expected of you, you'll never accomplish more than what other's expect.” Strategic Guides: 1. Study the biography of Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. Include his childhood, of there is something significant, his interests, his educational attainment, professional and career orientation, and other facts that might have contributed to the success he is enjoying now. 2. Study the beginnings of Starbucks, the challenges it encountered through the years, and its joumney towards success. 3. From the management, result-driven, practical, and inspirational strategies implemented by Schultz at Starbucks, which struck you as something worth imitating? Explain your answer.World’s Greatest Strategist Jeffrey Bezos, 50, is relentless in pursuit of new things to sell. Amazon.com dominates web retailing with $75 billion in annual sales. An estimate shows that the company is offering 230 million different items and is expanding its product assortment at a 24% annual clip. The company’s 20% plus annual revenue growth still delights Wall Strect that gives its chief a pass on profits. Bezos takes calculated gambles, such as Amazon Web Services, which sells computing as if it were just retail good. It has the potential to replace traditional enterprise computing, and offers Amazon potential billions in new higher margin revenues. “We like to go exploring, to wander into dark alleys, and sec if they open up into broad revenues,” Bezos commented. Jeffrey Bezos: Amazon.com ‘Customer Obsession. Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to carn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they “obsess” over customers. ‘Ownership. Leaders are owners. They think long-term and do not sacrifice Jong-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job.” Invent and Simplify. Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, Joking for new ideas from ‘everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here.” Deliver Results. Leaders focus on the ‘key input for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion Insist on the Highest Standards. Leaders have relentlessly high standards; many people may think ‘these standards are unreasonably high. ‘Leaders are continually raising the bar and driving their teams to deliver high quality products, services, and processes. ‘Strategic Guides: 1. Study the biography of Jeffrey Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. Include his childhood, if there is something significant, his interests, his educational attainment, professional and career orientation, and other facts that might have contributed to the success he is enjoying now. 2. Study the beginnings of Amazon.com, the challenges it encountered through the years, and its journey toward success. 3. From the management, result-driven, practical, and inspirational strategies implemented by Bezos at Amazon.com, which struck you as something worth imitating? Explain your answer,World’s Greatest Strategist ‘* “Unless they look at the details of day- Tadashi Yanai, 65, is the son of a menswear to-day operations, I don’t think you merchant. He likes to say that he was can call them real managers.” “brainwashed by American culture.” Fast + “No matter if you have ten stores, or Retailing is a cross-border style setter with 100 stores or 1,000 stores or 10,000 fashionable financials. His house in Japan has ‘stores, everything starts from one a miniature golf range and his business store, and everything starts from empire sells the sort of brightly colored satisfying one customer. And every sportswear that plays well in the United store needs to sustain its own States, where the company operates 17 of its business... Every customer is buying 1,300 Uniqlo stores. ‘one particular item of clothing or maybe two ~ but no one buys 10,000 Most of his stores are in Japan and Asia, but garments. So cach product, cach picce ‘Yanai has big plans. He wants Fast, which in cach product, each store, and cach also owns Theory and Helmut Lang labels, to customer is essential in the retail become the world’s No. I apparel retailer business.” with annual sales of $48 billion by 2020, up © “Myideal company is a small from $12.6 billion now, Currently, Fast is No. company with one boss, making his. 4 behind Zara, H&M and Gap. own products and selling everything im his own store. I think that is ideal. But that is not feasible.” ‘+ “Tkeep telling this to my staff: you are representing me. You are representing the CEO. What I'm trying to convey is that I want all staff to have a business ‘owner's point of view.” Strategic Guides: 1. Study the biography of Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Fast Retailing. Include his childhood, if there is something significant, his interests, his educational attainment, professional and career orientation, and other facts that might have contributed to the success he is, enjoying now. 2. Study the beginnings of Fast Retailing, the challenges it encountered through the years, and its joumey toward success. 3. From the management, result-driven, practical, and inspirational strategies implemented by Yanai at Fast Retailing, which struck you as something worth imitating? Explain your