Starbucks Disaster Relief PR Campaign Lindsey Scheltema ...

[Pages:18]Starbucks Disaster Relief PR Campaign Lindsey Scheltema, Michele C. Hladik and Katie Goodling

6-26-11

Organizational Audit: Executive Summary "Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit ? one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time ()" Plain, simple, and directly to the point, Starbucks is all about the customer, from the drink, to the friendliness, to the connection each partner develops with their customers in each community. Founded in 1971, Starbucks belongs to the specialty eateries industry of gourmet coffee found from the best coffee producers in the world. Starbucks prides itself in not only delivering the best customer service, but also by giving back to the community by helping out the environment and communities they surround themselves in. Like many other big corporations, Starbucks saw rough times during the global economic crisis, but after reshaping their company and going "back to basics", Starbucks has been looking up, not only Internationally, but financially- in 2010 they reached a record net revenue of over 10 billion dollars.

Organizational Audit Starbucks belongs to the specialty eateries industry. Specialty eateries are establishments that serve a limited menu and often specialize in a particular foods and beverages. Starbucks' industry segment is that of gourmet coffee. Starbucks prides itself on high quality coffee and espresso products and compliments its coffee menu with highly focused cafe-type food items such as muffins and pastries as well as the sale of coffee-centered merchandise such as travel mugs. First and foremost, Starbucks works with its customers to provide high quality coffeerelated products and superb customer service. The Starbucks customer has evolved from the upper class businessperson to members of all societies who view Starbucks as a place to conduct business, study and socialize.

Starbucks also prides itself on working with a diverse group of suppliers to provide its customers with quality products. Starbucks uses many women and minority-owned coffee bean suppliers due to their dedication to promoting prosperity in socially and economically disadvantaged areas. Starbucks works closely with all coffee bean farmers to improve benefits to their businesses, communities and environment. Starbucks has created support centers in Costa Rica and Rwanda to assist their farmers with production costs, health issues and quality control. Starbucks also contributes to companies who release loans to coffee farmers, which allows them to create the best coffee and sell their beans at the right time and at the right price.

Over the last three decades, Starbucks has grown and transformed from a single coffee store to an international success. Founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, the company started with a narrow store that featured fresh roasted, whole-bean coffee. The store's name was inspired by Moby Dick and designed to evoke romantic images of the sea and traditional sea faring coffee traders ("About Us," 2011).

It was discovered by current President, Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz in 1981. Schultz began working for the company in 1982, but soon took a short break to tour Italy. There he fell in love with the Italian coffee houses and when he returned to the United States he began to branch out on his own. By 1987 he purchased the Starbucks company and began to develop his dream of community coffee houses spread throughout the United States This dream soon grew to its current size of 17,009 stores in 50 countries around the world. More than half of those stores, 8,870, are company owned and 8,139 are licensed stores ("About Us," 2011).

Despite the size of the company, Starbucks continues to be part of the local communities it serves and a steward of the environment. It has become a daily routine for some customers and has developed into a community meeting place. It is also seen as a great environmental protector

and has received many awards for its role in community, employment and environmental living. The company has received nine awards in the last year for its role in local communities, protecting the environment, and corporate responsibility. It has also been recognized as one of the best employers, one of the most admired companies and one of the most sustainable companies ("About Us," 2011). What is the organization like?

Specializing in handcrafted and blended drinks including coffees and teas, Starbucks has developed into even more. It also features fresh baked goods, pastries, sandwiches, salads, yogurt, oatmeal and fruit. Patrons may also purchase Starbucks merchandise like coffee and tea making equipment, packaged products, music, books, mugs and other accessories and items.

The company is part of the brand portfolio of Seattle's Best Coffee, Tazo Tea, and Torrefazione Italia Coffee. Starbucks became a publicly traded company June 6, 1992. The economic crisis of 2008 had a dramatic impact on the company which almost had to close 300 stores and cut thousands of jobs. It was saved when Schultz retook the reins and the company has actually grown. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in March 2011 with a redesign of its logo and a move toward more calorie conscious products ("Starbucks Corporation," 2011). Mission Statement

The Starbuck's mission simply is "to inspire and nurture the human spirit ? one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time ("About Us," 2011)." The company is committed to operating in a manner that builds trust and respect among employees, investors, neighbors and customers. It is also interested in building strong relationship with farmers all over the world to allow the purchase of the best quality products. The company aims to follow ethical trading practices and good agricultural standards ("About Us," 2011).

The mission also states the company's strong believe in good environmental stewardship. It works to reduce or eliminate its carbon footprint through water and energy conservation, recycling and green construction. The company is also working to ensure all of its cups are reusable or recyclable by 2015. The mission also places continued importance on community involvement and expresses the plan to contribute more than one million volunteer hours a year in Starbucks based communities each year by 2015 ("About Us," 2011).

This huge transformation of reshaping the company in times of the global hard economic times was difficult, but the progress the company has made in the past 12 months has been phenomenal.

The most recent financial information was retrieved from the 2010 fiscal year annual report. The total net revenue for Starbucks is at an all time high at 10.7 billion dollars, which is up from 2009 by 1.1 billion dollars. Their comparable growth rate went from being negative 6% to positive 7% increase, which is a 13.3% difference; which was the highest full-year consolidated operating margin in the history of the company! Starbucks capital expenditure dropped almost 540 million dollars from 2008-2009; which meant they decreased a lot of spending; but this helped in the long run because in 2010, their operating cash flow rose and capital expenditures was still lowering; which means Starbucks is handling their spending more wisely and staying conservative with cash flow. As far as the future for 2011 Fiscal Year is concerned, Starbucks is only expecting to increase its revenue and improve their operating margin for 2011

Starbucks Communication Audit: Executive Summary Starbucks is an international specialty eatery that uses various forms of communication to reach its target audiences. The company's communication plan as a whole is extremely

successful in terms of both promotional pieces and crisis communication. The company uses a wide variety of communication channels to spread its messages, including the Internet, newspapers, magazines and television. These different communication avenues are tailored to the company's several target audiences, which include consumers, employees, stakeholders and suppliers. This communications audit found that Starbucks has successful and stable companywide communication tools available.

Communication Audit Starbucks has great communication skills for addressing both their internal and external audiences. Internally, Starbucks employees are known as partners, who are committed to coffee and product knowledge along with exquisite customer service. Starbucks partners are a huge asset to their success and the company helps their partners out as much as they can. Good communication is always happening, along with partner programs for health coverage, equity in company stocks and retirement plans. Starbucks tries to be as open as possible, but having such a large, international corporation, communication is considered tighter; especially for regional managers, store managers, and partners. Internally, all partners are able to go to their company website to the "business ethics and compliance page," where they are able to report questions and concerns. Another internal audience is SharedPlanet, a place where all of their partners from around the world build relationships to make the world a better place. Starbucks collaborates with a nongovernmental organization through SharedPlanet. External audiences include every day customers, ritualistic, occasional, and future customers. They are exposed to Starbucks by numerous media sources such as daily news shows,

news releases, magazines, TV commercials, billboards, conference call webcasts, social media websites and their own company website.

Another external audience that requires good communication is the stakeholders and investors in the company. Starbucks offers annual reports, board reports, and financial releases so their investors will be up to date on all the latest financial information. On the company website, there is a specific section for investors called "Investor Relations" which gives all the up to date information on investing into this company.

Starbucks uses a variety of media for communicating with its audiences, but the primary source of communication is the company web site. It is without a doubt the most far reaching and addresses customers of all types, employees at all levels, investors, partners and the media. In addition to the website it also communicates through traditional means of written communications with employees through employee handbooks, advertisements directed at the general public, and through formal media releases.

The company website opens the biggest avenue of communication. It is visually appealing, easily accessible, and holds a wealth of information. To the general public and consumers it offers a look into the company's products, menu and store locations. It also highlights the coffee growers, offers insight into the company's global and corporate policies and gives a brief history of the company. Consumers may also purchase or reload gift cards from this site.

The online newsroom features both written and video press releases. It also offers journalist a point of contact, additional research sources and a private media login area that is password protected. It also offers biographies on the Starbucks executives and entertains requests for information and interviews. This section of the site currently contains many news

releases aimed at separating fact from fiction in an ongoing issue with its Middle East communities. Not only does it have the statements in English but it also has them in Arabic as well.

Employees and potential employees can find a wealth of information at the company's online career center. Through this site the company has a job search forum as well as reason why the company is a good place to work. It also uses stories from real employees. Information is also communicated to employees about diversity and career advancement.

Investors and executives also receive communications from this site. The investor relations section offers investors stock prices and a look into the company's financial foundation. It also offers an investor's tool kit which allows for email notifications and alerts. It also offers specific contact information, SEC information, annual reports, analyst coverage and more.

Social networking also plays an important role in communications. The company has a presence in all of the major social networking areas including Facebook and Twitter. In addition to allowing self promotion by the company, these sites allow actual customers to share their thoughts and views on the company, its products or its services. Used properly, this is a good tool for opening communication with a vast and varied audience. Company commercials are also available to the public on You Tube.

Throughout its internal and external communication tactics, Starbucks is a large and successful company that has a concrete and effective communications plan in place. Starbucks is successful in using a wide variety of communication tools such as print advertising, television advertising, digital advertising and social networking.

Each communication method deployed by Starbucks has a target audience. Although Starbucks is a coffee conglomerate, the company is obviously dedicated to informing and

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