Strategy Formulation

Environmental Scann

Trisha Shetler

Mgt/ 498

Eligah King

July 29,2017

Environmental Scanning

Environmental Scanning involves the process by which organizations collect, analyze and distribute strategic significant information for both tactical and strategic purposes. The purpose of environmental scanning is to furnish strategic intelligence through evaluating possible crucial changes to the business environment. Business environments within the current times are ever-changing. Organizations are expected to endure the changes within the business and adequately adjust prior to these changes (Albright, 2004).

This paper aims at analyzing Starbucks strategic environmental scan towards attaining competitive advantage as well as marketing. Environmental Scanning assists the company plan and strives for the next business effectuation period following the succeeding years. Starbucks encompasses an all-embracing plan of environmental scanning in efforts to key out potential gaps and consequently prioritizing necessary actions towards meeting the organizational goals and standards pertaining workforce. The scope to environmental scanning is to express the current environmental position alongside relevant changing trends.

Starbucks Internal and External Environments

Among its internal environment, Starbucks strives towards attaining the most effective business interactions. This involves primarily employee interaction among themselves, employee to management interactions, manager to manager interactions, and management to shareholder interactions, brand awareness, main organizational staff, operational potential, and organizational structure, among others. An analysis of the company’s internal environment enables for identifying strengths and weaknesses within the organization.

On account of business interaction, Starbucks treats its respective employees with utmost value and ideally channels them towards better decision making regarding business operations. The company extends on sustaining mutual respect, various workforce culture, shared success and most importantly personal dignity within its environment. Besides value provision, Starbucks establishes a functionary community leadership program that facilitates the company’s functionary services bound on no- profit basis towards ramping up the community. In addition, the company creates a positive working environment through promoting a respectful culture within the workplace as well as encouraging a two-party communication system of communication.

On the other hand, Starbucks establishes an external working environment through diverse current trends within the industry. An authoritative factor the company is the environmental factor. The company strains towards adopting greener stores, greener energy, greener cups and climate change respectively. Regarding greener stores, the company works towards bringing its entire stores to the LEED building standards as well as ensuring its approach to building, designing, and maintaining stores are comprehensive to a variety of environmental goals.

Through its greener energy, Starbucks conserves the water and energy they use as well as obtaining renewable energy accredits, it reduces its environmental consumptions and assists towards the access of clean water and viable energy within the communities that grow coffee among various Starbucks environmental campaigns towards sustainable environments.

Starbucks Competitive Advantage

Starbucks is one of U. S successful retailers of distinctive coffee with a unique specialty in coffee production. The company leverages and roasts certified high-quality coffee and sell alongside other sensation of teas among other beverages on its menu. It sells its products through extensive chains of groceries, licensed stores, and platforms offering food service.

Besides its brand of coffee production, Starbucks offers a variety of goods and services comprising of different sensations such as Tazo, Teavana, Evolution Fresh, Ethos and La Boulange among others. In a geographical perspective, the company has worldwide extensive coffeehouses of approximately 25,085 in 75 different countries. It believes in global expansion besides global responsibility as explained through the context as it ethically obtains high-quality coffee to coffee growing communities, simultaneously reducing its impact to the environment.

Starbucks has four distinct operating segments: the Americas, Europe, China, the channel development as its best strong market segments on a global scale. The company ensures an updated system of marketing strategy. It attains value proposition through its extensive bargain and abides be Porter's five strategies towards attaining competitive advantage prior to its current competitor within the U.S and globally.

Strategies to Competitive Advantage

Starbucks offers a unique sustainable competitive advantage that places it in a higher-ranking business perspective. The company produces the finest coffee beans it uses towards its premium coffee production. The company’s competitors often ascertain ways that Starbucks uses in trying to establish the standards that are employed in coffee making. Besides the finest coffee beans production, the company obtained fair trade qualified coffee and qualified organic coffee towards offering a premium coffee production. Starbucks also uses an advanced espresso machine that is Swiss-made, the Mastrena that brews its unique taste and quality coffee.

The company also employs Porter's generic strategy in its strategies to attain competitive advantage within the industry. Starbucks offers product differentiation through a splendid customer experience as well as the “Starbucks Experience “that enables quality coffee. This is attained through a well-formulated system, well-trained staff and its unique store design across its locations.

Starbucks Measurement Guidelines towards Strategic Effectiveness

Starbucks measures its success through employee accomplishments and customer satisfaction as a strategy to strike effectiveness. The company attains this through consumer satisfaction and loyalty. The company attempts to provide a linked customer experience across its stores so as to maintain and build consumer long term relationship. It produces more than just coffee and through the “Starbucks Experience”, its offers a sense of touch and enable consumers to palpate a one of a kind reception, thereby attaining inviolable emotional bond towards the company making it a protocol for culture.

As of “Starbucks Experience,” the company implements consumer reward cards that provide consumer benefits enabling Starbucks to attain consumer loyalty. This tempts customers to return and make persistent purchases hence building customer loyalty. In addition, Starbucks launched its “Starbucks Customer Experience Survey” that allows its customers share the Starbucks experience and thoughts pertaining the company. Among these directions, the company proves its commitment towards providing the best products and services across its extensive consumer population and above all, consumer experience and satisfaction. This measurement can be clearly attended at since the former company CEO, Howard Behar took charge of the company when it had 28 global locations and attained 1500 locations to his retirement.

The evaluation of Starbucks measurement guidelines enables the company to attain sustainability across virtually all lengths within its industry. The environment was produced in order to demonstrate a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. Through Starbuck’s success to customer loyalty, the company has altered the perception of coffee consumers across its market segments throughout its existence in the industry. Furthermore, the quality control of Starbucks product is indeed very important in ensuring its persistence in the industry as well as offering the best shot it has towards customer satisfaction (Pride & Ferrell, 2009).

References

Albright, K. ( 2004 ), " Environmental scanning: radar for success ",Information Management Journal , Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 38 - 45 .

Analoui, F. and Samour, A. ( 2012 ), " Strategic management: the case of NGOs in Palestine ",Management Research Review , Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 473 - 489 

Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2009). Marketing express. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Company.