MARKETING

Marketing: Starbucks



Marketing: Starbucks

Organization's Effectiveness in Communicating with Stakeholder

Starbucks officially started its operation during 1981; the said first operation had grown up to 10,000 cafés, in the US alone, and more than 5,000 cafés around the world. The popularity of the said brand enables the company to create a strong relationship with their customers, because its product and services had become part of the life of many of the aficionados of coffee in the world. Above all, the current position of the company which makes the company as one of the most successful companies in the world is its effective stakeholder communication. Stakeholder communication is the umbrella expression to describe how an organization talks to the outside world (Read 2010, pp. 24-38). At Starbucks, stakeholder communication is grounded in the reputation of the company and enhances the corporate identity. This is the core purpose of stakeholder communication at Starbucks, and the company utilizes this approach effectively to strengthen its brand image. Typically the stakeholder communications function embraces reputation management including Crisis PR, media relations, investor relations, internal communications, social programs (CSR) and advertising. Central to the success of corporate communications at Starbucks is its integration with the rest of the business putting it on an equal footing with other lead departments such as marketing and finance. The success or otherwise of a stakeholder communications strategy at Starbucks depends on where the communications function sits within the organization (Read 2010, pp. 24-38).

Analysis of Starbucks Market Position - SWOT analysis

The SWOT (Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities - Threats) is a tool for strategic analysis of marketing plans of a company. It combines the study of internal and external forces and weaknesses of an organization, territory, sector, etc. with the opportunities and threats in its environment, to help define a marketing strategy. The purpose of the analysis is to take into account the both internal and external factors of marketing strategy to maximize potential strengths and opportunities and minimize effects of weaknesses and threats. Most of the time this analysis is conducted in the form of meetings which bring together people involved in the strategy or experts (Armstrong and Kotier 2007, pp. 45-96).

Strengths

The strength of the company is its brand image, that the company is offering product with improving technology and new features which will attract the target market of the company. The brand image of the company is the major strength of the company, which gives competitive advantage to the company (Kotier and Keller 2009, pp. 19-63).

Opportunity

The products of the Starbucks offer immense opportunity for the company to grab larger share of the target market. First of all the company have the opportunity to start its operation in foreign markets, because the brand image of the company will help the company in foreign markets to attract large number of customers, which will boost the company's business.

Weaknesses

The weakness of the company lies in its dependence mainly on their coffee products. This makes company vulnerable to the supply of coffee ...