Howard Schultz on Strategy

Among many things, Schultz was very concerned about the loss of the theatrics and romance of the art of making coffee after they decided to eliminate the espresso machines that allowed customers to witness the process. This experience is of utmost importance in certain industries where witnessing the making of the products is part of the sale, espe... See more

Additionally, they streamlined store design to gainefficiencies of scale and to make sure they had the ROI on sales to investment ratios that would satisfy the financial side of the business. Many decisions had to be made in order to maximize speed and profits. Decisions that sacrificed the feeling of a community coffee store for a chain feel. Star... See more

This memo was sent in February 2007 by Howard Schultz. In the memo, he shares his feelings about the challenges of going from 1k to 13k stores and the changes and sacrifices that had to be made in order to accomplish the growth.

This is a big challenge for a chain with over 33k stores worldwide, but it seems that top management has been able to communicate and create a culture that has worked well for the entire company's team, investors, and the millions of daily clients that visit the stores.