Starbucks Organizational Analysis
STARBUCKS ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS 2
Write the Organizational section of your project paper.
The organization�s mission and vision
The organization’s structure – How does this compare to competitors? Based on the organization’s
structure – how receptive to change will the organization be?
The management chart showing levels and responsibility. What type of organization is it (matrix,
hierarchical or something else?)
A description of employees and/or headcount in the organization:
For the company analysis: How diverse is the company�s workforce? leadership? Is diversity company-
wide or are certain levels or positions more or less diverse than others?
Starbucks Organizational Analysis
Starbucks Mission and Vision
Starbucks Corporation’s vision and mission statements symbolize the corporate emphasis on
leadership in the coffee industry and the coffee house markets. The indicator of the corporate
mission is to show the company’s business target consumers. The corporation mission focuses on
the philosophical purpose of Starbucks (D’Urso, 2018). The corporate vision statement, on the
other hand, reflects the strategic business direction concerning future achievements. Therefore,
the company vision is focusing on leadership in the coffee industry. This allows the corporation
to respond to a competitive environment depending on the effective implementation of corporate
statements. The corporate statement implementation influences the intensive growth strategies
and generic strategy. This allows Starbucks Corporation similar strategic goals to streamline
activities by adhering to its mission statement and to satisfy the corporate vision statement
(Abiodun, 2010).
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The corporate mission is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup
and one neighborhood at a time.” This mission statement allows Starbucks to sustain its business
by giving its target consumers emphasis in the mission. Therefore, several aspects of its
corporate mission statement influence strategic planning and management in developing its
business. This is because “the mission statement inspires and nurtures the human spirit and one
person and one cup and one neighborhood at a time (D’Urso, 2018).” The corporation as a
corporate vision states that “to establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in
the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.” Thus, the corporate
vision statement has various elements that are pertinent to its business environment. These
components include growth, uncompromising principles, most excellent coffee in the world and
premier purveyance (Bartkus, Glassman & McAfee, 2006).
Starbucks Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of Starbucks is unique just like its coffee, and it is
customized to the needs and abilities of the company. However, the organizational fundamentals
come of a mix of other basic organizational structures. Starbucks is one of the leading coffee
shop chains globally. Therefore, one of its main reasons for success is its organizational
structure. The organizational structure determines management, communication, and leadership
as well as the success of the company (Glowik, 2017). The organizational structure is an
excellent example of how responsibilities and divisions should be separated and placed within a
company. Starbucks organizational structure has a matrix form that is a mix of various
characteristics. These characteristics include product-based divisions, geographic divisions,
functional divisions, and teams. The design involves intersections among different aspects of its
business. For instance, the product-based division of the company intersects with geographical
STARBUCKS ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS 4
divisions and the functional group, which also intersect with other organizational components
(Glowik, 2017).
This organizational structure is very different from other competitors in the coffee
industry. The intersection of the matrix structure creates efficiency and effective operations of
organizational units. The functional hierarchy features of the organizational structure create
group-based on business functions. The marketing, finance and HR departments are pronounced
at the top of the organizational design. This facilitates top-down control and monitoring as well
as enhances implementation of policies appropriate to all cafes of the corporation. Thus, the
functional group allows organizational vast creation and execution of corporate generic
competitive strategies and intensive growth strategy of the company (Glowik, 2017). The
geographic divisions of the corporate structure allow efficient operations of each location for the
global markets. This is an important feature, which allows closer managerial support for
geographical needs and gives flexibility in adjusting policies and strategies that suit specific
conditions of a specific market. The product-based divisions allow Starbucks to focus on product
lines such as its coffee and related products. This facilitates product development. Therefore, the
company becomes more innovative and develops its products with full support throughout the
organizational structure. This is a competitive advantage compared to competitors. The product
development strategies enable competitiveness for business needs, particularly in consideration
of the threats recognized in the SWOT analysis of the company (Glowik, 2017).
The teams are strategically used by the organizational structure, especially the lowest
levels of the coffee house. The teams are structured for delivering services and goods to
consumers. This enhances Starbucks to provide efficient and effective services to its customers.
The effect of the teams is a significant indicator of the financial performance of the franchised
STARBUCKS ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS 5
locations of the company-owned coffeehouse. The culture also influences the achievements of
teams, and the corporation development relies on team-based determinants and associated
strategies of human capital management. The above organizational structures are the main
characteristics that are significant in creating competitive advantage and shaping strategic
management decisions of the company. Besides, different levels of the organizational structure
are responsible for creating and sustaining the integrity of the corporate structure (Glowik,
2017).
The organizational structure is flexible and receptive to changes with its structure. The
hybrid structure allows the management to implement organizational changes in order to enhance
customer satisfaction strategically. The structure is uniquely linked to its unique coffee, which
allows easy changes and flexible adjustment of its strategies to meet the objectives of the
corporate vision and mission statements. The organizational structure enables effective
communication for communicating changes, especially to its employees or partners that will
better focus efforts on improving and enhancing the customer experience.
Organizational Structure Chart
The organizational structure of Starbucks is a matrix and enhances the hybrid mix of
different organizational structures (Glowik, 2017). The executive oversees the company
operations from headquarter office, Settle, Washington. The structure has district managers
overseeing regional store groupings. They report directly to the Corporation. The store manager
acts as the leader with a shift supervisor collections acting as managers on duty when the leader
is out. The corporate organization has four levels of management above the store management.
The organizational structure looks as follows:
STARBUCKS ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS 6
Functional Structure
Geographic Divisions
Product-Based Divisions
Teams
Starbucks Corporation Hierarchy
STARBUCKS ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS 8
This organizational design allows functional structure and relatively flat structure. It
allows teamwork and Laissez Faire management style for motivating employees through raises
and reviews. Thus, work responsibilities are allocated through shift supervisors and workers are
empowered to make decisions and allowed to use initiative (Glowik, 2017).
Starbucks Corporation Employees
Employees of Starbucks are part of something bigger. They are inspired to achieve
positive change in the world while still growing their careers and community. The company has
over 277,000 employees. The company is known for its highly knowledgeable partners.
Employees are the main assets of Starbucks. The corporation provides excellent benefits to
employees like a healthy culture, retirement accounts and stock option (Page & Schoder, 2018).
This effective human resource management translates into great customer services making the
company appear among 100 best prices to work according to Fortune Magazine.
Employee and Leadership Diversity at Starbucks
Starbucks strives to build a culture that respects and values and inclusion and diversity.
The management expects its leaders to lead in inclusion and diversity, from employees or
partners to its senior leadership teams. The company uses a servant leadership approach that
significantly reflects its organizational structure. Therefore, leaders, supervisors, and managers
stress support for junior employees to ensure that all people grow in the corporation. Starbucks
has anti-discrimination policies shaping its organizational culture (Page & Schoder, 2018). It
illegalizes any discrimination form based on race, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, gender,
cultural backgrounds, ideas, thoughts, and religion and life experiences. This enhances rapport
STARBUCKS ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS 9
and sharing among workers and innovation relied on diverse ideas. This diversity is a company-
wide and runs across all divisions, regions, and functions of the company.
STARBUCKS ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS
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References
Abiodun, A. J. (2010). Interface between corporate vision, mission and production and
operations management. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 10(2),
18-22.
Bartkus, B., Glassman, M., & McAfee, B. (2006). Mission statement quality and financial
performance. European Management Journal, 24(1), 86-94.
D’Urso, S. C. (2018). Towards the final frontier: Using strategic communication activities to
engage the latent public as a key stakeholder in a corporate mission. International
Journal of Strategic Communication, 12(3), 288-307.
Glowik, M. (2017). 4.7 Case study: Starbucks. Global Strategy in the Service Industries:
Dynamics, Analysis, and Growth, 156.
Page, L., & Schoder, J. (2018). Making change last: leadership is the key. Journal of Business
Strategy.