Striving For Operational Excellence And Agility
Week 8: Final Exam Case: Case #29 – Starbucks in 2018: Striving for Operational Excellence and Innovation Agility.
Submit Assignment
· Due Thursday by 9:59pm
· Points 100
· Submitting a website url or a file upload
· Available Apr 29 at 10pm – May 7 at 9:59pm 8 days
Week 8: Instructions for Final Exam Case: Case #29 – Starbucks in 2018: Striving for Operational Excellence and Innovation Agility.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:
· Organize and identify your responses, preferably, by cutting-and-pasting each specific instruction and number, as written below. All too often, students end-up writing an incorrect or incomplete response because they failed to address the instruction or question exactly as it was written.
· Where appropriate, you should use tables or charts, and/or bullet-points and sub-headings to organize and display your analyses. Doing so not only makes it easier for you to understand and explain, it cuts-down on the amount of supporting narrative that you have to write to explain the outcomes of your analysis and assessments.
· You should read the exam questions in their entirety, before starting.
SPECIFIC CASE QUESTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS
TASK #1: Regarding Starbucks’ Strategy in 2018
(A) Briefly describe the following aspects of Starbucks’ strategy.
1. Growth Strategy
2. Strategy to provide a unique coffee experience
3. Product sourcing strategy
4. Product diversification
5. Marketing, advertising, and promotion strategies
(B) Does Starbucks have a winning strategy? Your response must demonstrate your understanding of the three tests of a winning strategy as described in Chapter 1, and be supported by information in Case #29.
Task #2: Regarding strategy, policies, procedures, and operating practices at Starbucks in 2018
Assume that Starbucks’ CEO Harry Schultz has asked you to advise him on what strategies, policies, procedures, and operating practices at Starbucks are working particularly well and what and changes might be needed to improve Starbuck’s performance in 2018 and beyond. Prepare a response that: (A) details the things that you feel Starbucks is executing well and (B) describes any problems that you see and the areas where the company needs to improve; and (C) describes your recommendations to further improve Starbucks performance prospects. In your response, justify why your recommendations should be implemented by utilizing evidence and logical argument.
TASK #3: Regarding Starbuck’s mission, business principles, and values.
Describe: (A) the features that characterize and define Starbucks’ corporate values and culture; and (B) the lengths to which Starbucks management has gone to create a work environment that clearly supports the effective execution of the company’s customer-friendly strategy differentiation strategy.
TASK #4: INSIGHTS GAINED
Describe at least three (3) different ways in which your understanding of management’s role in strategy-making and effective strategy-execution (as described in Chapter 10 thru 12, and related Instructor’s Notes) was enhanced or reinforced as the result of you have worked through this case assignment. PLEASE NOTICE: The focus here should NOT be on the specifics of the Southwest Airlines case. However, this does not preclude you from including information from the case (or your responses to the case questions) to illustrate how your understanding was enhanced or reinforced.