Howard Schultz built Starbucks into one of the most successful companies in the United States. Indeed, Starbucks has joined such other iconic American corporations as Disney and McDonald’s in spreading its brand across the globe. Indeed, Schultz has come to symbolize a new breed of high successful entrepreneurs. His 2000 memoir, Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, became an instant best-seller. People can be forgiven if they believe Schultz was the company’s founder, but this is not the case. Starbucks, in fact, was founded in 1971. It was already a thriving, albeit small, coffee bean market in Seattle’s Pike Place Market when Schultz first dropped in. At the time, he was selling kitchenware for a Swedish manufacturer. It was, he claims, love at first smell. In 1982, he moved to Seattle and joined the company as director of retail operations. A visit Continue reading
Business Analysis Case
Case Study: Analysis of IBM’s Strategic Acquisition of Red Hat
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an American multinational corporation that operates in 170 countries globally and significantly impacts the market of technologies. Its central office is located in Armonk, New York; however, there are many departments in other strategically important regions. The corporation manufactures, designs, and sells hardware, middleware, software and provides diverse consulting services in the area of innovation and nanotechnologies. At the moment, it is one of the leaders in this market segment with annual revenue of about $62.753 B. The company is managed by the Board of Directors who accept all critical strategic decisions and are responsible for substantial growth. At the moment, Arvind Krishna is the chair and president of IBM who correctly realizes the peculiarities of the company and contributes to its further evolution. IBM’s strategic acquisition of Red Hat company with a total value of about $34 billion is taken as the background for Continue reading
Case Study: The Lego Group and Its Sacred Cows
The ability to adapt to the changing environment, customer demands, and market forces is vital to the success of a business. The mindset and practices that have propelled a company to success are not necessarily the ones that would help stay successful in the future. It is often advisable to discard the elements that drag the company down, even if they have been a part of it for half a century. These elements can be regarded as metaphorical sacred cows, which are expected to be exempt from any form of metaphorical animal cruelty. This irrational reverence can make a business go bankrupt before giving up on the familiar but obsolete practices. That exact fate almost befell LEGO, one of the most recognizable toy manufacturers in the world. Only through cutting the unnecessary ideas and changing the litigious mindset could the company save itself from the brink of ruin. Case Background Continue reading
Case Study on Green Marketing: Ecoalf’s Inspiring Business Model
In today’s world, many companies are involved in activities aimed at addressing relevant environmental issues as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives. However, some ventures conduct their businesses while using solely green marketing as a mechanism to operate by reducing numerous negative impacts on the environment. One of the factors affecting the sustainability of fashion brands negatively is competition. Some businesses in this sector use radically distinctive development models, which allows them to keep the intermittent interest of the target market. However, without having a reputable history, this is difficult for companies to overcome the competitive barrier. As a result, high competition in such an environment affects the sustainability of brands and can often be an obstacle. The inability to withstand pressure from rivals, in turn, is directly associated with falling profits and, consequently, financial challenges. One of the trends in the fashion industry is the focus on environmental Continue reading
Case Study of McCain Foods: Dominating the Frozen Food Industry with Business Expansion
McCain Foods Limited was established in 1957 in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada. The McCain brothers identified the need for frozen food in Canada and they decided to come up with a company that would satisfy this need. Andrew McCain discovered that there was a vast market for potatoes across the globe. Therefore, he established McCain Produce Company with an aim of exporting seed potatoes. Later, his sons came up with an idea to establish a business that dealt with frozen foods. The company started by hiring thirty employees, and during the first year, it made sales worth $152,678. Today, McCain Food Limited is one of the multinational companies that deal with frozen foods. The company’s operation is so massive that it processes one million pounds of potato products each hour and sells one-third of the world’s frozen french fries products in over 110 countries. Moreover, the company offers jobs to thousands Continue reading
Case Study: History of British Petroleum and Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The history of British Petroleum (BP) is inextricably linked to innovative environmental projects aimed at changing the activities of the entire global industry. Back at the end of the 20th century, the corporation announced a program to transform the production of petroleum products in accordance with the principles of environmental protection. The campaign was called “More Than Oil” and implied the expansion of alternative energy production facilities, including the expansion of solar energy production. This policy cost the management team a large investment of over a hundred million dollars and, by the beginning of the 21st century, brought significant reputational benefits. British Petroleum became the most popular and respected supplier of petroleum products to various countries around the world. However, while actively expanding its oil fields, management encountered the first global problems, which served as the starting point for many environmental catastrophic events in the history of British Petroleum. In Continue reading