Distribution
Starbuck Company imports coffee beans from farmers in different countries to its roasting factories in US. Coffee cherries from the farmer are taken to the mills for processing to beans. These mills belong to a cooperative society formed by farmers mostly in small scale farming, large farms own mills or by middlemen who buy cherries from the farmers. After conversion to beans the product is then exported, through government coffee boards in that particular country or from private exporters to, US. Here it is inspected and stored in warehouses until it is shipped to the Starbucks roasting factories in Kent, Washington; York, Pennsylvania; and Carson Valley, Nevada (Starbucks, 2009)
In the roasting factories, beans are roasted and blended to specialty coffee brands sold by Starbucks. This is done to maintain a consistent flavor characteristic of Starbucks coffee brands. Special packaging is also done to guarantee quality and freshness and then shipped to Starbucks stores worldwide and directly to the consumer through supermarkets.
Franchise operations are an avenue for Starbucks products such as airports, bookstores and college campuses. The company has an agreement with Albertsons food chain to operate Starbucks coffee bars in its supermarkets where other company products are sold and Kraft Foods Inc among others.
By September 2001, the company had 5,500 accounts to its name through which it supplied coffee as whole beans as well as ground coffee. The main customers for these products are office coffee distributors as well as food service companies located in institutions (Starbucks, 2009).
The company also sells whole beans and ground coffees to office coffee distributors, institutional foodservice companies, where it had approximately 5,500 accounts by September 2001.
Warehouse club chains where Starbuck products are distributed by Kraft Food Inc and a joint venture with Pepsi-cola Company where the company develops and distributes ready-to-drink coffee based products such as Frappucino Coffee drink.
Starbucks also operate their own retail stores in high streets in major cities of the world with 16,120 retail stores in 49 countries. These stores are involved in the production and sale of bottled frappuccino coffee drink, supply of whole bean coffees in supermarkets, a range of premium ice creams, Tazo teas as well as Othos water. The products are sold in Starbucks’ retail stores and also to the supermarkets and large stores all over the world (Starbucks, 2009).
Logistics
Starbuck out sources its transport logistics services for its products to the stores and the wholesalers and the coffee from the countries where it is grown. These services are inclusive of warehousing and delivery. Example is in Canada where HFS North America exclusively handles its logistics. The logistics services companies then use the road, rail, sea or air transport to this end.
Physical facility
Starbucks has its headquarters are located in Seattle, Washington at the Starbucks Center where operations such as marketing, finance, store development, supply chain management and information technology are carried out. The factory facilities are located in the US in Kent, Washington; York, Pennsylvania; and Carson Valley, Nevada.
The Starbuck coffee stores are located in prime streets in major cities of the world. The stores are decorated in brown color scheme and leathery chairs, neatly fitted between cubbyholes are bookshelves and traditional furniture. There are also community notice boards. Outside the stores is the company logo, which is designed into a mermaid curved from bronze over the words “Fresh roasted coffee”. However, stores are designed according to the influences of the community and locality (Burgess, 2009).
Inside the shops also is the entertainment and merchandise sections where music, films, gifts with Starbuck logo, coffee making machines among others are sold.
Competitive advantage
Starbuck has competitive advantage over small independent coffee stores in the UK market. It bought Seattle Coffee Company and used the increased resources and influence to get prime locations (Starbucks, 2009).
Starbuck has no competitive advantage with Costa Coffee and Caffé Nero in the market this is because they are lacking in unique and quality coffee the other two are offering quality and distinct taste coffee. The customers are accusing it of being “brand fatigue” (Burgess, 2009).
Starbuck has no competitive advantage over MacDonald and Dunkin due to the competitors’ use of low cost. They sell their quality coffee cappuccino at much lower prices than Starbucks (Seib, 2009).
Reference
Burgess, K. (2009). Starbucks adds local flavor to stores in bid to win back customers. New York Times Online. Web.
Seib, C. (2009). Starbucks says more customers visit and spend more. New York Times Online. Web.
Starbucks. (2009). Facts about Starbucks Coffee Company. Starbucks Coffee Company. Web.
Essay Voice-over
Event Management Analysis: Local Soccer Championship
Introduction
Even management requires careful and detailed analysis and planning in order to avoid a project failure and create an impressive and amazing setting for visitors. The event selected for analysis is a local soccer championship. This event attracts much soccer fans and people interested in s[port events. For this reason, safety issues and controls are the main concern for the project manager. The schedule of the game is established by general soccer rules and does not require additional changes or improvements. The game lasts 90 minutes, and is divided into two matches. 45 minutes each.
Events Life Cycle
The Main Stages of the Event
The event life cycle can be divided into five parts: the preparation, the first match, the break, the second match and the celebration of the victory. The first step in plan is preparation. The soccer fans gather at the local stadium and take their sits. The aim of this step is to ensure safety of fans. During the second stage of the event, all players were on their own side of the field. My team won. In contrast to traditional shape of the field, where the size of the areas is about 100 yards in length and 50 yards wide, the shape of the areas is GYM are smaller. There are boundary lines surround the field considered part of the filed.
The main problem was that we did not have 11 players for each team (according to the rules of the game) but had 7-7 for each team. During the third stage, the break, fans did not leave their sits as it lasted only 15 minutes. The second match carried an immense appeal. No two contests could ever be repeated exactly, and we were constantly expecting the unexpected. Last week, there were no severe penalties against players of both teams. The break between matches was at 4:45 PM. During this time, my favorable team planed and discussed our drawbacks in defense and created new tactics and strategy of the play. The last stage was the event was a celebration of victory and communication with players (Robbins, 2002).
Legislative and Licensing Framework
In soccer, legislative and licensing framework determines the main rules and procedures of the game. The main issue for project managers is to develop and ensure effective performance for visitors and sport fans (Thompson and Martin 2005). This level will involve analysis of the differences between current level of assessment and instructions, and desired one (Grant, 1998). Though it is a costly part of the budget, money spent on continuing changes represents most likely the single most valuable investment.
Externally, legislative issues should reflect general rules and principles of soccer. Internally, legislative issues should reflect internal needs of the institutions and its main goals. If project team really accomplished what is in most game rules guides, they would be considerably ahead of where they are now in sport event management (Owens and Wilson 1996).
It is essential that soccer players and event managers agree upon and clear up their curricular goals, assign responsibility for achieving them, and have a paper that will make these decisions clear to any inquirer. Event schedule should be chosen for its potential. This approach does not necessarily mean only “practical use” but rather that the knowledge and skills learned will be conducive to new learning and problem solving, originality, and the making of responsible decisions (Burkun, 2005).
Project Management
The practice of project management is influenced by developments in the management science, by new and old models and understanding of the management and its functions in events. Project management is often considered as one of the main tools which help organizations to compete on the market and create strategic goals and competitive position (Grant, 1998). The modern sport sector represents a unique market segment within a global trade.
It requires unique strategic goals and strategic thinking tools to compete on the market place. It is often asserted that the modern environment is so multifaceted that it is impossible to capture reality with the help of any formal model. In spite of great advantages and benefits proposed by modern theories and concepts of management, there are some limitations and weaknesses which prevent managers from effective implementation and introduction of their decision and management solutions (Moore, 2001).
Communication Skills
The main skills required by project managers are excellent communication and planning skills, ability to accept risky decision and foresee possible problems and risks associated with mass events. The art of strategy design should begin with the recognition of environmental threats and their transformation into opportunities. The first limitations of the modern management theories are an awareness of the company’s dependency on its environment.
Modern organizations rely on very popular Porter’s five forces, namely, competitors, buyers, suppliers, substitute producers, and potential new entrants. Thus, they do not take into account political and social factors outside the company. A second limitation is inadequate environmental scanning applied ot the company beyond internal management information systems. In their responses to environmental challenges, managers are hampered by a variety of response barriers, such as entry, exit, and inertia barriers (Mintzberg et al 2004).
Information technology and research skills
Information technology and research skills help project managers to assess and evaluate different approaches to event management and select the best possible solution for the soccer championship. The simplicity of the strategies and proposed management solutions limit the scope of analysis and opportunities assessment. Dynamic and complex environments are more difficult to measure and to model than complex but static markets.
Yet, most difficult and complex are those business issues that are both multifaceted and dynamic; these environments are correctly termed discontinuous or turbulent environments. The major problem is that corporate-level managers are ill-equipped to do effective analysis because they do not understand the unique resources and capabilities in the organization, whereas managers have the knowledge, within the new sector, organizations should take a specula attention to internal and external resources, rapid changing environment and flexible planning process (Dobson and Starkey 2004).
For instance, change management strategies should be more effective, in terms of identifying what it is that the business should be doing today and tomorrow in order to survive and prosper in the long run. The highly competitive nature of many markets and the likely future prospect of continued economic turbulence as national and global economic fortunes vary, requires that business managers continue to look for opportunities to improve performance. For this reason, organizations should concentrate on knowledge-based strategies and resources-based view to compete on the market (Fulton and Maddock, 1998).
Risks
A major source of risk on events is tied to difficulties in managing needs and requirements. If needs have not been identified correctly and if the corresponding requirements do not capture real needs properly, then a project is foredoomed to fail because it will produce deliverables that do not correspond to customers’ needs and wants. Proper management of needs and requirements is a necessary condition for project success. Problems begin with attempts to identify needs. One common difficulty is determining who the customers are. At first blush, the answer may seem obvious: the key customer is the individual who is paying the bill.
But reflection shows that this perspective is too narrow. In the area of investment decisions, probability forecasts are very important, e.g. variable estimates of future sales costs and prices will affect the estimated rates of return on capital invested in projects. Risk management is an important area of project management because it helps the project manager to locate and plan resources taking into account probability analysis and possible risks (Gardiner, 2005).
Ineffective risk analysis leads to failure of the project and threatens its outcomes. Better customer relations lead higher morale of staff, lower program costs result in higher profit margins. Individuals have a lot of freedom, but when they join a project their freedom is restricted and their effort must be joined with those of others to achieve organizational goals. For this reason, the project manager should take a special attention to all areas of the project and resources involved to achieve desirable and stipulated outcomes (Frame 2002).
PEST and SWOT
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Strong brand image of both teams | High prices for tickets |
| Popularity among all social classes and ages | A need to spend money on safety issues and possible terror attacks |
| Sponsorship staff | Lack of information about fans and the audience |
| Television support | Poor packing facilities (because of reconstruction) |
| High-quality and innovative technology is used to produce competitive advertisements and promotion campaigns | Lack of lodging facilities in the nearby area |
| Opportunities | Threats |
| The possibility to promote awareness and popularity of soccer | Poor weather conditions |
| International popularity | Another event take place in the city at the same time |
| Lack of profit making history | |
| Hooliganism and sport violence |
Pest
Political stability in UK opens new opportunities for soccer to meet fans demands and needs. Soccer championship can raise the level of competition. In order to compete on this market and remain profitable, soccer should introduce aggressive advertising campaign informing potential fans about new products and their benefits. To get the message different types of media will be used in accordance with particulate audience. (Gardiner, 2005)
Economic liberalization allows soccer championship to enter Eastern Europe and expend its popularity. Techniques used here include: temporary price reductions; extra value offers for soccer clubs, including offers relating to future purchase; premium offers (incentives), including free mail-in premiums, banded free gifts. Often a critical determinant to estimating demand is the availability of information. The obtaining of such information can be extremely difficult and costly in many countries, particularly developing countries (Gardiner, 2005).
Social factors involve cross cultural communities and improved standards of living. The soccer championship manager establishes offerings in accordance with his perception of both actual and potential demand; he continuously monitors the sport marketplace to adjust to changing wants and needs; gathers marketing intelligence to delineate market opportunities; and integrates, coordinates, and controls marketing resources to achieve more efficient systems of action (Gardiner, 2005).
Technological forces demands innovative solutions and methods in production and marketing operations. Technological developments and changing market environments are externally based, whereas research and development, and modifications of products, packages, marketing channels, and advertising. Digital TV and real time video will help to attract more fans around the country. Corporate resources are balanced both internally and externally. Internal balance is achieved by the coordination of all soccer championship activity and its integration with the other areas of the business (Gardiner, 2005).
Conclusion
Event management requires excellent communication, management, planning and control skills. An event management framework involves such concepts as technology, structure, effectiveness, and fit. Each of the concepts has great impact on the modern organization and its functions. The correlation between these measures and measures of arrangement indicates how well the management decisions matches structure. Modern project management does not reveal much about how the important properties of these systems should be measures.
Bibliography
Burkun, S. 2005, The Art of Project Management. O’Reilly Media; 1 ed.
Dobson, P., Starkey, K. 2004, The Strategic Management: Issues and Cases. Blackwell Publishing.
Gardiner, P. 2005, Project Management: A Strategic Planning Approach. Palgrave Macmillan.
Grant, R. M. 1998, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, (3rd edn.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Frame, J.D. 2002, The New Project Management: Tools for an Age of Rapid Change, Complexity, and Other Business Realities. Jossey-Bass.
Fulton, R. L., Maddock, R. C. 1998, Motivation, Emotions, and Leadership: The Silent Side of Management. Quorum Books.
Mintzberg, H., Lampel, J. B., Quinn, J. B., Ghoshal, S. 2004, The Strategy Process. Pearson Education.
Moore, J. L. 2001, Writers on Strategy and Strategic Management: Theory and Practice at Enterprise, Corporate, Business and Functional Levels. Penguin Books Ltd.
Owens, I. Wilson, T. 1996, Information and Business Performance: A Study of Information Systems and Services in High Performing Companies. Bowker-Saur.
Robbins, S. 2002, Organizational Behavior. Pearson Higher.
Thompson, J. L., Martin, F. 2005, Strategic Management: Awareness, Analysis and Change. Thomson Learning.
Political And Social Issues Discussion In The Classroom
Professors should not be allowed to advocate their views on political or social issues in the classroom. I stand on the position that professors should teach students and provoke their thoughts, but not affect them or advocate his/her political or social position. Every citizen of our country has a right to have his/her own views and opinions about the problem. I can fully agree with Professor John Dewey who says that “indoctrination occurs whenever an instructor insists that students accept as truth propositions that are in fact professionally contestable” (Finkin 55). Thus, I think that any contradictory facts, own opinions, thought-provoking ideas should be examined and analyzed instead of being accepted as universal truth.
I believe that professors should not implant their ideas in students’ minds. This is the way to operate the young forces of energetic people. If the professor is of high account among the students, his ideas are followed as the only right way to act and think. So, it is necessary “to restrict professors’ academic freedom in the classroom” and not only “to point out abuses of the classroom that masquerade as ‘academic freedom’”? (Berube 1). I think a professor can introduce his own thoughts without provoking students to agree or disagree; but more often he/she implies his/her own opinion on the issue. Thus, the professor’s opinion is doomed to affect students’ ones. The professor infringes the right of a student to have his/her own opinion, thus involving passive following the ideas and opinions which already exist, without trying to rouse a flow of thoughts.
Professors create tension in the classroom, as another point against the professors’ influence on the students’ opinions is that the most obvious way to affect the ideas is to make them think over the issues in a particular vein. So, in my view “professors must be free to frame their courses as they see fit, and that they need to be able to draw on diverse materials to facilitate learning, it avoids grappling with the very real problem of how doctrinaire instruction should be identified and addressed” (O’Connor 1). But, unfortunately, the policy of free framing can lead to political provocations, as not all the students are ready to listen carefully to the opinion of the opponent and to react in a calm manner. Thus, the problem is the way a person tries to affect another person’s mind; moreover, this absence of choice can provoke unpredictable results.
Though there are many arguments against the discussion of political and social issues in the classroom by professors, I should tell that the main thing is that students are free to analyze the introduced issues by themselves in order to make unbiased and self-reliant conclusions. Thus Mr. Barrett, a lecturer at the Madison University, introduced counter-evidence in order to explore the myth about the prejudice of the political and social discussions in the classroom: “no matter how many (or few) views are presented to the students, they should be offered as objects of analysis rather than as candidates for allegiance” (Fish 2). This argument is of contradictory nature. Consequently, the professor has no right to affect students’ opinions, because his words are believed to represent the universal truth, whereas the truth can be represented by anyone who claims that he/she is a professor.
In a conclusion, I would like to state my clear position on the issue. The professors are to teach students, but not to affect their opinion; professors should provoke thinking, but not create tension in the classroom. The only way to avoid indoctrination is to make students analyze the problems and express their own ideas on the issue. In my view, to indoctrinate means to affect the opinion and to make people think; whereas this way of thinking is acceptable for the professor. Professor’s opinion should not be the subject for discussion; it should not be stated at all. The professor should not implant the way of thinking instead of teaching students.
Works Cited
Berube, Michael. “Freedom to Teach.” Inside Higher Ed. 2007. Web.
Finkin, Matthew W., Robert C. Post, Cary Nelson, Emst Benjamin and Eric Combest. “Report – Freedom in the Classroom.” American Association of University Professors. 2007. Web.
Fish, Stanley. “Conspiracy Theories 101.” The New York Times. 2006. Web.
O’Connor, Erin. “AAUP To Critics: What, Us Biased?” Minding the Campus: Reforming Our Universities. 2007. Web.