Discuss the business engineering processes used by Starbucks

Discuss the business engineering processes used by Starbucks to stay competitive. How does the company track performance and use its control systems?

Solution

Starbucks created its own house team of architects and designers to ensure that each store would convey the right image and character.

Stores had been custom - designed because the company didn\'t buy real estate or build its own freestanding structures, rather, each space was leased in an existing structure, making each store differ in size and shape.

The company had emphasized the four stages of coffee making:

With increase in its stores, greater store diversity and layout quickly became necessary. The company had some special seating areas to help make it a desirable gathering place. The company also came with the drive through windows in locations where speed and convenience were important.

In June 2009, the company announced a new global store design strategy (Thompson, Peteraf & et al, 2012). This meant that each new store was to be a reflection of the environment in which it operated and was to be environmentally friendly.

To better control average store opening costs, the company centralized buying, developed standard contracts and fixed fees for certain items, and consolidated work under those contractors who displayed good cost-control practices (Thompson, Peteraf & et al, 2012).

The retail operations group outlined exactly the minimum amount of equipment each core store needed so that standard items could be ordered in volume from vendors at 20 to 30 percent discounts, then delivered just in time to the store site either from the company warehouses or the vendor.

Modular designs for display cases were developed. The layouts for new and remodeled stores were developed on a computer, with software that allowed the costs to be estimated as the design evolved. All this cut store opening and remodeling costs significantly and shortened the process to about 18 weeks (Thompson, Peteraf & et al, 2012).