Page 212 - The Starbucks Experience

Reader’s Guide

its partners and customers. How much does your busi-
ness spend on training and advertising? Are these rates
working well for your business? Can you apply the Star-
bucks model to achieve greater success?
9. Starbucks Five Ways of Being form a cornerstone of the
company’s service philosophy. But note that the company
goes beyond simply providing its partners with the list.
Instead, through the Green Apron Book, partners learn
specific methods for applying the Ways of Being. In what
way does your company present its philosophies? How
could they be presented in more active ways?
10. Attention to detail is a key factor in the success of Star-
bucks and of many other companies. How well is your
company handling even the smallest details on a daily
basis? In what ways is your company a role model for 197
other companies? Or are there areas where you can
improve this facet of your business?

11. Look at your business through the lens of the following
statement from Principle 2: “[E]very company’s brand is
nothing more than the sum total of the actions its peo-
ple take.” Considered through this lens, what is your
brand identity, and which actions have most strongly
shaped it? What future actions can continue to shape it
in a positive way?

12. In Principle 2, you read that an unwillingness to com-
promise quality impeded the growth of Starbucks for
many years. Packaging technology did not exist to ensure
a fresh product throughout a large geographic area. That
same commitment to a quality product eventually led to
tremendous success. Consider the shortcuts your com-
pany feels are necessary. How do they affect the bottom