Page 76 - The Starbucks Experience

Everything Matters

the way we needed to know that we would have the freshest
coffee in the market.” This detailed focus on innovation was
painstaking. Rich suggests, “It happened through very
planned and very conservative methodologies, and above all,
it required our partners’ dedication to making sure that our
packages were made right at the factory and that our quality
control people secured the freshness we needed. We could
never have become the company we are today if our coffee
had only a seven-day shelf life.” From Rich’s perspective,
“Our success in part begins with a willingness to challenge
conventional thinking while paying attention to details that
allow us to innovate. This approach offers the competitive
advantage that we enjoy.”
Details matter, from 7-cent valves to passionate and inno-
vative partners at the manufacturing level. By focusing on
quality, innovation, and the smallest aspects of business, Star- 61
bucks is an example of how an enduring brand emerges, not
only through management at the macro level (strategic), but
through management at the micro level (operational) as well.
While great leaders spend most of their time looking at big-
picture, strategic opportunities, they cannot overlook the sys-
tems and training necessary to ensure the quality of every
aspect of the company’s products, services, and processes.
Sometimes details need to be managed well beyond the
confines of the business itself. Long before customers take
their first sip of Breakfast Blend at their neighborhood Star-
bucks, the staff in the Starbucks Coffee Department has gone
to great lengths behind the scenes, looking for and develop-
ing quality coffee in the various countries of origin. Coffee
quality begins with the relationships that Starbucks partners
forge with coffee farmers so that the growers bring the
highest-quality coffee to Starbucks coffee purchasers. With-