Page 87 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 2

product quality, ongoing training, and the creation of a play-
ful culture? The answer, as you might have guessed, is “every-
thing.” Many managers don’t track details other than those
that affect the quality of their product or service and their
company’s physical environment. But Starbucks leaders
extend the Everything Matters orientation well beyond local
and regional considerations. They apply their detail-oriented
approach to worldwide environmental and social issues, even
when a great percentage of their customer base may not real-
ize that they are behaving with a global mind-set. So why
would they be so broadly focused? In short, it’s because supe-
rior corporate leadership demands tireless excellence and a
broad scope.
That excellence is reflected in the development of the Star-
bucks paper cup sleeve. In August 1996, Starbucks and the
72 Alliance for Environmental Innovation entered into a part-
nership to reduce the environmental impact of serving coffee
in the retail stores. At the time, many coffee drinkers required
double (i.e., nested) cups to make their hot beverage easier to
carry. In order to address environmental goals and maintain
the customers’ comfort, an arduous process was initiated to
come up with a workable alternative.
Market research was conducted to look at the environ-
mental impact of double-cupping. Two years of exploration
was devoted to developing a quality hot cup that would allow
for single-cupping, and the process resulted in an interim
solution—a corrugated paper cup sleeve that Starbucks devel-
oped. Other, more permanent solutions were attempted, and
focus groups were brought in to analyze various options.
After considerable time and expense, the Starbucks Coffee
Company/Alliance for Environmental Innovation Joint Task
Force ultimately concluded in April 2000, “After more than