Page 88 - The Starbucks Experience

Everything Matters

two years of testing and developing prototypes of this cup,
the data did not clearly indicate that the final version would
meet all the criteria and could be brought to market within
a reasonable time and cost. In addition, Starbucks customers
had become accustomed to using a single paper cup with a
corrugated paper sleeve.”
All that extra effort was expended for a cup that will never
reach the hand of a customer. Ouch! So, the single cup and
sleeve remain, despite all attempts to produce a solo cup that
could stand up to the heat. But even then, Starbucks man-
agement did not lose sight of its environmental objectives; it
continued to champion improvements, such as changing the
paper content of the cups to include 10 percent recycled
materials. That attention to often unseen details led Starbucks
to be the first company to achieve a cup that addressed envi-
ronmental concerns. 73
So why do Starbucks managers care about research on
paper cups? What’s in it for them? The answer is amazingly
simple: the Starbucks brand, and every company’s brand, is
nothing more than the sum total of the individual actions its
people take. While some efforts may seem more publicly
important than others, all actions (even the below-deck ones)
are critical. In fact, companies that take a leadership position
on environmental and social issues increasingly find that peo-
ple are taking notice.
Customers like Lynn in Belleville, Michigan, gravitated to
Starbucks exclusively because of its attention to detail on
broader social concerns. “I don’t drink coffee, so I never
thought much about Starbucks. However, I heard they had
an environmental mission statement that suggested that they
were committed to environmental leadership in every aspect
of their business.”