The first Starbucks location opened in 1971 with the original location in Seattle Washington, the heart of Pike Place Market. Starting as a one-stop shop specializing in high-quality coffee and brewing products, the company grew to become Washington's largest roaster with multiple locations until the early 1980s. CEO Howard Schultz recognized a great opportunity and began working with founder Jerry Baldwin. After a trip to Italy to find new products, Schultz seized the opportunity to bring the coffee community environment he found in Italy to the United States and the Starbuck brand we all know today began to take shape. The company experienced rapid growth in 1992 by going public, growing tenfold in 1997, with operations in the United States, Europe and Japan. Starbucks has also started to expand its brand. With such rapid expansion, Starbucks soon began to face its own difficulties as sales began to decline in light of the recession. According to Melissa Allison, Starbucks has launched a new growth strategy: more revenue, lower costs. Starbucks closed 900 stores, eliminating 34,000 jobs. With this new strategy, Starbucks' focus was on some of the areas that reduced risk with early stage investments. Starbucks' core competencies can be defined as high-quality coffee and products in accessible and affordable locations, providing a community to share coffee consumption. experience and variety of choice. They also value ethics and good business practices and are a consistent leader, having been voted the number one most ethical company of 2012 by Ethisphere magazine for the fourth consecutive year (“Starbucks”). Starbucks' business strategy is that of a single company, focused only on coffee-related products and retail stores... middle of paper... that might be attractive. To avoid competitors like McDonalds and other coffee chains, they will need to create new, valuable innovation by improving the customer experience by investing in online content and interactivity. Rather than creating new products, I think their strength lies in the brand and they should continue to grow brand loyalty. Works sued Starbucks. “Our heritage”. Starbucks, 2010. Web. March 20, 2014. http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/our-heritageAllison, Michelle. “Starbucks has a new growth strategy: more revenue with lower costs.” Seattle Times. Seattle Times, May 15, 2010. Web. March 19, 2014. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011861321_starbucksstrategy16.htmlCNBC Business. (2011). How one brand changed the world. Retrieved from CNBC magazine website: http://www.cnbcmagazine.com/story