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Showing posts from February 14, 2008

Can Starbucks Go With the Flow?

Eight years ago, Howard Schultz departed the company he built. Last month he came roaring back as CEO to “reignite the emotional attachment” between the consumer – that would be you – and the coffee. (AP) JENNIFER WELLS Report on Business From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published February 8, 2008 This past Monday, Howard Schultz, chief executive officer of Starbucks Corp. [SBUX-Q], issued what the company calls a "partner update" to its vast community of coffee shops. In the corporate nomenclature, Starbucks outlets are run not by employees, but equals. "Dear partners," Mr. Schultz began. "As I sit down to write this note (6:30 a.m. Sunday morning) I am enjoying a spectacular cup of Sumatra, brewed my favourite way — in a French press." The communiqué was meant to convey the hallmarks of the Starbucks ethos. Intimacy. Authenticity. A sense of belonging. Starbucks, after all, had famously created the "Third Place" in the psyche of the consumer...

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