Starbuck's is a company based in America which sells coffee as a beverage. It was founded in 1971, and it's a well-known leading coffee-selling company in America (Schultz 11). Since Starbucks is a famous American Coffee Company, it has strong a base in America. Therefore, it wants to expand its business to China. This is an excellent business opportunity because it can use its well-known brand name to catch quickly up in China. Furthermore, the business huge capital that it can utilize to funds it strategic plan. The Company has also a skilled personnel and familiar with model of their business. Accordingly, it will be easier for the company to prosper because it is familiar with the problems associated with coffee selling.
Starbucks is working out a new technology (Starbucks’ Software Scheduler Program) on how to schedule its employees such that no employees will be overworked. Creating a balanced program has been a challenging task for the company. Therefore, it wants to come up with a program that will be drafting the schedule for the workers. Many other businesses in America also have the same problem. Therefore, after creating and using this technology, it will sell the technology to other companies experiencing the same challenges. This will be a great business opportunity because they will have double profit on the technology through using and selling it. This will increase the company's value, and it will be a successor of both coffee industry and technology industry which will make it prosper in the market (Fleshier & Bensoussan 29).
In terms of threats, Starbuck's is not the only beverage producing company in America. There is very stiff competition in this industry. Therefore, other companies who are its competitors may have already used this technology. This means that they may operate in a better way than this endeavor. They may also give it competition in selling this technology to other companies. These companies may have already incorporated this technology in their premises. It means that competing companies may already have good working schedules, and its employees and customers are satisfied. They may spread the information to many people making them stop using Starbucks's beverage and go for their competitor's drinks. Therefore, before Starbucks may start using this technology, the competitors might have already created an excellent public image and even trapped some of Starbucks customers. An example of such companies might be the Coca-Cola Company because they also deal with beverages (CBS News).
Starbucks is also experiencing imitation from its competitors. Some of the competitors like Stars and Bucks have already imitated them, and they are making progress. Therefore, if Starbuck's sells this technology to such companies, it may be a significant threat posed to them. The reason is these are competing businesses, and they may use the technology to outshine Starbucks or be at the same level with them. It would pose a very significant threat to Starbuck, and the competition would be very stiff (Fleshier & Bensoussan 39). Therefore, there is the need of planning on how to address these challenges for exploring their expansion plan.
Although the Starbucks has profitable business opportunities, it should also consider the threats they will face in case of implementation of this business opportunities. Before they apply some of the firm opportunities like selling the technology, they should consider how it will affect their business running as far as competition is concerned.
Works Cited
CBS News. “For some Starbucks Workers, Job Leaves a Bitter Taste.” CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 23 May 2016.
Fleshier & Bensoussan. Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods. FT Press. 2015. Print.
Schultz. Onward: How Starbucks Fought For Its Life without Losing Its Soul. John Wiley & Sons. (2011). Print
