Howard Schultz（Founder of Starbucks）

The business performance of Starbucks in the U.S.A mainland is making a progress and recovery. This is where the founder, Howard Schultz, puts the most effort now. Communication with customers, new forms of communication, commitment to additional products. Starbucks clearly falls into the high price range amongst the coffee shops.The high-priced business is vulnerable to recession. Among recent food businesses performing well are gyoza shops (fried dumpling shops – Ohsho), Japanese family restaurants (Teishokuya), and McDonald's...It is only a group of companies that seems to be visibly in the low price zone. Actually, MacDonald’s is expensive. (Presentation technique?)

The reasons to go to Starbucks.
１、Service is good
２、They are smoke-free

Any other reasons?
None...
Coffee taste is very subjective
In my opinion, very few people understand what is tasty and what is not.
Then what differentiates the shops?
It is the atmosphere created by employees!!!

Below are the comments I heard Schultz make when he visited Japan ten years ago.
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“Procter & Gamble invested heavily on advertisement and publicity in 1959, and won credibility and trust by airing a television commercial.

90% of the people who viewed it for the first time believed in the corporate promise. Then 40 years later if you performed the same exercise, in fact 6% of the public believed it was true. The fracturing of trust is based on the fact that the consumer has been let down.
94% of the people do not trust commercials.
What we need from now on is not commercials but relationship with the customers.
Communication with the customers. The problem is how to put it across to the customers.

The birth of Starbucks began when I had an inspiration on a trip to Milan.
There are 200,000 coffee shops in Milan. They are called Bars in Italy.
This is not a coffee shop commonly referred to as “Kissaten” in Japan. It is a local community space.
The product itself is not the vital part; it is a community space that puts emphases on communication with customers.
The customer‘s first contact in the shop is the Employee. For the customer to give trust to the chain shop,
First
We need employees with extraordinary awareness.
Without the trust between Company←→employees, we cannot gain the customers’ trust.
This depends on whether an employee can imprint (stamp) their merchandise value, company value on the customer within at most the first 3 visits.

In order to grow, the first thing is employee development.
Definitely, Starbucks has
・ high price.・ offer no bargains.・No advertisements.
The passion (enthusiasm) for their product, brand and services spreads by word of mouth.
Starbucks opened their first store in Japan on Ginza in 1996.
When I requested a major international consulting company to conduct research, the response was that expansion to Japan would fail for sure.
The reason being:１、80% of business of Starbucks is take-out
Eating and drinking while walking is considered improper manner in Japan, therefore other than “eat-in” coffee shops would not succeed.２、A Japanese coffee shop is a place to kill time, no customer would frequent a completely smoke-free shop.
３、Even if it succeeded, it would be only in densely populated Tokyo.
We believed in our own success.
I believed in our success since our growth was due to our focus on the person.
The unveiling was a great success. Of course, it was also successful in cities other than Tokyo.
It is often said that at the top of the enterprise pyramid are the shareholders, but that is not so.

At the top the pyramid is the person. Employee and customer are at the peak, not the shareholder.
Starbucks’ asset and key to success is the trust built with the employees.

Customers recognize that.
My story is not a usual American tale, but I have lived this life.
This is the fact of my success.
It is important to work hard every single day, to continue to build trust with employees and customers.“
He is now restoring the business according to the philosophy he believes in.

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I touched on the Schulz doctrine after a long time
Trusting relationship between the president, employees, and customers!
Schulz truly cherishes the employees wholeheartedly.

It is so rare to give company stocks to the part–timers.
Schulz's commitment to products has percolated to all employees.

All employees are selling the product they truly believe in?
Employees themselves love the products, love the shop, all employees are wholeheartedly enamoured with the company’s products.
I am sure the customers would be delighted to be served by such employees with an “I love my company’s products” aura

Would you like to see your company in this light?
Assentia Holdings, Inc.
Akira Tsuchiya