Question

"The rules of engagement for running a company that is people-based like Starbucks, and so many other companies: you just can not [sic] continue to leave your people behind and only focus on shareholder value," CEO Howard Schultz told CNN's Poppy Harlow (Wallace, 2014).

• Identify 3 practices, policies, or organizational design assumptions from the Kauffman report and directly correlate them to any current initiative of Starbucks.
• Explain how each practice, policy, or organizational design element has enhanced the development of an entrepreneurial/leadership/innovation-oriented mindset for Starbucks and its employees.
• Feel free to offer suggestions for different approaches that Starbucks may want to consider in the future.

Answer 1

There are a number of similarities when we analyze the Kauffman report and Starbucks articles. Starbuck is one of the fastest-growing coffee chains and is becoming one of the most renowned names all over the world. The company is also trying its best to allure more customers by facilitating them more rewards and better services, this is also true for the employees. In my opinion, the company is having a very wonderful practice and it is quite efficient to attract the best talent in the industry. The three important practices which are being performed by Starbuck are related to entrepreneurship and leadership skills, technology and education and it is also depicted in the Kauffman report.

In the report, it is stated that a very significant role is being played by the company to promote education and entrepreneurship. The company also facilitates the tuition coverage, and it indicates that the company is willing to invest in the people whom it is going to hire in the future and make them an asset of the organization. Apart from this, the company is also running an amazing online program at Penn State World Campus, Arizona State as in this plan, the students cannot only start working in the organization but they can still attain the classes.

As the students utilize this opportunity, thus they have greater exposure to entrepreneurship and leadership abilities. This can be used by them in their upcoming future.   Thus it is clear that it is not only the company that is investing in its manpower but in fact, the manpower of the company is also enhancing themselves.