Starbucks was created to become "number one" in the area of coffee sale at the international level. The first coffeehouse was based in 1971, in Seattle, Washington. In the early eighties Howard Schultz came to Starbucks. During a business trip to Italy Howard got acquainted with traditions of preparation of espresso. Espresso became a basis of the new concept of Schultz. In 1987, with support of local investors, Howard got Starbucks. In 1992 Starbucks became known and extremely successful company. At present there are more than twenty thousand coffeehouses over sixty countries of the world. The company positions itself as "suppliers of the finest coffee in the world". (Starbucks, 2012).
SWOT Analysis.
Strengths.
Here are some strengths of the company. First of all is profitability. It rises within several last years, and now it amounts to 14%. Secondly, Starbucks is considered as a brand "number one" among other coffeehouses and valued at 4 billion dollars. Starbucks possesses the fine reputation in respect with qualitative coffee, friendly staff and excellent customer service. Moreover, each coffeehouse is equipped with WI-FI system. The Company operates about twenty thousand cafes in sixty countries making it the biggest chain of coffeehouses in the world. (Jurevicius, 2012).
Weaknesses .
Among weaknesses it is possible to distinguish several things, for example, product price assessment. Starbucks offers a wide choice of coffee and quality of customer service, but it leads to the high price of its products. Comparing with McCafe, prices in Starbucks are slightly higher. It can lead to loss of clients. Also some clients complain that coffeehouses are quite small and it is very crowded there. The most important weakness is that Starbucks still depends in big degree on its national market of the USA. In 2006 only 17% from the income was made at the international level (Starbucks Case Study, 2005) .
Opportunities .