Strategic Position of Starbucks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic Position of Starbucks - Essay Example It also includes the effect of the external market drivers on the organization and how the company has designed it the marketing strategy to ensure its long-term sustainability. Starbucks’ core competency is based on the premium positioning of its product line. The company focuses on delivering high-quality coffee beverages and snacks which includes cakes and other bakery products. Thus the company not only focuses on providing a good quality product but it also focuses on providing a unique experience to the customers. Offering a unique experience ensure the customers’ return. Starbuck’s competencies also include establishing a strong and close relationship with its suppliers. This, as a result, has helped the company to make overseas expansion and make certain strategic acquisitions. The Porters generic strategy shows how the company has devised its marketing strategy in order to stay ahead of its competition. The parent brand Starbucks is positioned in the ‘Differentiation Strategy’ because it offers high-quality speciality coffee products along with a unique experience of the store’s ambience (Pretorius, 2008). This differentiating factor distinguishes the company from its rivals. The newly introduced brand by Starbuck called VIA offers instant coffee to the customers. Thus VIA is categorized under the Cost leadership and Differentiation category (Lee, 2012). Even though VIA acts as a low-cost alternative to premium Starbucks coffee, it still differentiates itself from its rivals owing to the brand valuation of the company. The company also offers gifts and brewing items, which falls under the focused differentiation category, because these products are aimed towards the genuine coffee lovers (Lee, 2012). The likelihood of success of a firm can be assessed by the Bowman’s strategy clock. According to Faulkner and Bowman (1995), this model assesses a company’s current position and direction of progress based on eight categories.