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A Threat to the Starbucks Brand Starbucks founder and Chairman Howard Sc

游客2024-01-02  7
问题     A Threat to the Starbucks Brand
    Starbucks founder and Chairman Howard Schultz has a challenge for his ever-expanding coffee empire. Schultz sees a threat to his brand, a problem that could impact on everything that has made Starbucks the great American success and growth story it is, and tonight we are taking an in-depth look at this amazing turn of events.
    The letter by Schultz came in the form of a memo to Starbucks gossip blogger Jim Romenesko’s email box on Wednesday. That’s a week after Schultz wrote notes to top executives. Romenesko said he read it yesterday, believed the note was real and posted it on his website. The Wall Street Journal confirmed this afternoon that it was in fact genuine.
    In the memo, Schultz says he worries about what he calls the commoditization of the brand as a result of the company’s massive expansion over the past decade, as well as the decisions company officials have made that have watered down the ideal coffee experience. Many of these decisions were probably right at the time, Schultz writes, and on their own merit would not have created the dilution of the Starbuck’s coffee experience, but in this case, the sum is much greater and unfortunately much more damaging than the individual pieces. Schultz was more specifically pointing out the effect of rapid growth on store architecture and ambiance.
    One of the results has been stores that no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of an independent neighborhood store. All these, Schultz concludes, could lead to loss of market share for the world’s largest multinational chain of coffee stores. While the current state of affairs is for the most part self-induced, it has led to competitors of all kinds, small and large coffee companies, fast food operators and mom-and-pop stores to position themselves in a way that creates awareness, trial and a test of loyalty of those people who previously have been Starbucks’ customers. This must be stopped.
    Despite the release of the memo, the stock hardly moved on the day. The story was broadcast at 1:23 pm eastern time, shares dropping a mere 17 cents from that point, closing at $32. 75. Perhaps that was an admission of the fact that most of what Schultz was saying was already obvious. Many customers we talked to today already knew this.
    It has lost a little of its romance.
    It’s not the way it was in the beginning.
    It’s not an experience at all; it’s like McDonald’s.
    Some close watchers of the Starbucks brand think the memo’s reaching the public is a good thing for investors and customers.
    Now there is a debate as to whether Starbucks wanted to leak this memo. Some people believe that the release of the memo makes Starbucks look more human and original; still there are others that say that the memo would have been more convincing if it were meant to be released.
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答案     星巴克品牌遭遇威胁
    星巴克创始人、总裁霍华德-舒尔兹日益扩张的咖啡帝国正受到挑战。舒尔兹看到了对星巴克品牌的威胁。星巴克从成长到成功，因素有很多，但如今的威胁可能改变这一切。今晚，我们将深度剖析一些影响公司走势的重大事件。
    舒尔兹以备忘录形式写的信周三出现在星巴克闲话博客人吉姆-罗门内斯克的邮箱中。而在此一周前，舒尔兹才给高层管理人员寄出这份备忘录。罗门内斯克说他是昨日才看到了这封信，认为该信并非杜撰，所以将信贴到了个人网站上。今天下午，《华尔街日报》也肯定了这封信的真实性。
    舒尔兹在备忘录里说，公司在过去十年大规模扩张引起了品牌的过度商业化，而决策层又作出种种决定，冲淡了咖啡的理想氛围，这些都让他忧心忡忡。舒尔兹谈到，决策层作的许多决定在当时或许是正确的，这些决定本身并不会起到任何冲淡原有星巴克氛围的作用，但事实是，这样的决定实在太多，合起来的杀伤力远比任何一个都要大。舒尔兹更明确地指出了迅速扩张对店铺架构和咖啡氛围的负面影响。
    后果之一就是，星巴克失去了以往的精气神，变成了千篇一律的连锁店，而没有了街边那种独此一家的温馨感受。舒尔兹认为，星巴克作为全球最大跨国连锁咖啡店，必将失去一些市场份额。这种局面很大程度上是星巴克自己一手造成的，而形形色色的同行，大大小小的咖啡店，快餐店，甚至夫妻店都插足进来，试图让星巴克顾客意识到星巴克的弱点，动摇他们对星巴克忠实的支持。这是万万不可再继续下去的。
    尽管备忘录曝光了，但星巴克股票价格当天并未有太大的波动。东部时间下午1点23分这则新闻播出后，星巴克股票小幅下滑17美分，以32．75美元收盘。或许，股市反应不大证明了舒尔兹所说的大家早已了然于心。我们今天采访到的很多顾客对此早已有所了解。
    星巴克失去了一点浪漫的氛围。
    星巴克和创始初期不一样了。
    星巴克不再是一种体验；和麦当劳没什么两样了。
    一些密切关注星巴克品牌的人士认为备忘录的公布对于投资者和顾客都是个好消息。
    当前人们在争论星巴克是否真想泄露备忘录。有人认为公布备忘录使星巴克更加人性化，更加本真。但也有人认为如果制定备忘录的初衷就是向大众公布的话，它的可信程度无疑会更高。
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