A devil’s advocate post

A devil’s advocate post, whoda thunk? As everyone in the known universe knows, Starbucks will be closing all of their stores this evening for three hours of re-training. While many are quick to jump on the anti-Starbucks bandwagon (me included mind you) and jump for joy hoping they would stay closed, I would like to offer up an alternative theory.

Starbucks has seen a significant change in the past couple of months. Their CEO for many years Jim Donald was replaced by former CEO and current Chairman Howard Schultz who made Startbucks into the juggernaut it is today. Howard Schultz took the company public and expanded it to 43 countries. Good? Bad? Not here to decide that.

What has happened in the past 15 years since Starbucks became the coffee giant is that they also became the WalMart of the service industry. People hate them for just being who they are, not because of the quality of their coffee. They became the personification of what many believe is wrong with corporate America. Howard Schultz plans on turning that around.

I liken this shift and change to another company that re-invented itself – Apple. Remember when everyone was gaga over Dell and many trade rags believed Dell or Compaq would eventually just buy Apple outright – like 1995 or so? Well, around that time, Steve Jobs returned to the company and look at them today. A former CEO returned and created a company many now aspire to emulate. Could Howard Schultz be Starbucks’ Steve Jobs?

Being number 1 is a for Starbucks to lose. They must change with the times to stay viable.

The end.