회사경영자를 하면서 가장 재미있게 읽었던 책이 Starbucks의 사장이 쓴 “스타벅스 – 커피한잔에 담긴 성공신화”였습니다. 밑바박부터 시작해서 현재에 이르기까지 시시콜콜(?)하게 이야기를 펼쳐 보이는 점이 마음에 들었습니다. 스타벅스와 관련된 책들도 몇종류를 읽어보았습니다.
그런데 그 스타벅스가 위기를 맡고 있다. 물론 실적이 적자라는 뜻이 아니라 현재까지 이룩했던 실적을 앞으로는 경쟁등으로 인해 힘들거나 아니면 심각한 위기에 봉착할 수도 있다고 합니다.
스타벅스 성공신화가 무너진 이유는
모든 기업의 꿈인 “100년기업”이 되기는 참으로 어렵다는 생각을 다시금 합니다. 물론 위기를 이겨낼 수 있을 겁니다. 어느 나라이건 어느 기업이건 부침이 없을 수 없습니다. 대국굴기를 보더라도 마찬가지입니다. 결국 문제는 리더십과 리더십의 내용입니다.
“추종자의 가치체계와 의견을 가장 잘 이해하여 집단의 목표를 설정하고 구성원의 자발적인 참여를 이끌어내서 그 목표를 달성하는 능력”으로 리더십을 정의하면. 결국 조직내에서 문제을 인식하고 변화를 바라고 변화의 방향에 대한 공감을 바탕으로 하여야 하지 않을까 합니다.
스타벅스도 “슐츠”회장이 전면에 나서서 문제를 해결하고 있지만 어떤 리더십을 보이느냐에 따라 명암이 엇갈리겠죠.
아래는 슐츠회장이 임원들에 보낸 내부메일입니다.
Starbucks chairman warns of “the commoditization of the Starbucks experience”
Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz wrote this to CEO Jim Donald earlier this month. The memo’s authenticity has been confirmed by Starbucks.
From: Howard Schultz
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 10:39 AM Pacific Standard Time
To: Jim Donald
Cc:Anne Saunders; Dave Pace; Dorothy Kim; Gerry Lopez; Jim Alling; Ken Lombard; Martin Coles; Michael Casey; Michelle Gass; Paula Boggs;Sandra TaylorSubject: The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience
As you prepare for the FY 08 strategic planning process, I want to share some of my thoughts with you.Over the past ten years, in order to achieve the growth, development, and scale necessary to go from less than 1,000 stores to 13,000 stores and beyond, we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.
Many of these decisions were probably right at the time, and on their own merit would not have created the dilution of the experience; but in this case, the sum is much greater and, unfortunately, much more damaging than the individual pieces. For example, when we went to automatic espresso machines, we solved a major problem in terms of speed of service and efficiency. At the same time, we overlooked the fact that we would remove much of the romance and theatre that was in play with the use of the La Marzocca machines. This specific decision became even more damaging when the height of the machines, which are now in thousands of stores, blocked the visual sight line the customer previously had to watch the drink being made, and for the intimate experience with the barista. This, coupled with the need for fresh roasted coffee in every North America city and every international market, moved us toward the decision and the need for flavor locked packaging. Again, the right decision at the right time, and once again I believe we overlooked the cause and the affect of flavor lock in our stores. We achieved fresh roasted bagged coffee, but at what cost? The loss of aroma — perhaps the most powerful non-verbal signal we had in our stores; the loss of our people scooping fresh coffee from the bins and grinding it fresh in front of the customer, and once again stripping the store of tradition and our heritage? Then we moved to store design. Clearly we have had to streamline store design to gain efficiencies of scale and to make sure we had the ROI on sales to investment ratios that would satisfy the financial side of our business. However, 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 a neighborhood store.
Some people even call our stores sterile, cookie cutter, no longer reflecting the passion our partners feel about our coffee. In fact, I am not sure people today even know we are roasting coffee. You certainly can’t get the message from being in our stores. The merchandise, more art than science, is far removed from being the merchant that I believe we can be and certainly at a minimum should support the foundation of our coffee heritage. Some stores don’t have coffee grinders, French presses from Bodum, or even coffee filters.
Now that I have provided you with a list of some of the underlying issues that I believe we need to solve, let me say at the outset that we have all been part of these decisions. I take full responsibility myself, but we desperately need to look into the mirror and realize it’s time to get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks experience. While the current state of affairs for the most part is self induced, that has lead to competitors of all kinds, small and large coffee companies, fast food operators, and mom and pops, to position themselves in a way that creates awareness, trial and loyalty of people who previously have been Starbucks customers. This must be eradicated.I have said for 20 years that our success is not an entitlement and now it’s proving to be a reality. Let’s be smarter about how we are spending our time, money and resources. Let’s get back to the core. Push for innovation and do the things necessary to once again differentiate Starbucks from all others. We source and buy the highest quality coffee. We have built the most trusted brand in coffee in the world, and we have an enormous responsibility to both the people who have come before us and the 150,000 partners and their families who are relying on our stewardship.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge all that you do for Starbucks. Without your passion and commitment, we would not be where we are today.
Onward…
