Environmental Factors Influencing Starbuck’s Marketing Strategy

Startbucks coffee company is a very large and popular company that conducts domestic and global business; it was defined to be the finest coffee in the whole world. It mission statement is â€Å"to inspire and nurture the human spirit- one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a timeâ€Å". Starbucks Company is one of the companies that know how to manage all the environmental forces that effect its marketing decisions. It is recognized for the successful marketing factors that have been influencing the company’s global and domestic growth more effectively in a positive way. These environmental forces are the key trends that influence marketing. This paper will discuss the different environmental factors, how these environmental factors affect Starbucks marketing decisions, and addressing how these factors relates to Starbucks marketing decisions. Environmental forces The five different environmental forces or factors that affect Starbucks marketing decisions as well as its customers and suppliers are social, economic, technological, and competitive and regulatory. The social factor of the environment is known as demographics the people that are described based on their ethnicity, age, gender, income, and occupation all over the world with the variety of their cultures and values. Starbuck Company is affect by the fact that the population is increasing nationwide and that many people with the demographics differences are lovers of Starbucks coffee. The economic factor has its tremendous impact on Startbucks market specially when the household income barely increases but the products and services’ cost easily and consistently increases that lead to a decrease in customers spending that may affect Starbucks marketing decisions. The technological factor plays huge role in Starbucks marketing decisions where inventions and innovations of new products are necessary to maintain customer base. Competitive factor refers to other coffee stores that compete. with Starbucks that try to provide products that please coffee drinker’s needs to attract the market from Starbucks. Regulatory force is the most important environmental factor that affects Starbucks marketing decisions. Regulatory forces or regulation contains a number of federal and state laws that business must follow under any circumstances. Regulations are made to protect consumers and companies to ensure that competition and fair business practices are applied legitimately. Global economic interdependence Starbucks’s global economic interdependence is important to operate the business in ways that contribute to the environmental and economic factors. Global economic interdependence helps Starbucks Company to create value within the diverse communities that leads to evolve the business model that delivers value of companies and farmers that source Starbucks’s products, customers, shareholders and neighborhoods where Starbucks Company has stores (Starbucks Corporation, 2011). Starbucks started applying trade practices in the year of 2000, 16 million paid off for fair-trade quality that is used by the manufacturers who invest at the company level. Fair- trade practices agreements allow coffee farmers to invest in their communities where they can develop business that is capable to compete with other coffee producers and protect their environments by educating communities of fair trade benefits (Starbucks Corporation, 2011). The importance of demographics and physical infrastructure Demographics and physical infrastructure are very important for Starbucks company where demographics workforce are classified as mostly as women who working as a larger number than men and minorities. Physical infrastructure where Starbuck Company must ensure the availability of all needed work related tools, transportations, and communication among all workers. Social responsibility and ethical cultures Starbucks is committed to conduct social and ethical responsibility that is strongly arrange in a line that dive to create a business like Starbuck stores that increases shareholds values by maintaining the solid relationships. Ethics and compliance are crucial for Starbuck Company successes, for that reason the company must ensure ethics are incorporate in all lines of business of the Company where Starbuck is providing a business ethics and compliance training to help partners to voice concerns, find answers to their concerns and maintain an audit line for customers, investors, and vendors. The effect of technology on Starbuck Starbucks company is been tremendously effected by technology. The use of Wi-Fi in their stores is one of the key successes for Starbucks business growth. The consistent use of Wi-Fi internet access is encouraging people to complete most of their out of the office meetings at Starbuck where workmates can get together to plan for a project, where a home buyer meets the real estate agent to sign a purchase contract agreements, where borrower can to close on their loans in a very interactive fun place like Startbucks. In addition to, the well enhanced technological system that employees use at all times. Conclusion Starbucks not only recognizes the central role that social responsibility plays in its business. It also takes constructive action to be socially responsible (Hartley & Rudelius, 2011).