Howard Schultz: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Starbucks' Executive Chairman

Running head: CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE
Creative entrepreneurial venture
[Howard Schultz, the Executive Chairman of Starbucks]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
(a) Their own personal context, story, challenge, passion and/or skills:.........................................2
(b) The original creative ideas, imagination, and collaboration (including financial) that kick
started the project:............................................................................................................................5
(c) How they explored and learnt from potential and actual customers and the early prototyping
of the product or service, including their failures and successes:....................................................7
(d) The staffing and structure of the firm as it grew and what the original entrepreneur’s
involvement and interest in the firm was/is after it had been established:......................................8
(e) Briefly evaluate your perspective of the value of the systemic and/or social change of the
product or service:.........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................11
References:....................................................................................................................................12

2CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE
Introduction:
The assignment is focussed on entrepreneur Howard Schultz who is the executive
chairman of Starbucks. An entrepreneur is someone who takes innovative approach to mark an
identity and influence the world around it. Howard Schultz had such elements in him and has the
credit to change the American culture. The American culture was initially limited just to coffee
being made at home in kitchen. However, the entrepreneurial skills of Howard Schultz have
drove people towards beverage stores like the Starbucks Coffee houses. People now started to go
to coffee houses to have a cup of coffee. It was not less than a risk that Howard Schultz had
taken by challenging the existing American culture of that time. The risk then paid off and
customer gave green signal to “second wave coffee” (Tucker, 2017). The study is focused on
entrepreneur Howard Schultz who with his entrepreneurial skills did lay the foundation and
helped Starbucks reach to a leading position. Today, Starbucks is a global name and people
know this for trusted quality of coffee.
(a) Their own personal context, story, challenge, passion and/or skills:
The executive chairman of Starbucks had seen a struggling life at the start. He belonged
to a very struggling family. He lost his father at his very early age. Howard Schultz started his
career with a job where he needed to make cold calls in Seattle. In a very short span of time, he
became the president and then the managing director of the same company. Starbucks had
initially struggled and consequently, it was being sold to Howard Schultz in 1987. Howard
Schultz had then helped Starbucks to expand in different parts of world (Hutt, 2016).
The challenges that Howard Schultz had faced before he became the executive chairman
of Starbucks is inspirational. The journey from just being a caller to the president & then the

3CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE
manager of the same company is all such that adds feathers to the fact. The ability to identify the
prospect in the form of “second wave coffee” and owning the Starbucks at the time when it had
struggled to find any foothold in the beverage industry. To realize that “second wave coffee” is a
potential option and also that Howard Schultz can do wonder with Starbucks which at once had
fallen to make any remark, is nothing but an ideal entrepreneurial skill. The entrepreneurship in
him can be understood from various decisions which Howard Schultz had taken on different
occasions. One of such decisions is to collaborate with Conservation International (CI). The
collaboration had proved quite successful for Starbucks in regards to CSR.
Starbucks is one of the very few companies that consider CSR initiatives on a serious
note. This is also evident in the mission statement of Starbucks. The mission statement revolves
around a belief that business can or should have a positive effect on the communities they belong
to. They do it through better connectivity with the local farmers, collaborating with others and
innovation (Starbucks.in, 2018). Reducing the environmental footprint is another serious concern
for Starbucks (Starbucks.in, 2018). The message that the company delivers to the world is
influential not to the common people only but, to the other businesses as well. Environmental
footprint is a big concern for countries across the globe. The footprint can only be reduced if the
global people, local & the global government, local manufactures & the suppliers, the non-profit
organisation and the globally reputed firms work together for a shared mission.
The story of Conservation International is one of such examples. The way he identifies
the opportunity and adopts the different strategies for different market just shows his intelligence
and entrepreneurship in him. Howard Schultz was capable to identify the market and its needs.
Also, he knew exactly which strategy will work. This is why Howard Schultz had taken different
strategies to enter different markets. In some countries, he went with acquisition while in others