If an icon like Starbucks can have business failings, what about the rest of us?
Take a look at this from MarketingProfs.com:
Starbucks Coffee Company has experienced a business earthquake. What we are reading in the headlines now - store closures and layoffs - represent the aftermath and clean-up efforts.
Starbucks has been grinding smoothly for the past 35 years. Aside from the intermittent article complaining about 'stores on every corner' or questioning whether their coffee buying practices are 'fair,' all in all, Starbucks had been doing pretty well. For years, Starbucks stood strong reporting double-digit sales, while other US retailers crumbled.
Starbucks' quake came in the form of lower store traffic and store sales.
Never hit this hard before, the company had been unprepared.
Now, in the aftermath, company leadership is surveying the damage to see what has survived the trembling.
To date, lost in the rubble include: a CEO, an international president, 1000 jobs, and over 600 stores shuttered.
Starbucks hadn't been following their brand building-codes. They built stores too quickly, and the stress of the economy and poor sales crumbled those locations. Starbucks put speed ahead of hand-crafted quality causing the brand to sway.
While the damage is serious, and the loss of locations and jobs is upsetting, this coffee calamity is one of the best things to happen to the company.
The quake shocked the company and is forcing them to re-think how they do business. While Chief Executive Howard Schultz has always said 'success is not an entitlement,' success has come so easy, no one has known how to deal with true struggle. They've never had a disaster plan.
Now Starbucks is learning to manage in a "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" situation. They just need to remember in their after-disaster scrambling to remain calm and not panic.
What lessons can you apply to your business - big or small? Does your business have a disaster plan if business goes awry?
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