Starbucks “Coffee @ Home” Project M2 (2011)

The Spring 2011 M3 gradID class with team members from the Ducker school of Management were tasked with envisioning a Starbucks home coffee experience for North America.

Prior to the project, in public statements about the future of the company, Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO outlined plans to create long-term shareholder value. This gradID project was an aligned innovation response to the statements of the Chairman and CEO.:

  • “Our next phase of growth will come from extending the Starbucks Experience to our customers beyond the third place to every part of their day, through multiple brands and channels.
  • “Starbucks will continue to offer the highest-quality coffee, but we will offer other products as well – and while the integrity, quality and consistency of these products must remain true to who we are, our new brand identity will give us the freedom and flexibility to explore innovations and new channels of distribution that will keep us in step with our current customers and build strong connections with new customers.”

Each student developed a business model based strategic proposal along side a product design solution.

The specific framing questions we asked include:

What will Starbucks premium at-home coffee experience for North America be?

How will Starbucks create a sustainable competitive advantage and own that market?