1. What management skills do you think would have been most important for Howard Schultz to have? Why? What skills do you think would be most important for a Starbucks store manager to have? Why?

2. Choose three of the current trends and issues facing managers, and explain how Starbucks might be impacted. What might be the implications for first-line managers? Middle managers? Top managers?

3. Look at Howard Schultz’s philosophy of Starbucks. How will this affect the way the company is managed? Do you think Howard Schultz viewed his role more from the omnipotent or from the symbolic perspective? Explain.

4. What has made Starbucks’s culture what it is? How is that culture maintained? Does Starbucks encourage a customer-responsive culture? An ethical culture? Explain.

5. What types of global economic and legal-political issues might Starbucks face as it does business globally? You’re responsible for developing a global cultural awareness program for Starbucks’s executives who are leading the company’s international expansion efforts. Describe what you think will be important for these executives to know.

6. How does Starbucks manage diversity? What is Starbucks doing to manage diversity in each of the areas of customers, suppliers, partners, and communities? With more than 254 000 partners worldwide, what challenges would Starbucks face in making sure its diversity values are practised and adhered to?

7. Would you classify Starbucks’s environment as more calm waters or white-water rapids? Explain. How does the company manage change in this type of environment?