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What do you know about Starbucks?
Few companies in the food and drink industry have grown as widely and successfully as Starbucks. In just two decades, Starbucks has grown from a small chain of U.S. coffee shops into an international powerhouse. From Japan to England to Mexico, Starbucks is now one of the world’s best-known brands, with thousands of shops around the world.
What’s the secret of their amazing success? Actually, both the history and concept of Starbucks are very simple. It started in the 1970s as a small chain in Seattle, Washington, a crowded market with heavy competition. The owner, Howard Schultz, was looking for a way to make his shops unique. So he took a trip to Italy, where he studied the style and culture of Italian coffee shops.
Back in America, Schultz applied some of his findings. He made Starbucks shops more comfortable and sold a variety of high-quality European and American drinks. The «coffee culture» he created turned out to be very popular. Starbucks cafés became fun places to chat, read the morning paper, or hold a business meeting.
Behind this simple idea is a strong business model and excellent marketing, and the company’s sales and profit numbers are remarkable. Starbucks went public in 1992. Over the next decade, sales grew an average of 20 percent per year, while profits grew an average of 30 percent yearly. As the company expanded overseas in the mid-1990s, its market share and profits continued to rise. Investors rewarded the stock by driving up the stock price (see chart).
Of course, every success produces competitors. Other coffee-shop chains have opened to try to capture some of the lucrative market. Also, Starbucks already has a large number of coffee shops in the U.S. (more than 11,000 in 2008). That means they’re running out of places to open shops domestically.
Regardless of these issues, Starbucks continues to grow and impress. There’s still plenty of room to expand overseas. Also, riding the strength of their brand, they now sell bottled coffee drinks, ice cream, coffee beans, and other products. With so many revenue sources and ongoing expansion plans, the sky’s the limit for Starbucks.
Group Discussion Questions
What was the main idea?
What do you think about corporate giants?
If you could suggest a strategy, what would you recommend for Starbucks?
How can you explain an emotional attachment to a product?
a decade (noun) – a period of 10 years.
ex. We’ve worked in this company for more than a decade.
a powerhouse (noun) – something (such as a company) that is very powerful.
a concept (noun) – an idea.
competitive (adjective) – having a lot of competition.
now.
unique (adjective) – special and different from others.
remarkable (adjective) – incredible.
to capture (verb) – to get, to take.
lucrative (adjective) – profitable.
revenue (noun) – income.
domestically (adjective) – in one’s home market.
Can you describe this chart?
The key to making a good introduction is to having all the pieces ready, and then using them in the correct order, but always being flexible to adapt to each situation that you are in.
Tip* Never start with «good night» – Good night = good bye
«Good evening everyone.»
«Today, we will take a look at the historical stock price of Starbucks.»
«This will take me a few minutes, so please hold any questions until the end of the presentation.»
«As the title states, we will dive into some numbers related to Starbucks. This shows the «Historical Stock Price for Starbucks Value (adjusted for stock split)»
«As you can see on the left-hand side you have the stock price value in increments of $5 dollars.»
«And as you can see across the bottom, we have the years 1993 to 2007.»
«… and let’s get the ball rolling …»
«… and let’s jump in …»
«… and let’s dive in …»
(this is your opportunity to be descriptive, if you feel comfortable with the basics of presenting information)
Simple Past Tense
(you have finished the time period you are talking about)
«In 1993 Starbucks started with a stock value of just one dollar.»
«… it had a slow and steady increase until 1999 …»
«… around the year 2000 there was some activity until about 2003 …»
«… and finally in about 2000 for the Starbucks stock price spiked dramatically to about $35 per share.»
«If you have any questions or comments now is the opportunity to ask. And thanks for joining me.»
Persuading with Data
… provides an integrated instructional guide to data visualization, strategic communication, and delivery best practices. Most books on data visualization focus on creating good graphs. This is the first book that combines both explanatory visualization and communication strategy, showing how to use visuals to create effective communications that convince an audience to accept and act on the data.
Expressing Basic Time
More expressions here
General Range
“In the first quarter …”
“In the first half …”
“In the summer …”
Specific Time
“At the beginning of the year …”
“At the end of the year …”
“At 3pm …”
Days
“On June 7th, 1983 …”
“On Tuesday …”
“On Christmas …”
Opening Lines
“First, let’s take a look at …”
“To get started, let’s take a look at …”
“Let’s get the ball rolling with the first stat …”
Advancing
«Now, I would like to move on to …”
“Then, as you can see, the …”
“In order to keep the ball rolling, I want to …”
Closing Lines
“And finally, if we look at …”
“To wrap up, we can see …”
“Moving onto the final numbers about …”
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