18
people in most of the world. For many of us, it represents nothing less than a “must
have” to start a productive day.
Yet, hundreds of years ago, coffee was banned, several times, in many parts of
the world. In Mecca, it was banned because of the fear that coffeehouses could
become sources of social agitation against religious authority. In Constantinople,
during the reign of Sultan Suleyman, a fatwa against drinking coffee was issued in
1543. In Europe, the situation was not any different as coffee and/or coffeehouses
were once banned or curtailed by King Charles II in England, King Frederick the
Great in Prussia, and the Swedish Parliament!
Obviously, tremendous social and cultural changes have shaped our perceptions
of coffee. Only two decades ago, coffee shops in the United States were generally
small, locally owned places where people gathered over poor-quality, cheap coffee.
Along came Starbucks, which changed the game by introducing Americans to highend, European-style coffee drinks that are now a regular part of the lives for millions
of people every day. How was Starbucks able to innovate so successfully in a relatively short period of time? A main driver has been its ability to adroitly cater to the
needs of its customers and to the job they need to get done while drinking coffee.
For instance, Starbucks does not just provide coffee for its customers. Instead, it
provides a “third place” outside their homes and workplaces, which offers not only
coffee but also a secure, warm, and welcoming environment where people can
gather and connect.
As of 2018, Starbucks runs over 28,000 coffee shops and employs nearly 300,000
people worldwide. To put its global team size in context, that’s more people than the
population of about 150 individual countries.
15
Yet, Starbucks is having to innovate
again. Starbucks Reserve is the coffee giant’s newest initiative of specialty outlets
which are meant to compete with third-wave coffee shops that source unusual or
small-lot beans and train baristas in hand-poured preparation methods. Everevolving customer needs have to be taken into account, or Starbucks may soon find
itself going the way of Eastman Kodak.
The learnings from the development and adoption of a globally successful innovation such as Starbucks in the coffee sector can be widely applied to a wide range
of sectors, regardless of the technology they use, the sector they work in, or the
geography they serve.
The launch of new technologies represents social experiments. There are many
psychological, social, and economic factors that individual and organizational innovators must understand. The sheer success and global adoption of Starbucks illustrate how success can be achieved if an organization takes into account the emotional
and social underpinnings of its end-users.
The takeaway here is that tensions around innovation arise not so much from
either the potential benefits or pitfalls an innovation represents. Rather, tension
comes from hidden feelings and sentiments of insecurity, since innovations challenge seemingly stable economic interests and social institutions.
15 http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/ [verified on October 11
th , 2019].
H. Campos
people in most of the world. For many of us, it represents nothing less than a “must
have” to start a productive day.
Yet, hundreds of years ago, coffee was banned, several times, in many parts of
the world. In Mecca, it was banned because of the fear that coffeehouses could
become sources of social agitation against religious authority. In Constantinople,
during the reign of Sultan Suleyman, a fatwa against drinking coffee was issued in
1543. In Europe, the situation was not any different as coffee and/or coffeehouses
were once banned or curtailed by King Charles II in England, King Frederick the
Great in Prussia, and the Swedish Parliament!
Obviously, tremendous social and cultural changes have shaped our perceptions
of coffee. Only two decades ago, coffee shops in the United States were generally
small, locally owned places where people gathered over poor-quality, cheap coffee.
Along came Starbucks, which changed the game by introducing Americans to highend, European-style coffee drinks that are now a regular part of the lives for millions
of people every day. How was Starbucks able to innovate so successfully in a relatively short period of time? A main driver has been its ability to adroitly cater to the
needs of its customers and to the job they need to get done while drinking coffee.
For instance, Starbucks does not just provide coffee for its customers. Instead, it
provides a “third place” outside their homes and workplaces, which offers not only
coffee but also a secure, warm, and welcoming environment where people can
gather and connect.
As of 2018, Starbucks runs over 28,000 coffee shops and employs nearly 300,000
people worldwide. To put its global team size in context, that’s more people than the
population of about 150 individual countries.
15
Yet, Starbucks is having to innovate
again. Starbucks Reserve is the coffee giant’s newest initiative of specialty outlets
which are meant to compete with third-wave coffee shops that source unusual or
small-lot beans and train baristas in hand-poured preparation methods. Everevolving customer needs have to be taken into account, or Starbucks may soon find
itself going the way of Eastman Kodak.
The learnings from the development and adoption of a globally successful innovation such as Starbucks in the coffee sector can be widely applied to a wide range
of sectors, regardless of the technology they use, the sector they work in, or the
geography they serve.
The launch of new technologies represents social experiments. There are many
psychological, social, and economic factors that individual and organizational innovators must understand. The sheer success and global adoption of Starbucks illustrate how success can be achieved if an organization takes into account the emotional
and social underpinnings of its end-users.
The takeaway here is that tensions around innovation arise not so much from
either the potential benefits or pitfalls an innovation represents. Rather, tension
comes from hidden feelings and sentiments of insecurity, since innovations challenge seemingly stable economic interests and social institutions.
15 http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/ [verified on October 11
th , 2019].
H. Campos