Objectives of the Assignment 1: 1. Explain the basic concepts, principles and practices associated with strategy formulation and implementation (CLO1) 2. Analyze and evaluate critically real-life company situations and develop creative solutions using strategic management perspective (CLO 2)(case study) Starbucks Corporation being founded in 1971 in Seattle, America spanned its business in more than 64 countries over the globe. Away from Americas 13,000 stores, the company operates more than 10,000 stores in combinatorial process in different countries of Europe, Asia and other continent (Pennacchiotti and Popescu, 2011). Among the products that Starbucks Corporation seems to market, the most famous appetizers are hot and cold bean coffee, beverage, snacks, pastries and so forth. Starbucks has stores in some of the most prime and strategic location across the globe. They target premium, high-traffic, high-visibility locations near a variety of settings, including downtown and suburban retail centers, office buildings, university campuses, and in select rural and off- highway locations across the world. Starbucks is know for its highly knowledge base employees. They are the main assets of the company and they are provided with great benefits like stock option, retirement accounts and a healthy culture. Starbucks efficiently leverages technology with its mobile application Starbucks App in both apple and android softwares. They make significant investments in technology to support their growth every year. The products channelized by the company in the market place, maximum of them are of high quality and charged highly. With the staggering economic condition, common people before moving to a Starbucks outlet think twice. Therefore, the company is losing a large amount of common people.The company, in general way, focuses on marketing of coffee. Therefore, other products are often mismanaged and are not promptly focused to be marketized (Gallaugher and Ransbotham, 2010). The taste of common people is changing. They seem to be getting more attracted to the soft drinks and other drinks, away from beverage. But Starbucks has not have entertained any of them. Starbucks has a great growth potential in further expanding into the emerging and developing markets. They can leverage their size, experience, financial prowess and efficiencies to make new market share. Starbucks recently started to expand their product mix by venturing into the Tea and fresh juice product offerings with a smart acquisition strategy. Starbucks has leveraged the use of mobile applications and has an investment partnership with Square, a mobile payments app that is integrated with its Starbucks app. This creates an ease of use process for customers, aligns customer loyalty through reward programs.However, the marketplace for Starbucks is not at all monopolistic at all. There are so many companies both international and local are trying their hands in this business with the increasing demand of the fast food and beverage. The choice of the customers is also changing which let the company to introduce more market-reliant products. As for the health issues, people are moving away from the caffeine which is another threat for the company. Mismanagement and maloperational practices are endangering the existence. Questions 1. Based on the above case study, construct SWOT analysis of Starbuck Corporation (12 marks) 2. What is the meaning of strategic management from your own perspective? (3 marks) 3. If you are the management consultant of Starbuck, what would you recommend for the business development of Starbucks Corporation (10 marks) 4. In your opinion, why some organization did not apply strategic planning? List FIVE (5) reasons