{"id":1870,"date":"2008-01-31T07:35:54","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T12:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/bean-crazy\/"},"modified":"2008-01-31T11:55:31","modified_gmt":"2008-01-31T16:55:31","slug":"bean-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/bean-crazy","title":{"rendered":"Bean Crazy"},"content":{"rendered":"

My pal Jon-Eric has brought me along to some NY\/NJ Giants football games in the last few years, on occasions when his brother can’t use their ticket. The seats his family has are great: lower tier, 47-yard line, just below the overhang of the mezzanine. It’s a great view, somewhat protected from crappy weather, and we always have great tailgate get-togethers in the parking lot beforehand.<\/p>\n

And when the Giants invariably cough up a lead, fumble during a big drive, or call 3 consecutive runs for -2 yards, we are graced with his dad’s signature comment: “They can’t handle prosperity, Jon-Eric!”<\/p>\n

We joke about having a betting pool based on what point in the game his dad will utter those words, to the point of one of us handing a $5 to the other after the statement.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to Starbucks. Our trip to Seattle last year coincided with Howard Schultz’ publicized memo about how his company had lost its way and needed to rediscover itself. Since, Schultz has reclaimed the CEO position, and is trying to retrench the company.<\/p>\n

The story of Starbucks and how it handles “life at the top” echoes Jon-Eric’s dad’s sentiments: they can’t handle prosperity.<\/p>\n

One of the aspects of business that fascinates me is this question of how a company copes with being a leader. I find it instructional to look at how businesses try to stay on top, particularly when they’ve established an overwhelming position in their field. Because they never stay on top: an unforeseen competitor shows up and eats its lunch, or the game changes around the market leader and its field is rendered useless, or it engages in dubious business practices that land it in serious regulatory trouble. Or a combination.<\/p>\n

In Starbucks’ case, market dominance led to an attempt to diversify its product offerings, with the attendant loss of “romance” that Schultz lamented in his memo. I’d love to see a time-lapse map showing the opening and closing of Starbucks locations in the last 10 years; I bet there’d be a very organic\/epidemiological appearance to it.<\/p>\n

Here’s an article on how the company is trying to cope<\/a>, and how local coffeeshops are benefiting as Starbucks closes some of its locations.<\/p>\n

I think the upshot of the piece is the discovery that, even if the company is facing upheaval, at least it’s taken a big step in making sure its employees don’t breed:<\/p>\n

Geoff Vuleta, chief executive of Fahrenheit 212, an innovation consultancy in New York, said Starbucks had lost focus on the experience that drew customers in the first place by neutering the baristas<\/em> and by crowding the stores with merchandise, or as he put it, “replacing mystique with relentless commerce.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Me? I still think their black coffee sucks, and that’s my make-or-break criteria. Maybe I need to try it with some sambuca, the way Jon-Eric’s dad’s pals end our tailgate parties before the Giants’ games. . .<\/p>\n

(Update! Starbucks is going to stop selling sandwiches<\/a>. I didn’t know they were selling sandwiches, but they showed <\/em>me! The company is also planning to announce “five bold innovations” at its shareholders meeting on March 19. Unless it involves a caffeine IV-drip, I ain’t interested.) <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My pal Jon-Eric has brought me along to some NY\/NJ Giants football games in the last few years, on occasions when his brother can’t use their ticket. The seats his family has are great: lower tier, 47-yard line, just below the overhang of the mezzanine. It’s a great view, somewhat protected from crappy weather, and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Bean Crazy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-ua","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1565,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/another-saturday-hike","url_meta":{"origin":1870,"position":0},"title":"Another Saturday Hike","author":"Gil","date":"June 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"(You can always blow off the writeup and go straight to the slideshow!) Another gorgeous Saturday, another hike! My just-about-lifelong buddy Jon-Eric and I were supposed to meet for lunch on Saturday, but on Friday Amy pointed out how absolutely fantastic the weather was going to be (75, clear and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_1003.JPG","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1145\/609996695_18efdb1a67.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1102,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/written-in-flesh","url_meta":{"origin":1870,"position":1},"title":"Written in flesh","author":"Gil","date":"September 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"You may or may not know that I have a 9\/11 tattoo on my right arm. I got it the Sunday after the attacks. It's not particularly exciting, as tattoos go. In fact, my artist was a little bummed that I wanted a dull, blocky font, rather than the flourishing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Urban issues"","block_context":{"text":"Urban issues","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/urban-issues"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1271,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/happy-new-year-4","url_meta":{"origin":1870,"position":2},"title":"Happy New Year!","author":"Gil","date":"December 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"My buddy Jon-Eric called this morning and invited me out on a hike in Sterling Forest. After all the running around in the holiday-period, plus all our work-stress, it was a heck of a way to finish up the year: Happy New Year, everyone. Enjoy the scenery.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1703,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/springboks-supreme","url_meta":{"origin":1870,"position":3},"title":"Springboks Supreme","author":"Gil","date":"October 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I watched the finals of the Rugby World Cup this afternoon, and was disappointed to see South Africa's Springboks knock off England 15-6, esp. after a British try that got overturned by the blind video-judge. Considering South Africa blanked England 36-0 earlier in the tournament, I guess this loss could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2829,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-11308","url_meta":{"origin":1870,"position":4},"title":"What It Is: 11\/3\/08","author":"Gil","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: The Spy in the Ointment, by Donald Westlake. I checked this book out of my local library around 25 years ago, and I decided to go back and check to see if it's still there. 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This morning's Newark Star-Ledger has an article on the subject, and it makes one of the most bone-headed statements I've read about PSLs.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}