The Organizational Structure of Starbucks Coffee Company

Starbucks is largely responsible for the emergence of the so-called great wave of coffee culture around the world, as it has expanded the range of coffee experiences it offers customers over time, including its popular Pumpkin Spiced Latte and an assortment of Frappuccinos and more. For that, for sure you crave some tea or coffee. Well, you may get yours now as it is perfect while we are going to review the team beind the success of Starbucks. In this post, we will look deeply at the details of Starbucks's organizational chart and see the personnel who manage the company so well. In addition, we will present you with a great tool that you can use to create an incredible org chart.

Starbucks Organizational Structure

Part 1. What is Starbucks’s Organizational Structure

Starbucks has a relatively large senior leadership team compared to most other businesses in the same field. The current CEO is Howard Schultz, who replaced Kevin Johnson following his resignation. As of now, about 47 people have taken up positions of executives in the company. These positions incorporated, among others, CEOs and presidents in Starbucks's regional divisions, as well as other miscellaneous roles, such as marketing, operating, and acquiring raw materials.

In connection with that, Starbucks has a matrix organizational structure that is integrated on the basis of team functions and product details. This type of chart demonstrates that this company has many divisions and reporting systems that overlap; this makes sense because it is big and global. Overall, Starbucks' overall structure has three key components. One part is the typical functional hierarchy by the board of directors; the other two parts are based on geography and products.

Starbucks Organizational Chart Matrix

Part 2. Advantages and Disadvantages

At Starbucks, there is a matrix kind of organizational structure that bases its division along the lines of product, location, and function. This organizational management helps a business to cater to the needs of the local market while achieving consistency in the global brand. While it supports creativity and teamwork, this comes with downsides in possible overlap in regional divisions and slower communication. See this quick overview of its advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

• Good decision-making because of the well-defined hierarchy.

• Flexibility in marketplaces through geographic separations.

• A strong level of regional brand consistency.

• Fostering innovation with decentralized teams.

• Employee engagement for the collaborative work environment.

• Cons of Starbucks' Organizational Structure

Disadvantages

• Slower communication of management.

• Issues with overlaying decision-making.

• The danger of failing of over-centralized company.

Part 3. Features of Starbucks’s Org Structure

As we move forward with its features, let us tackle three main points about the chart of Starbucks, mainly the Functional Hierarchy, Products Divisions, and Geographical Divisions. These are the three features of Starbucks's org chart that balance the management, leading them to success. Here are the descriptions for each point.

Starbucks Organizational Chart Features

Advantages

Departments are arranged in a functional hierarchy based on the business functions they perform. Marketing, operations, and product are a few examples of company functions. The CEO of Starbucks leads this functional hierarchy, which consists of the heads of the company's functional departments, product-based divisions, and geographic divisions. These leaders have top-down authority over the departments and employees beneath them. This hierarchy is where most day-to-day decision-making at Starbucks is concentrated.

Geographical Divisions

A corporation like Starbucks, which has operations in 88 countries, needs to optimize its organizational structure to take into consideration the many areas in which it operates. However, in 2011, the business of Starbucks Coffee International and Starbucks U.S. was dissolved. The scenario allowed the team to create a new division in different places, such as the Americas, Asia-Pacific, China, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Products Divisions

Many people know that Starbucks has different kinds of businesses, like selling products, baked goods, and buying ingredients. They also have departments for the non-Starbucks brands, like Teavana and Evolution Fresh, that are part of the Starbucks group.

Starbucks Products Divisions

Part 4. Chart to Visualize Starbucks Organizational Structure

We have talked a lot about the org chart of Starbucks company, its definition, characteristics, and features. We shall now build the visual as we make it more clear and simple to understand. For that, we prepared a Strabucks’ Organizational Structure just for you. If you are interested in visiting it, then click the hyperlink above.

Starbucks Organizational Chart Visual

Part 5. Best Tool for Starbucks Organizational Structure Chart Making

Thus, if you are now interested in creating your org chart just like the clear and incredible chart above, then MindOnMap is a flexible application that offers easy mind mapping and team management to create better vast, complex diagrams, such as an organizational chart similar to Starbucks. Despite its challenging purpose for being a highly-user-friendly application, MindOnMap provides many features that are workable with the chart. The application ensures that users can be able to have clear and effective organizing charts by making the process and allowing ease of use.

One of the best features of MindOnMap is its diagram-creating facility, which produces a very detailed kind of organizational chart as that of Starbucks's corporate structure. This application offers several handy features for editing together, adjusting options, drag-and-drop items, and more for making the most accurate and complete organizational charts according to the complicated systems placed in Starbucks.

Part 6. FAQs about Starbucks’s Organizational Structure

Why did Starbucks change its organizational structure?

The company is continually improving in its decision-making, growing globally, and adopting local products. As we all know, the Starbucks company has always cared about its brand consistency. However, throughout the years the company undergoes different changes in order to survive the mainstream

What is the divisional structure of Starbucks?

In terms of the divisional structure of Starbucks, there might be two things about it. The first one is the division of products around the world. They offered variants of products depending on the region. In addition, they also have regional divisions which have different teams behind the management of the company. Generally speaking, these are the America, Asia, and Middle East regions.

Is Starbucks centralized or decentralized?

Starbucks can be both. In general, it is centralized because of its global success in the field. However, the company also blends decentralized authority for regional managers to adjust to local market demands with centralized decision-making for corporate strategy.

How does the matrix structure at Starbucks operate?

Starbucks' matrix structure integrates product lines, geographic divisions, and functional units, including marketing and HR, to facilitate cross-business area collaboration while guaranteeing local market adaption.

What are the shortcomings of the organizational structure at Starbucks?

Potential communication lags between divisions, the possibility of duplicating operations in regional offices, and the difficulty of striking a balance between local flexibility and global consistency are among the difficulties.

Conclusion

It can clearly be seen how Starbucks is structured and the system that works for its success across the globe. Therefore, the organizational structure of Starbucks is strong and a good base for its future success globally because it effectively balances functions, geographic needs, and operational teams. For that, we can also see above that MindOnMao is a very useful tool for individuals who are motivated to make their organizational charts. The procedure is made simpler by its intuitive UI and Organization Chart Maker tool. Use MindOnMap to create an effective and clear organizing chart.

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