1) What were the most important factors behind Starbucks decline in 2007 and 2008? How much of this Schultz see in 2007? In 2008? Which factors were less obvious?
1） 星巴克在2007年和2008年下滑的最重要因素是什么？舒尔茨在2007年看到了多少？2008年？哪些因素不那么明显？
One of the key factors behind Starbucks decline in 2007 and 2008 was the declining value proposition of this company. In reference to Koehn, McNamara, Khan and Legris (2014) echoes Schultz’s observations that by 2007, Starbucks had lost a significant portion of its ability to offer customers an experience and products that customers could not find elsewhere. The decline in its value proposition as company that offered unique service and coffee experience to its customers undermined its ability to create value through increasing comparable sales. According to Ballantyne, Frow, Varey and Payne (2011), a business or organization will experience a decline in its performance levels within a particular market if it fails to implement a mechanism to communicate its value to its customers. For Starbucks, the major loss of its value proposition occurred because of the declining connection to its customers, as well as the declining ability of its products to communicate value to customers due to loss of elements such as coffee aroma.
星巴克在2007年和2008年下滑的一个关键因素是该公司价值主张的下降。关于Koehn，McNamara、Khan和Legris（2014年）与Schultz的观察结果相呼应，即到2007年，星巴克已经失去了为客户提供其他地方无法找到的体验和产品的大部分能力。作为一家向客户提供独特服务和咖啡体验的公司，其价值主张的下降削弱了其通过增加可比销售额创造价值的能力。根据Ballantone、Frow、Varey和Payne（2011年）的说法，如果一个企业或组织未能实施向客户传达其价值的机制，那么该企业或组织在特定市场内的绩效水平将下降。对于星巴克来说，其价值主张的重大损失是由于其与客户的联系不断下降，以及由于咖啡香气等元素的损失，其产品向客户传达价值的能力不断下降。
Another critical factor that contributed to Starbucks decline in 2007 and 2008 was complacency, and lack of creativity and decisiveness, particularly among the top management of this company. In reference to Koehn, McNamara, Khan and Legris (2014), the top management at this time were concerned with meeting the expectations of Wall Street and promoting an external image of a company that had a strong brand and was performing well. However, due to the top management’s management complacency, lack of creativity and decisiveness, the company was unable to achieve growth from its internal operations, and there was a significant decline in employee loyalty and satisfaction with the company. Therefore, most of its operations were conducted by employees with no commitment to the company’s mission and vision, which undermined the company’s ability to deliver quality service and experience (Mafini and Pooe, 2013). This, coupled with poor organisational communication, undermined the ability of Starbucks to engage both its internal and external stakeholders, and as a result, it created a platform for its competitors to gain an advantage over it in different markets across the globe.
导致星巴克在2007年和2008年下滑的另一个关键因素是自满、缺乏创造力和果断，尤其是该公司的高层管理人员。关于Koehn、McNamara、Khan和Legris（2014年），当时的更高管理层关注的是满足华尔街的期望，提升一家拥有强大品牌且表现良好的公司的外部形象。然而，由于更高管理层的管理自满、缺乏创造力和决断力，公司无法从内部运营中实现增长，员工忠诚度和对公司的满意度显著下降。因此，公司的大部分业务都是由员工进行的，他们没有对公司的使命和愿景做出承诺，这削弱了公司提供优质服务和体验的能力（Mafini和Pooe，2013）。这一点，再加上组织沟通不力，削弱了星巴克吸引内部和外部利益相关者的能力，因此，星巴克为其竞争对手创造了一个平台，使其在全球不同市场获得优势。
Similarly, there is a need to observe that whereas Starbucks had grown over the years with a significantly heavy dependence on differentiation not only of its products but also of its experience and service it offer to customers, this had eroded away by 2007. For example, Starbucks had failed to communicate effectively with its customers the aspects that made it different from other retailers such as its passion for coffee and its commitment to support coffee farming across the globe (Koehn, McNamara, Khan and Legris, 2014). The loss of the differentiation advantages implied that it had to commodify its brand, and this gave some of its competitors who had no passion for coffee such as McDonald’s an ability to eat into Starbucks market. In addition to this, the declining brand identity of this company gave smaller competitors to offer stiff competition to this company, thus undermining its growth and development.
同样，需要注意的是，尽管星巴克多年来一直在增长，不仅在产品上，而且在向客户提供的经验和服务上，都严重依赖差异化，但到2007年，这种差异化已经逐渐消失。例如，星巴克未能与客户有效沟通使其与其他零售商不同的方面，如其对咖啡的热情以及其支持全球咖啡种植的承诺（Koehn、McNamara、Khan和Legris，2014）。差异化优势的丧失意味着它必须将其品牌商品化，这让一些对咖啡没有热情的竞争对手，如麦当劳，有能力进入星巴克市场。除此之外，该公司不断下降的品牌形象让较小的竞争对手向该公司提供了激烈的竞争，从而破坏了其增长和发展。