Doug Davidoff
So, what do you think of Howard Schultz’s announcement that Starbuck will “reinvent [the juice] category in the same tonality that we reinvented the basic commodity of coffee?”
Apparently, he sees “a lot of white space.”
What?! Really?! Howard, please, what’s happened to you?
That sounds like Internet CEOs saying they see lots of synergy.
It sounds to me like you’re bored again. I realize that owning the Seattle Supersonics didn’t work out. I guess merely rebuilding Starbucks isn’t interesting enough for you.
How I miss the old Howard Schultz. The one who focused on his core business. The one who, when coming back to run Starbucks, talked about the importance of staying focused and railed against how Starbucks forgot what they really were.
In my experience when a company like Starbucks starts acquiring companies like Evolution Fresh (no offense Evolution) and starts speaking publicly of “white space” what they are really saying is:
We’ve lost our ability to create real value for our customers. We’ve become commoditized. In an attempt to fool our investors and protect our stock price we’re going to transform another industry.
I don’t buy it. What do you think?