1.

0 INTRODUCTION
Marketing management is fast becoming an integral part of the business process and this is
based on the understanding that marketing involves the adoption of necessary strategies
required to ensure that the value of any given product or services are communicated to
customers and as such make these customers persuaded to go for these product. The way a
company positions itself is without a doubt important as it can be the link between the
companys failure and success. There are numerous cases of success in which marketing has
been accounted responsible for the companys growth and this is based on the underlying fact
that since the value of any business is centred on offering its services for success and making
profits from such sales, then the business are expected to adopt necessary strategy towards
ensuring that such approach becomes a success in the organizational setting.
On that account, it can easily be seen that marketing is an integral part of any business
process and this accounts for the need for companies to align their productivity with what is
actually demanded in the market in order to ensure that they are capable of meeting these
demands. The benefit of meeting the demands of customers comes with high notes to the
company as accounts recorded in this view have linked such with increased growth and
profitability. This is because when the needs of customers are well meet, they will be loyal to
the company and the end product is that their repurchase intention will increase, as well their
recommendation for the services or products offered by this company. As such, it can be seen
that meeting the needs of customers have a direct influence on the profitability of a company.
The need to offer customers what they want is most significant in the fast food industry. This
has been heavily influenced by the increase in globalization and internationalization of firms,
which has make the market very competitive by giving customers more quality at reduced
price. Pricing is basically the main factor that is used for competition in this market, as it is a
measure of what customers can obtain and for how long they can be able to obtain that. The
implication now becomes that a customer who is able to obtain higher brands today might not
be well positioned to do so tomorrow because of some economic reasons.
On that account, this paper is designed to understanding the marketing strategies of
Starbucks, by illustrating how the company has been able to adopt the marketing mix is

creating a higher ground for competition of its brand in Malaysia and other countries that
they maintain presence in.
2.0 ABOUT STARBUCKS
The story of Starbucks began in 1971. Back then, the company was a roaster and retailer of
ground coffee and whole bean, tea and spices and had only one store in the Seattles Pike
Place Market. But currently, the company offers its products to millions of customer in 60
countries with its 18,000 retail stores.
The first make in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick is where the name Starbucks was coined
from. The companys logo is also an inspiration from the sea, which features a twin-tailed
siren from ancient Greek Mythology. Its mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit
one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.
Starbucks offers a range of products that customers can enjoy at their stores, at home or on
the go. These products include: coffee with more than 30 blends and single source of
premium coffee, homemade beverages - Freshbrewed coffee, hot and iced espresso
beverages, Frappuccino coffee and non-coffee blended beverages, smoothies and Tazo
teas, and merchandize, free beverages and foods and other consumer products. In 2011,
Starbucks recorded its highest revenue ever with $11.7 billion annual revenue generated. The
companys corporate store also grew by 8% and it is one of the reasons behind the massive
revenue generated.
3.0 THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKETING MIX IN STARBUCKS
The marketing concept of 4Ps was formulated by McCarthy in 1975. The 4Ps is an element
used to represent products, prices, promotion and place in the marketing mix. For over
decades, these elements have been adopted as the root from which marketing plans are
developed. In any case, with recent attention offered to service marketing in recent years,
theorists have developed extra Ps to the basic concept. Fifield and Gilligan (1996) are the
authors who recognized the need to include over variables process, physical, and people to
form the 7Ps of service marketing , but only the initial 4Ps will be used to illustrate how
marketing mix stimuli in Starbucks influence cognitive process, affective and behavioural
response of customers as the company deals more on products rather than services. These 7Ps
are:

1. Product features, quality and quantity

2. Place the location where the products are sold, number of outlets.
3. Price strategy, determinants, levels.
4. Promotion advertisement, sales promotion, public relations
5. People quantity, quality, training, promotion.
6. Process principles, automation, control measures.
7. Physical- cleanliness, dcor, ambience of the service
3.1 Product mix
Florence (2013) stated that one of the main corporate objectives of Starbucks is to create
standard taste, irrespective of the country or location where they operate in. The company is
of the view that while standardization is essential for reducing operation cost, adapting to the
local environment they operate in is important for business success. As such, there concept of
Its mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one
neighbourhood at a time. has been the founding principle of business management in
Starbucks.
Although Starbucks offers the same blend of coffee in terms of ingredients and taste
standards across the world, their products are designed to feature the culture, cuisine and
customs of the market they operate in (Florence 2013). Thus, this is why the coffee shop is
still the most preferred across countrie.
These examples are how the company has designed its business strategy to focus on the local
needs of its market, instead of adopting an international menu. By focusing on the local
needs, the company is communicative a cognitive mind of value which the customers no
matter where they might be across the globe will use in processing their purchase decision.
As the company offers beverages and foods that are locally made, the customer value is
increased in the sense that customer can be sure of having meals that meet their local taste. In
that case, the affective behaviour is increased and this led to increase in customer loyalty and
repurchase decision. When customers travel abroad as well, there might be a sense of
cognition that Starbucks is the place to be for tasking quality coffee internationally as this
is the value the company constantly communicate to its customer.

For instance, the sells locally made white coffee in Malaysia, while they sell the pure black
coffee in Brazil. The snacks are also different and tailored to the markets taste with local
Malaysian ingredients used in Malaysian restaurants and the local ingredients of other
countries used in their respective outlets in those countries.
3.2 Place
Currently, Starbucks has 18,000 restaurant outlets in 60 countries across the globe (Florence
2013). The company still continues its focus on management of capital, which is an
illustration of its effective, prudent and strategic expansion. The increase potential for growth
in the international market has been learned from its operation in the USA. This strategy has
created a benchmarking gap between the company and its competitors. However, there is a
need to understand the importance of looking back and using the past experience to build on
even more lucrative restaurants.
Such local and global presence of the company is used in communicating the message of
availability. While the company is focused on business expansion as a means of increasing
profitability, the expansion process is communicating to the market that Starbucks is easily
available and accessible. As such, the customers can be assured that no matter where they
might be, there is always a chance of having Starbucks around. This form of marketing
communication enhances the cognitive processing in the sense that customers can easily
visualize Starbucks whenever they fell like going out to have some meals as the company is
communicating that they can easily be found around their homes. In that case, it increases the
affective behaviour with a strong mental image of accessibility and availability. In some of
their outlets, Starbucks function 24/7 and this further enhances convenience on the
customers side. As such, it can be seen that the company has been successful in enhancing
positive behaviour and attitude towards its brand. Starbucks is readily available in most of the
major shopping malls and airports in Malaysia, as well as side corners across certain
residential areas in the country and this makes them highly accessible.
3.3 Pricing
Florence(2013) also stated that the company has realized that notwithstanding its cost saving
approach that is inbuilt its standardization process, success can only be obtainable by being
able to adapt to economic conditions in the different markets they maintain business
operations in. This is actually what is happening with the companys implementation of its

pricing strategy which is focused on localization instead of globalization. This is also in line
with the companys business model of think global and act locally.
For each country, there is rigorous pricing concepts that can be used to determine the right
price for such market. These processes have been described by Vignali et al. (1999) as:
1. Selecting price objectives;
2. Determining demand;
3. Estimating cost;
4. Analysing competitors cost, prices and offer;
5. Selecting appropriate pricing method; and
6. Selecting the definitive price.
The above processes are the framework which the company uses in designing prices for its
products across countries. The overall pricing objectives of Starbucks is to increase market
share in each of the countries it operate in and this is the barometer used in setting prices for
each of these market (Florence 2013).
Such an approach whereby the company sets price according to market value is the best
option. This is because, there are variations in earnings across the globe, and standardizing
the pricing process wills an ineffective measure. For instance in the USA, the pay for 1 hours
could be $5, and the same amount could be the pay for 3 hours in Malaysia or 6 hours in the
Philippines, and even higher in some of the developing world. Therefore, while the US
employ can afford to spend $5 on a meal, this might be possible in the countries where the
pay is actually lower.
In view of that, Starbucks is communicating value per price by adopting a localized pricing
option. This is because, the international customers will perceive high value for the products
offered in relation to the American market, but will be paying a lot cheaper for the same
quality. Overall, this will increase their affective behaviour towards the brand and offer them
numerous reasons to choose Starbucks over its competitor. As such, it can be stated that it is
significant to note that the company has been adopting numerous localized strategies in
relation to the marketing mix discusses, and the reason behind such is to increase brand
loyalty and subsequently increase their global market share. The company also adopts pricing
to communicate value in the sense that its high price is a representation of higher quality over
other brands.

3.4 Promotion
The final context that will be discussed is the issue of how promotion influences cognitive,
affective and behavioural attitudes of customers towards Starbuck. Promotion is also known
as the marketing communications mix, and it was developed, who also stated that it
comprises of five major tools as:
1. Advertising;
2. Direct marketing;
3. Sales promotion;
4. Public relation; and
5. Personal selling (Kotler 1994).
By adopting these tools, Starbucks also localizes its marketing communications strategy, as
the company seeks to meet the enormous demands of cultural and environmental differences
that exist in the markets they operate in. It was Florence (2013) who stated that it would nave
of the company or any other company to ignore the fact that differences exists amongst
markets in relation to culture and customers, as the ignorance or acknowledgement will have
high influence of the performance of brands. Although the company focuses on promoting its
corporate image global, it advertises its products by adopting the Maxim of branding
globally, advertising locally (Sandler & Shani 1991) as its promotionally strategy.
For instance, in Starbucks UK advertisement, English footballer such as Alan Shearer are
used as the companys figurehead in promotion of its products, while the company also uses
Fabien Barthez (the international goalkeeper of France) for its advertisement in France. In
terms of setting, the environment of Starbucks in China features mostly big round tables
which is a representation of communism in china allowing customers to dine with their
families, while the American setting is more of single and settings, which represents the
American view of individualism.
Overall, the promotional strategy adopted in Starbucks is yielding the same effect as other
marketing mix discussed above. The fact from this analysis can be stated that, the company
has been able to develop the right approach towards strategically managing its operations
across the globe by thinking globally and acting locally at the same time. The effects of such

is that it provides customers with quality and positive information in which they can use for
their cognitive processing and this will positively influence their affective behaviour. The
reason for that is that customers will view Starbucks as respecting their values in terms of
culture, customers and cuisines, as well as being caring by pricing their products to suite their
economic condition in their country. In that case, the customers will be positively affective
towards the brand and this is the main reason behind its global success.
4.0 RECOMMENDATION
From the above analysis, the implementation of 4Ps for gaining market advantage through the
adoption of numerous strategies that better aligns the business objectives with the needs of
the market in order to gain improved profitability by meeting the needs of customers have
been illustrated with the case of Starbucks as a contained in this paper. From the above
analysis, it was noted that the company has been able to position themselves in all markets
they maintain presence in by adopting a number of strategies that best aligns their business
activities with the needs of customers. For instance, the company locates its outlets in an easy
to identify locations, makes the foods well-tailored with what is obtainable from their country
of location, promotes their products vividly by adopting the signature of numerous celebrities
in their markets to attract new customers and retain existing ones, and price their products
based on the economic powers of the country they exist in.
However, the above analysis also shows that the company prices its products relatively higher
than that of their competitors and this is based on their companys idea of communicating
value through higher prices. However, this strategy risks the companys chances of success
especially during period of economic downturn and it is based on the understanding that their
competitor might be able to adopt price advantage as a competitive force by pricing their own
products relatively lower, which will definitely shift the attention of customers and risk the
companys chances to retain existing customers or even to attract new ones. On that note, it is
recommended that Starbucks should consider readjusting their pricing strategies as it would
highlight their potential as power house in the industry and also present the image of high
quality and low price to the customers, which will directly influence their performance
positively.
5.0 CONCLUSION

Numerous researches have supported the idea that understanding the cognitive processing of
customers in relation to how they influences their affective behaviour and purchase intention
is very important (e.g. Peter & Olson, 1999; Van Osselaer & Alba, 2000; Van Osselaer &
Janiszewski, 2001; Keller, 2003). The main reason provided by these researches for such
claims is that cognitive processing is used by the customer to strategically position the brand
in his or her mind. Additionally, the position a brand maintains in the mind of the market is
very important because it directly influence their purchase decision. For instance, when a
brand maintains the position of high quality at lower price, there are high chances of the
brand being preferred over its competitors when it comes to purchasing products and services
offered by this brand. There, the researchers claims are right and corporations must put more
efforts in understanding the attributes customers use to associate there brand improve these
attributes in cases where they are poor in order to ensure that they gain competitive advantage
of their competing brands.
This is in line with practices that were found to be obtainable in Starbucks. Form the above
discussion, it has been illustrated that the success of the company is not as a result of mare
chance, but through the adoption of numerous strategies that include a well-integrated
marketing mix which is centred on understanding what customers want and apply necessary
strategies towards ensuring that such customer needs are meet. Basically, the notion presented
from the above discussion is that the company is all about satisfying customers needs and
they are willing to do whatever it take sot make sure that such becomes a success. A good
example comes in the form of the company focusing their service offerings on their local
marketing rather than their coveted cuisine which has been successful over the years.
As noted earlier in the discussion, it was stated that such a practice will be beneficial to the
company who adopts it as it would lead to a subsequent increase in customer loyalty, which
will increase their repurchase intention and as such increase the profitability of the business.
This is because the sustainable growth established in the Starbucks venture can be accounted
for their continued interest in satisfying customers need, which also resulted in their high
level of profitability. In conclusion, it will then be stated that marketing is an integral part of
any business success, but the factor behind such lies deeply in the companys ability to
understand what the customers want and provide such wants, and this can easily be visualized
through the adoption of a clear marketing mix.