Starbucks Corporation Building a Sustainable Supply Chain Case Solution

1. What type of information system do you suggest for Starbucks Corporation to help them gain economic transparency?

In order to gain economic transparency, a more comprehensive information system is recommended to support large scale C.A.F.E Practices (Coffee And Farmer Equity Practices). Starbucks should use artificial intelligence in order to focus on its marketing, sales, as well as operations decisions. Since it is the world’s largest coffee retailer with thousands of outlets situated worldwide, it needs to have an integrated marketing system so that one consistent message is put across all channels of communication. Starbucks being a large corporation should have specialized information systems to analyze the company’s big data which comes from transaction processing systems, customer databases, emails, and other important documents, etc. Such information systems can provide Starbucks with the analytical and communication tools needed to conduct trade and supply on a large scale. Starbuck’s supply chain is widely scattered throughout the globe, it aims to gather all the high-quality coffee suppliers who would provide premium coffee beans to the company. In managing and communication with the suppliers, Starbucks’s information systems must be properly integrated to form long term relationships with the suppliers while practicing the C.A.F.E Practices. 

1. Management Information System

Starbucks should also make use of Management Information System in order to analyze its internal as well as external environment. The case study mentions how there was a chance for 2 or 3 coffee national players to emerge as Starbuck’s competitors in the coffee industry. When there is a chance of competition, there should be a proper investigation into the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In order to conduct a SWOT analysis, a management information system can be used to study the people, organization, technology as well as the relationships among these entities. This type of information system is used for adequate decision making. For example, when new rivals enter the market, this information system helps the executives making an informed decision related to what marketing or pricing strategies Starbucks should use to tackle the competition.