I have always insisted that corporate culture is not "another set" outside the operation and management of enterprises. Corporate culture comes from the operation and management activities, which can also be said to be a "result" of operation and management. This statement actually comes from the basic viewpoint of the school of cultural function, that is, all cultures are "useful", because "useful" gradually becomes a culture. If we observe carefully, there are not few such cases in practice. Robert? Kagan and Lisa? Leahy and others mentioned Greg, CEO of Bridgewater Hedge Fund, in the book "Everyone's Culture: An ODD with Devotion to Development". In response to their company's true, transparent and open corporate culture, Zhan Sen said, "We don't think culture is a contributing factor to business success; We don't think it is a factor. In fact, we believe that culture is the reason for success. We have succeeded because of culture, and we believe that culture itself is our business strategy. This is the whole answer. "

"Culture itself is our business strategy" is both thorough and bold, because enterprises in reality can rarely be as transparent and frank as Qiaoshui. Recently, I saw some similar scenes when I read howard schultz, the founder of Starbucks, Injecting Heart: A Cup of Coffee Makes the Legend of Starbucks.

1. A successful enterprise team based on unique values and codes of conduct

In 1987, howard schultz took over the weak Starbucks from two founders and turned it into a world-class enterprise. He believed that the success of Starbucks "proved that a company with a mind-oriented and natural soul can still make money, indicating that a company does not have to sacrifice respect for the core values of its employees while ensuring shareholders' long-term profits". These "values and norms are rarely seen in other enterprises in the United States", and Starbucks can do it because they have a leadership team that believes that this is the right thing to do and that it is the best way to run the enterprise.

In business operation, Starbucks' basic strategy is to win customers with the best coffee, the best service and the most cordial atmosphere; Relying on fair competition and the principle of dignity and height, we become the best one in every market. To do this, we must create an excellent workforce. Therefore, "Starbucks continues to attract and hire people who work together for the same goal. They don't fight with each other and like to challenge goals that others think are impossible." Howard schultz said that he wants to create a corporate culture in which "individuals can not only be satisfied, but also be respected and envied by others".

To this end, Starbucks put forward a "meaningful mission statement" and used these six principles to "help us judge the correctness of the company's decisions": First, provide a perfect working environment and create a working atmosphere of mutual respect and trust; Second, adhering to diversification is an important principle of our enterprise management; Third, adopt the highest standards for purchasing and baking, and provide the freshest coffee; Fourth, always meet customer needs with a high degree of enthusiasm; Fifth, actively contribute to the community and the environment; Sixth, realize that profit is the foundation of our future success.

There are several steps worth learning from when Starbucks' mission statement was issued:

Step 1: The senior management team carefully analyzed the company's values and beliefs, and drafted a mission statement in a retreat, "trying to clearly express a powerful message and relay it as a program of action to guide us to examine every decision made by the company at every level";

Step 2: Send the draft to every employee of Starbucks and ask them to make changes on the basis of their comments. The resulting mission statement "is not a certificate to decorate the walls of our office, but the essence of faith; It is not a list of inspiration, but the principle basis that we have to lead the development of enterprises. "

Step 3: A consulting company was hired to set up several teams from coffee shops, offices and factories, and the participants were all selected from non-executives. They often get together from their respective posts to discuss related issues and make suggestions on management decision-making, market expansion and personnel size.

Step 4: They insist that it is not enough to just write the mission statement and tell everyone. Starbucks also needs a set of methods to ensure the implementation of the mission statement. Therefore, they suggested setting up a "mission evaluation" organization, and every employee in every store should be encouraged to fill out a postcard-sized "evaluation card". If they see that the decision made by the management violates the mission statement, they can report it to the "mission review" organization.

friends who are familiar with the practice of corporate culture construction may know that this fourth step is the real "killer". Therefore, even a well-prepared person like howard schultz said, "Most business executives are afraid of this system, and so am I." "I listened to their speeches and thought: Do I really want employees to form such a team to supervise the management, so as to improve our management level? If I refuse, then what is the sincerity of the management to make such a mission statement? " Interestingly, after many considerations, "we approved this proposal". Since the promulgation of Starbucks' mission statement, this kind of appraisal activity has continued:

Any employee in any department has the right to make criticism and suggestions for any behavior that does not conform to this statement, and we also promised that the managers of relevant departments must respond within two weeks, whether by phone or letter. We print "suggestion cards" for every new employee, including of course those forms issued by other companies. We receive hundreds of cards every year, and the proposer can be unsigned. Of course, the proposer who doesn't sign can't get a direct response. I carefully read the suggestions that come with other reports every month. With the development of enterprises, "mission evaluation" has become an important link between our scattered labor force. Every quarter, teams selected from various departments of the company get together to discuss some issues that employees are most concerned about, seek solutions, and submit reports to our "quarterly public forum". This process not only keeps the mission statement full of vitality, but also provides an important channel for open communication. Many great suggestions have therefore been adopted and implemented.

Today, in the long-term management practice, howard schultz's experience of corporate culture is that one of the biggest responsibilities of an entrepreneur is to inject his own values into the enterprise. It's like raising children. "You start this job with love and compassion. If you inject correct values into their hearts, they will make responsible decisions when they grow up." Therefore, he believes that no matter how big the development is, the basic core values and ultimate goal of Starbucks cannot be changed. He believes that Starbucks can maintain its passion, style, creativity and personality after becoming a global enterprise.

Of course, howard schultz knows very well that "it is easy to talk about values, but it is difficult to practice them, and it is even more difficult for an outsider to judge which ones are from the heart and which ones are displayed in the window". So, how does Starbucks practice the six mission statements? Below we combine the three most important levels, namely, products, customers and employees, to make a brief analysis.

Second, productism: Stick to high-quality coffee and freshly roasted coffee beans

howard schultz said, "Whether as a parent or an entrepreneur, from the first day, you began to imprint your beliefs on your children or your business, whether you realized it or not." This sentence is right, which reminds us of Ben Holovitz's famous saying that what you do is what you are. So, what is the "imprint" of Starbucks' products?

At the beginning of his business, howard schultz said, "If we can spread the Italian romantic espresso making skills and freshly roasted coffee beans to the whole country, it may revive an ancient commodity and attract thousands of people, just as it strongly attracted me." Therefore, he thinks, just as every company must represent something, "Starbucks represents not only high-quality coffee, but also the deep processing method of baking coffee beans until they are black, which makes the products extraordinary and genuine." Based on this, he emphasized: "Deep roasted, fresh and pure flavor coffee beans are the touchstone for the success or failure of our business, our lifeblood and our spiritual wealth. No matter what we do, we won't buy cheap coffee beans at all. Customers must enjoy high-quality coffee at Starbucks. We will not give up deep roasting or pollute our coffee beans with chemicals and artificial additives. " To sum up, customers can buy the best coffee in the world when they walk into any Starbucks store with respect for the core products. In howard schultz's book, there are two examples that can well verify the above viewpoint.

the first example is that in 1994, the world experienced the crisis of coffee bean price increase, and Starbucks also suffered for a long time and paid a great price. Howard schultz said that the decision made during this extraordinary period has never deviated from our aim of "providing the best coffee". If we buy relatively cheap coffee beans, we can save millions of dollars a year, and maybe only 1% of our customers can make the difference. But if we compromise on this principle for higher profits, what will we get? In the end, all customers will find our compromise on quality, so they have no reason to walk a few more blocks to our store. Therefore, he believes that "sacrificing quality for profit can only make Starbucks people lift their heads all their lives, which will be an irreparable regret."

The second example is the story of Starbucks cooperating with United Airlines to provide Starbucks coffee on the plane. Howard schultz said that in order to ensure the quality of coffee, we carefully checked every process-from the ingredient list to the grinding process, and then to the water filtration system. United Airlines' on-board cooking equipment is the best among all airlines, but we found that they want to replace stainless steel utensils with cheaper plastic products. We compared the performance of the two in the cooking test, calculated the solid soluble components in different utensils, and asked them not to do this replacement, and they agreed. In addition, Starbucks also requires training flight attendants of United Airlines not only to know how to cook and keep coffee fresh, but also to know the history and values of Starbucks, so that all flight attendants can answer the relevant questions raised by passengers.

Regarding the persistence of productism, howard schultz said:

Whenever I encounter difficulties in decision-making or corporate bureaucracy prevails, I will go to the founding store of Parker Market. My hand touched the worn wooden counter, grabbed a handful of roasted coffee beans, and let them gently slide through my fingers, leaving a faint oily fragrance. I always remind myself and people around me that we have a responsibility to those who have visited us.

we can innovate, and we can rediscover the full potential value of the enterprise, but the principle of Starbucks' high-quality coffee and its freshly roasted raw coffee beans remains unchanged. This is our spiritual property.

3. Customarianism: Say yes to the requirements of customers

The products are for customers, which is no problem. But interestingly, in the growth process of many enterprises, productism often covers up or even defeats consumerism. In other words, some enterprises will eventually fail because they are obsessed with their own products and ignore and ignore the needs of customers, although in reality, the opposite is more common.

At Starbucks, this issue also makes the leadership team continue to struggle. The world's best quality Harraca coffee beans, deep roasted, fresh and pure in flavor, are the capital of Starbucks. The principle that Starbucks pursues has always been to train customers to accept their favorite coffee, which conflicts with the demand of more customers who are "attracted by the name" but "unable to adjust their opinions" during their growth. Therefore, Starbucks has two seemingly contradictory beliefs: one is that they believe that enterprises must build on their most authentic products, which can only be better than what customers want. The other is that they believe in "saying yes" to customers' requirements, and good retailers should break away from convention to meet customers' needs. Howard schultz said, "The two values often collide violently, sometimes even in my own mind.". In the early days of Starbucks, they refused to bargain on some things, such as refusing franchise chain, refusing artificial flavor coffee beans and refusing to sell coffee beans in supermarkets.

It is another Howard who really breaks Starbucks' productism culture and guides it to change to consumerism. Biha initiated it. As the president of Starbucks, Biha pointed out from the beginning that Starbucks pays too much attention to products. Howard schultz said, "This is the most valuable criticism of Starbucks and the harshest statement". Biha put forward two changes. First, he emphasized that "people" are making coffee, and that "people" directly affect the quality of products and services, which is the key to the success or failure of Starbucks, while products are lifeless. Therefore, "those excellent people must be hired", "It's not just individuals who come and go here, it's full of souls." The second change is to further shift to the concept of customer-oriented. Biha believes that Starbucks pays too much attention to the quality of coffee and sometimes ignores customers' preferences. He encouraged his partners to stand out boldly and "say yes" to customers' demands. Biha believes that "as long as it is moral, just and ethical, as long as customers like it, we should do everything".

howard schultz once thought that Biha's principle was contrary to Starbucks' long-standing tradition. Therefore, he is not only opposed to adding flavored syrup to lattes, but also opposed to adding fat-free or skim milk to coffee. At that time, from the perspective of health and weight, it was a fashion for Americans to avoid drinking whole milk. However, Starbucks still thinks that milk with milk fat is more mellow and will make coffee taste more exciting. It is a perfect match with Starbucks coffee. Therefore, in the history of Starbucks, mentioning fat-free milk even means betrayal, because their goal is to bring authentic Italian espresso to the United States.

interestingly, the fat-free milk incident actually triggered the biggest debate in Starbucks history: one of the staunchest dogma defenders told Biha: "This is not to maintain the quality of coffee, it will make the taste of coffee very poor, and we should stick to our own taste." "Are you crazy?" Biha retorted, "Of course, we must do everything we can to satisfy our guests!" This incident ended when howard schultz went to the store for observation and investigation, and saw a lady who wanted a "double latte with fat-free milk" disappointed and left. He said, "In hindsight, the decision was made without thinking. But at that time, we were really not sure whether this would impact our brand and consistent style ... An Italian would still go to Starbucks to ask for a real cappuccino, but another customer would ask for a fat-free vanilla mocha ... We must make it clear that the customer's requirements are right and give them a variety.