■ The Big Idea
Starbucks Coffee is an example of turning a passion for coffee into a successful business venture. What started as small coffee shop in Seattle is now a global marketing phenomenon that covered the globe with over sixteen hundred stores and with more opening each day. The principles behind the success of Starbucks Coffee are discussed including the importance of passion for an excellent product and the need to infuse tradition and imagination as part of the business venture. Transforming coffee drinking into a whole new experience is just as important as serving it. By combining several of the principles, managers, marketers and aspiring entrepreneurs can discover why passion is just as important as capital and marketing savvy are in any business undertaking.

■ About the Author
Howard Schultz wasnt the first person to be carried away by the aroma of a well-roasted coffee bean. But the Starbucks Coffee Co. leader was undoubtedly the first to turn that reverie into a billion dollar retail operation.

Schultzs adventure started in 1981 when he traveled from New York to Seattle to check out a popular coffee bean store called Starbucks that had been buying many of the Hammarplast Swedish drip coffeemakers he was selling.

It took Schultz a year to convince the Starbucks owners to hire him. As the company began to expand rapidly in the 90s, Schultz always said that the main goal was "to serve a great cup of coffee." But attached to this goal was a principle: Schultz said he wanted "to build a company with soul.”

Asked the secret of his success, Schultz recounts four principles: "Dont be threatened by people smarter than you. Compromise anything but your core values. Seek to renew yourself even when you are hitting home runs. And everything matters."