Q Our discussions so far have focused on management theories and then looked to how they are applied in the various companies – which makes them real. For this week, let's look at the powerhouse company, Starbucks. Read the Newsweek article "How Starbucks got its mojo back" in Newsweek, you can just Google it - and give your general comments, keeping in mind what we have learned over the past few weeks. I selected this article to outline how the product/service is so intertwined in marketing, brand building and brand maintenance. Many companies forget about the product once its on the market and concentrate too much on selling and marketing. Then years later they realize the customer’s preferences (VOC) have changed and the company has not kept pace with the changing market and they are out of business. eg: Polaroid, Circut City, and HQ. Even though Howard Schultz is not the face of the brand,(he is for Wall Street) he does work the magic behind the scenes and as this article describes – took drastic action to save the brand. I look forward to a lively discussion. Read on.......