Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed from the Grounds of Starbucks Corporate Culture (Hardcover)

by John Moore (Author)
Key Phrases: tribal truth, marketing authentic, coffee category, Leading Questions, Howard Schultz, Hear Music (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Starbucks is more than a coffee shop... it's every marketer's favorite example. John Moore brews up a bookful of great marketing ideas, extra caffeine."

—Seth Godin, Author of Purple Cow

“Brimming with oodles of particulars that only a longtime insider could supply, Tribal Knowledge is an immersive account of how Starbucks changed the world—not by discovering the potion to magic branding dust—but by passionately focusing on the smallest of details of the customer experience.”
—Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, authors of Creating Customer Evangelists

Product Description
Without question, Starbucks Coffee is one of the greatest business success stories of the past decade.  Since going public in 1992, it has grown yearly revenues to more than $6.5 billion, achieved a stock price increase of more than 6,500%, and opened over 11,000 locations worldwide. 

 

But for a company that has accomplished so much, outsiders really know very little about the Starbucks secrets to success.  That’s because much of the company’s sage advice and weathered truisms exist solely in the hearts and minds of longtime Starbucks employees.

 

This so-called “tribal knowledge” includes pithy quotes uttered by Starbucks executives, mantras used by Starbucks project groups, learnings from failed pilot programs, and “ah-ha” moments from successful projects.  It’s company stories passed down from one generation of employees to the next.   It’s intense.  It’s poignant.  It’s thought provoking.  It’s actionable.  It’s a language of Starbucks “tribal knowledge” that has never been written – only spoken – and only within the Starbucks tribe.

 

Until now.

 

In Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed from the Grounds of Starbucks Corporate Culture, longtime Starbucks marketer John Moore shares untold, behind-the-scenes stories of the processes, the programs, and the products that have made Starbucks a remarkable business success, including:

 

·        Why Starbucks was purpose driven to make a difference in the world.

·        How Starbucks goes beyond simply having a mission statement to living its mission statement.

·        How the Starbucks principled, innovative, and cause-related approach to marketing built an endearing and enduring brand.

·        Why efforts to extend the Starbucks brand into lifestyle offerings such as a literary magazine and full-service restaurants failed.

·       How the Starbucks approach to employee career growth has created a passionate workforce.

·        How to apply the Starbucks “tribal knowledge” to your business, entrepreneurial venture, or project group.

 

Tribal Knowledge gives you unprecedented access to the many business lessons that helped Starbucks find prosperity by selling a commodity – all from a marketer who lived inside the Starbucks tribe.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Business (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419520016
• ISBN-13: 978-1419520013
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #259,563 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caffine Infusion For Your Career!, May 13, 2007

By	Thom Singer "Author of The ABC's of Networking" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have known John Moore personally for about six months. Before that I was an avid reader of his "Brand Autopsy Blog". I just finished reading his book, Tribal Knowledge, and found it to be a book worth reading. It is broken up into 47 short and digestable chapters (called "Tribal Truths"), each one disecting the internal workings of Starbucks.

Himself a vetran of Starbuck's marketing department, Moore share his behind the curtain insights as well as the points of views of current and former company executives.

I read the book over the course of a week, most of the reading actually while sitting in a Starbucks. It was interesting to uncover corporate attitudes attitudes while watching the employees live these "tribal truths" at the same time.

Moore is a marketing guru and a good writer, and has a lot to share with his readers. I reccommend this book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insights for Small Business Owners, February 24, 2007

By	Jay Ehret "The Marketing Guy" (Waco, Texas) - See all my reviews

John Moore had a back stage seat at Starbucks. He didn't just see the production, he was a stagehand. He gives amazing insight into not just how Starbucks became the first name in coffee, but also why it became so robust.

Get pad and pen in hand and get ready write. This book is especially valuable to business owners because it induces many "aha" moments. Ideas you will want to implement in your business flow from the pages.

Reading John Moore's golden little book of Starbucks Tribal Knowledge is not a 'how-to' marketing book; it's more 'how-come.' Divided into three sections: Branding, Customer Experience, and the Workplace, Tribal Knowledge zooms through short, concise and easy-to-read chapters. You learn how come Starbucks always executed promotions successfully by using a brand checkbook. You learn how Starbucks tapped into people's wants, and not their needs. You learn how come Starbucks always seems to have the type of employees you wish you could hire at your business.

At the end of the book, Moore asserts that profit is a by-product and happens as a direct result of doing things right. For business owners, profit will be a by-product of reading this book and then integrating some of the tribal traditions John Moore has gleaned from his years at Starbucks.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wake up and smell the coffee, January 1, 2007

By	Michael P. Maslanka (dallas, texas United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The keys to how Starbucks got from one site in Seattle to 11,000(with 5 new ones opening a day) is set out in 46 Tribal Knowledge chapters--- each of which is short, to the point, and with a take home point: don't create brand and work backword, just work hard and the brand will come; eschew advertising and embrace a passion that breds the ever elusive but very real buzz; don't stint on quality and don't underprice if you have quaility. Some of the advice may not be transferable to others but the story is interesting and, unlike a lot of business books, Moore writes clearly and packs it into just 238 pages.