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Control Mechanism

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Control Mechanisms and the Starbucks Corporation The purpose of this paper is to identify four types of control mechanisms, feed-forward, concurrent, feedback, and financial, and their application in the Starbuck Corporation. The control mechanisms are compared and contrasted along with determining the effectiveness of these control mechanisms, and examining the positive and negative reactions. Finally, students will explain how these controls affect the four functions of management.
Control Mechanisms
Every business needs to have controls in place to remain competitive and survive in business. Without controls, the company would operate in chaos for a short period before the business collapses. When operating a business, a …show more content…

The information gained from concurrent controls enables Starbucks to keep a pulse on the heart of their business. Today, Starbucks is second only to Caribou in market capitalization (Yahoo, 2010).
Feedback control happens after every event and helps Starbucks stay within acceptable standards. Starbucks takes pride in their ability to use feedback to be creative, innovative, and responsive to their stakeholders. For example, management noticed the need for health benefits in the late 1980s for their employees. Feedback also brought the introduction of Wi-Fi, which helped make their coffee shops a community gathering place. Most recently, Starbucks revamped its food offerings to items made without artificial flavors, trans-fats, dyes, and high-fructose corn syrup (Starbucks, 2010). The effectiveness of Starbucks feedback controls allows them to try new ways of doing business and helps secure their success.
Financial controls have been another key component to Starbucks’ success. They monitor the individual cash flow from each store all the way up to the CFOs of Starbucks. Store managers can determine the stores needs based on proper information from the financial controls. An effective illustration of this is Starbucks’ more than 550 specialty cafes and kiosks in North America (Starbucks, 2010). The kiosks serve freshly brewed coffee to the public and provide instant

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