The Sonance Behind My Silence

     Starbucks Corporation, doing business as Starbucks Coffee, is an American global coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 23,187 stores in 64 countries. Their products are: roasted and handcrafted high-quality, premium priced coffees, tea, fresh food items and other beverages. They also sell coffee and tea products and license their trademarks through channels such as licensed stores, groceries etc.      Starbucks primarily operates and competes in the retail coffee and snacks store industry. The core competence of Starbucks has been its ability to effectively leverage its cornerstone product differentiation strategies by offering a premium product mix of high quality beverages and snacks. Their brand equity is built on selling the finest quality coffee and related products, and by giving each customer a unique “Starbucks Experience”, which is supreme cust...

     I woke up with a start. Outside, the night had still not lifted its dark veil yet, the birds had not started chirping yet, and I lay wide awake in my bed. It is often said that when you have your mind set on achieving something, day and night that’s the only thing you can think of. It doesn’t let you sleep, doesn’t let you waste a single moment of your time frolicking around, and makes you feel guilty if you do something that isn’t in line with this goal of yours. And what follows your relentless efforts is something we all know as ‘success’.      Now, the dictionary meaning of ‘success’ is ‘the accomplishment of an aim or purpose’, ‘the attainment of fame,   wealth , or social status’ and a lot of other tautologies. But in fact, it originated in the mid-16th century : from the Latin word   successus , from the verb   succedere  which means 'come close after'. So, success is more or less, an outcome. That means, whether y...

     My friends know about my love for consumer psychology, and I believe that's one  prerequisite  for the profession I'm in - marketing. I'm a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell and Martin Lindstrom, and aspire to be a consumer psychology expert myself. Speaking of experts, Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Mumbai offers a genius in the form of a professor - Prof. Victor Manickam. His methods may seem crazy to you for a professor at first, but he grows on you slowly, and ultimately bowls you out with his perfect guess (?) about your personality. And he doesn't need to know you well for that. One input from you and boom! He knows you.      So here I am with the learnings from his consumer buying behaviour lectures, which may seem disconnected and impossible for you, especially if you consider the fact that it was a marketing class. But nevertheless, I've given it a try!      The lect...