Team Librarian Consultation

Web Resources:

Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

The company:

• Starbucks Corporation:   Public company homepages are often (but not always) an excellent source for information about the company, with links to annual reports, company news, product details, information about corporate goals and culture, company financial information, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and company history. See the Investor Relations and About Us areas on the company homepage for company information. Under About Us, see their Corporate Social Responsibility section for Organic Coffee and other products, Shade Grown Coffee, Environmental Affairs, etc. See also their press release about New Coffee Sourcing Guidelines. Starbucks' annual reports are available online. A site search for Fair Trade produced three links.

• Starbucksgossip.com:   Not every company has an unofficial blog or outside website devoted to them but Starbucks does, maintained by Jim Romenesko (who describes himself as "a veteran reporter, editor, and pioneering weblogger"). He has been employed since 1999 by the Poynter Institute, a school for "journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists."

• Yahoo! Finance:   This site is an excellent source for company and investment information. See the company profile for Starbucks and Key Statistics. See also their information for the Specialty Eateries industry.

• Wikipedia:   This free online user-created and maintained encyclopedia can be a good starting point for an orientation to a topic. See their informative entries for Starbucks, Coffee, and Fair Trade.

  The Coffee Industry:

• The International Coffee Association:   "The International Coffee Organization is an intergovernmental body whose members are coffee exporting and importing countries. It administers the International Coffee Agreement and is committed to improving conditions in the world coffee economy through international cooperation, helping price equilibrium by developing demand for coffee in emerging markets and through projects to reduce damage from pests and improve marketing and quality, enhancing coffee growers." See their information about Coffee History, a significant amount of coffee Market Data and Developing a Sustainable Coffee. See also Trade Data and their Annual Review.

• National Coffee Association of U.S.A., Inc:   "The National Coffee Association of USA was founded in 1911, one of the earliest trade associations formed in the United States and the first trade association for the U.S. coffee industry." Some of the information at this site is available only for a fee but summaries are free. See their information about Coffee Trade Statistics, and the link to Coffee Science Source.

• Specialty Coffee Association of America:   The Specialty Coffee Association of America is a non-profit trade organization comprised of retailers, roasters, roaster/retailers, producers, exporters, importers, green coffee brokers, manufacturers of coffee processing-roasting-brewing equipment and other related products. The site offers articles about coffee, information on coffee standards, etc. See their Related Organizations for cooperatives, green brokers, and Press Resources.

• National Retail Federation:   This organization is the world's largest retail trade association, including department, specialty, independent, discount and mass merchandizing corporations in the U.S. and in 50 other nations. See their monthly retail industry publication, the Retail Executive Opinion Survey. It also publishes STORES magazine, with annual listings of the Top 100 Retailers, Top 100 Specialty Stores, and Top 200 Global Retailers (the last of these is in PDF format). There is also a search engine for STORES. Starbucks was ranked #180 in the list of the Top 200 Global Retailers.

  Coffee-Related Issues:

• Business for Social Responsibility:   "Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) is a global nonprofit organization that helps companies achieve commercial success in ways that respect ethical values, people, communities and the environment. BSR provides both member and nonmember companies with advisory services, information resources and cross-sector opportunities to network, collaborate and solve challenging business issues." This site has a search engine. A search for Starbucks retrieved over 25 documents.

• Conservation International:   "Conservation International (CI) applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the hotspots, major tropical wilderness areas and key marine ecosystems. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., CI works in more than 30 countries on four continents." This site has a search engine. See their Coffee Campaign, including their Shade—Who Benefits, and their Partnership Profile for Starbucks.

• Consumer's Choice Council:   "Founded in 1997, the Consumer's Choice Council is a non-profit association of 66 environmental, consumer, and human rights organizations from 25 different countries, dedicated to protecting the environment and promoting human rights and basic labor standards through ecolabeling. Our common goal is to ensure that consumers in the U.S. and around the world have the information they need to purchase products that are produced in more environmentally sustainable and socially just ways." See their Coffee Program and their Sustainable Coffee at the Crossroads (a 193-page PDF file).

• Global Exchange:   Founded in 1988, "Global Exchange is a non-profit research, education, and action center dedicated to promoting people-to-people ties around the world." This organization is an "international human rights organization dedicated to promoting political, social and environmental justice globally." One of its major campaigns is for Fair Trade. See their Fair Trade Coffee Campaign and the Starbucks Campaign.

• Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center:   Part of the National Zoo, the "Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center focuses on clarifying the causes for declines in migratory bird populations before the situation becomes desperate." This site has a search engine. See their section on Shade Grown Coffee.

• Songbird Foundation:   "The Songbird Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that educates and motivates people to make sustainable choices to preserve migratory songbirds. One of the greatest threats to migratory songbirds is the surge in aggressive sun-grown coffee." This organization aims to raise awareness of the need to promote shadegrown coffee to protect songbirds. See the sections on the coffee Forest, Farmers, and Birds. See also their link to Seattle Audubon's Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign.

• TransFair USA:   This organization is "one of twenty members of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), and the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States." "Fair Trade Certified coffee is now the fastest-growing segment of the US specialty coffee market. TransFair USA opened its doors in late 1998 and began certifying Fair Trade coffee in 1999." See their Fact Sheets and Research Tools.

The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.
• The world almanac and book of facts.
  This one-volume reference work provides introductory information on a great variety of topics, with an index in the front of the volume.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: AY67 .N5 .W7 2006.

  See page 108 for Coffee in U.S. Exports and Imports by Principal Commodity Groupings, and page 390 for Top Brands, Ground Coffee.

• International marketing data and statistics.
  Demographic trends and forecasts, economic indicators, labor force, trade, energy, environment, consumer expenditures and market size, and retailing information for the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania; companion volume to European marketing data and statistics.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA42 .I56. 2003.

  See Coffee on page 443.

• Statistical abstract of the United States.
  Information about many industries as well as demographic information; check index for references to tables. The sources for each table are often a valuable source of additional information.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA202 .U56 2006.

  For Coffee, see tables 201 and 202 on page 135 and 136; table 708 on pages 483 and 484; table 719 on page 496; tables 813 and 815 on pages 553 and 554; and table 1294 on page 839.

• European marketing data and statistics.
  Demographic trends and forecasts, economic indicators, labor force, trade, energy, environment, consumer expenditures and market size, and retailing information for European countries.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA1107 .E87 2003.

  See Coffee Consumption on page 313, and Coffee Costs on page 328.

• Standard & Poor's industry surveys.
  This three-volume set provides 30-page profiles on 52 industries with a focus on the current economic environment, trends, regulation and outlook for each industry. Major companies in each industry are profiled, with references to sources of additional industry information.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC106.6 .S74

  See Restaurants in volume three for Starbucks; the company is also included in the Comparative Company Analysis at the end of this industry survey.

• Puget Sound Business Journal book of lists.
  This annual publication is an invaluable source of information about public and private companies in the Puget Sound area, culled from lists that appeared weekly in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Besides lists of the largest and fastest growing public and private companies in the area, this reference work includes commercial real estate deals, banks and securities firms, contractors, education and employment, health care, title companies, marketing firms, nonprofits, professional services, executive compensation, real estate, retailers, software developers, biotech and travel and recreation. There is an index to companies and topics in the back of this volume.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC108 .S77 .P83 2005.

  See Starbucks on page 34 (Mergers and Acquisitions), page 91 (Corporate Philanthropists, ranked 8th, page 130 (Largest Public Companies, ranked 10th), and page 138 (Fastest-Growing Public Companies, ranked 17th).

• The ultimate book of business brands.
  This slim paperback covers 50 companies from a brand perspective, with three to six page essays on each company.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD69 .B7 .C722 2003.

  See Starbucks on pages 180 to 182.

• Encyclopedia of emerging industries.
  Five page descriptions of over 100 new industries, with an industry snapshot, organization and structure, background and development, pioneers in the field, current conditions, industry leaders and references to further reading.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2324 .E528 1999.

  See Specialty Coffee, starting on page 639.

• Encyclopedia of global industries.
  Twelve-page descriptions of 125 global industries, with background and development information, current conditions, industry leaders and further reading.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2324 .E53 2003.

  See Coffee, Roasted on pages 394 to 403, and Restaurants on pages 937 to 949.

• International directory of company histories.
  Studying the history of leading companies in an industry is a good way to learn more about the history of an industry. This set of more than thirty volumes covers over 4,700 company histories worldwide, with each history running just two to four pages; check the company index in the latest volume to locate a specific company history or update as well as any other references to that company in other company histories. There is also an index by industry.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2721 .I57

  See Starbucks' history in volume 13, pages 493 to 494, with an update in volume 34, pages 415 to 419.

• Market share reporter.
  Annual two-volume compilation of market share data on U.S. and international companies, products and services, arranged by SIC code and with indexes by product, company and topic.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5410 .M35 2004.

  See Starbucks in volume one, in tables 702 and 703, on pages 166 and 167, and in volume two, in tables 2837 to 2839 on page 636, and in table 2867 on page 642.

• U.S. market trends & forecasts.
  This large volume provides an overview and projections for 400 significant industries and their component products or services, arranged alphabetically by industry name. For each product or service, there is a brief indication of the value of the U.S. market in 1998 and the compound U.S. market growth rate from 1993 to 1998 as well as a graph depicting market value in dollars and the growth rate. There is also a brief analysis of the market sectors for the product or service and a description of the market segmentation by volume for 1997, plus U.S. market share and market forecast information.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5415.1 .U8 2001.

  See Coffee on pages 529 to 531.

• Ad $ summary.
  This two-volume work reports paid advertising expenditures in major media categories for companies and brands in America.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5801 .A18 January-December 2001.
  

  See Starbucks in book II, on page 629.

• Red book/Standard directory of advertisers.
  This annual two-volume publication is the most comprehensive source for information on the advertising practices of 24,000 U.S. and Canadian companies spending a minimum of $200,000 on national and regional advertising.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S7 2006.

  See the Starbucks on page 1060, with annual advertising expenditures of $15 million.

• Business rankings annual.
  This annual volume provides 5,000 rankings of companies, products, services and business activities, with data culled from thousands of sources.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4050 .B88 2004.

  See Starbucks on page 160(tables 1047 and 1049); page 237 (table 1569); page 239 (table 1581); page 393 (table 2664); page 394 (table 2667); page 484 (tables 3252, 3253, and 3254); page 610(table 4106); page 613 (table 4129; page 615 and 616 (tables 4142 and 4145); and pages 662 and 663 (table 4467).

• Mergent industry review.
  Statistical data on 8,000 companies in over 130 industries, with ranking, key financial information, operating data and ratios.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4961 .M68

  See the section on Retail--Specialty Stores for Starbucks Corporation, on pages 357 to 361, in the February—July 2006 edition.

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To search for materials on all three campuses of the University of Washington, go to the UW Libraries Catalog, in the upper left corner of the Foster Business Library homepage. Search by keyword, title, author, series, etc.

To limit the results of your search just to materials in the Foster Business Library collection, use the Modify or Limit options at the top of the search results and change the library location to Foster Business Library. Availablity is indicated on the right of each online catalog record. First, note in which collection, within Foster, your materials are in, since the library has ten different Collections, each in a different location and often with differing arrangements. "Available" indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. "Due" and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated; you can have the "Request/Place Hold" feature to recall the book for your use.

If the material you want is not in the collections of the University of Washington, you can use the "Search Summit" feature to repeat your search in the combined holdings of over thirty cooperating libraries in Washington and Oregon. Use the "Request This Item" feature in Summit to have books in those library sent here to Foster for you to check out.

The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end) to Z (at the far west end).

A keyword search for Starbucks retrieved fifteen records in the UW Libraries' collections, including four records in the Foster Business Library:

• Measuring the value of partnering: how to use metrics to plan, develop, and implement successful alliances   (2004)   (See the chapter on Starbucks)
• The Brandmindset   (2000)   (Subtitle on jacket: how companies like Starbucks, Whirlpool, and Hallmark became genuine brands and other secrets of branding success)
• Pour your heart into it: how Starbucks built a company one cup at a time   (1997)

See also:

• Measuring the value of partnering   (2004)   (See chapter eleven on Starbucks)
• Dancing with the tiger: learning sustainability step by natural step   (2002)   (See chapter five on Starbucks)
• Lessons from the top: the 50 most successful business leaders in America and what you can learn from them   (2001)   (See Howard Schultz on pages 259 to 264)

A similar search, for Coffee, retrieved a list of over 1,900 records in the UW Libraries, with over 20 records in the Foster Business Library, including:

• Harvesting coffee, bargaining wages: rural labor markets in Colombia, 1975-1990.   (1999)

See also books in the UW Libraries on subjects such as:

• Business—Environmental Aspects
• Environmental Protection—Economic Aspects
• Management--Environmental Aspects
• Sustainable Development

Foster Business Library Corporate Annual Reports:

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of several thousand annual reports for hundreds of U.S. and foreign companies. These reports are filed in lateral filing cabinets near the Foster Reference desk under the sign Corporate Annual Reports. Annual reports for companies in an industry can be a valuable source of information about the industry itself. For a list of all the companies in the collection, see the library's Corporate Annual Reports Collection. For an index to corporate annual reports in the collection by industry sector, see the Annual Reports Industry Sector Index . For an index to companies in the collection with headquarters outside the U.S., see Corporate Annual Reports Headquarters Index .

The collection includes annual reports for Starbucks, back to 1993, as well as other companies in the Leisure and Food & Beverage sectors.

Foster Business Library Articles:

Articles in academic journals, magazines, trade periodicals, and newspapers are one of the best sources for any kind of research. While the Foster Business Library offers a large periodicals print collection, comprising over 800 titles, articles are most easily accessed online, 24/7, in such fulltext article databases as EBSCO Business Source Premier, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest Databases. These article databases are available in the library or from off-campus, and provide access to over 10,000 periodicals and millions of articles.

Library access to most ProQuest databases will terminate at the end of spring quarter 2008, except for ProQuest NewsStand, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Historical New York Times, and the Historical Wall Street Journal. For more about this change, see UW Libraries Providing New Databases. After this change, comprehensive article searches should be performed in EBSCO Business Source Premier, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest NewsStand. Also, after this change, links to the articles below will be broken.

• ProQuest Databases:

  This database--actually, a family of over two dozen databases--offers full text articles for over 10,000 publications, including scholarly journals, magazines, trade and industry periodicals, newspapers, and reports on a very wide range of topics. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box--or search for your topic in the Topic Guide.

  Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article.

  A company search for CO(Starbucks Corp) produced a list of over 12,000 articles, including over thirty articles in scholarly journals, over 180 articles in magazines, over 1,000 articles in trade publications, and over 8,700 articles in newspapers.

  This company search can be combined with other terms or subjects to sharpen the focus of the search, such as:

  • CO(Starbucks Corp) and SUB(Coffeehouses)   (over 1,100 articles)
  • CO(Starbucks Corp) and SUB(Coffee Industry)   (over 400 articles)
  • CO(Starbucks Corp) and Fair Trade   (over 160 articles)
  • CO(Starbucks Corp) and SUB(Statistical Data)   (over 40 articles)
  • CO(Starbucks Corp) and Sustainable   (over 35 articles)
  • CO(Starbucks Corp) and Shade Grown Coffee   (over 25 articles)

  Examples of articles, from the searches above, include:

  • "TransFair USA Certifies Over 100 Million Pounds of Fair Trade Coffee"   (Business Wire. New York: Apr 8, 2006.  pg. 1)
  • "Coffee/snacks"   (Restaurants & Institutions. Chicago: Aug 22, 2005. Vol. 115, Iss. 15;  pg. 23, 2 pgs)
  • "Exporting a North American Concept to Asia: Starbucks in China"   (Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly. Ithaca: May 2005. Vol. 46, Iss. 2;  pg. 275, 9 pgs)
  • "The dark story of poverty in your coffee cup"   (Seattle Post - Intelligencer. Seattle, Wash.: Feb 5, 2006.  pg. D.1)
  • "Starbucks Will Use Cups With 10% Recycled Paper"   (New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Nov 17, 2004.  pg. C.2)
  • "Coffee goes premium"   (Beverage Industry. New York: Jul 2003. Vol. 94, Iss. 7;  pg. 34)
  • "Aiming for a full pot"   (Beverage Industry. New York: Jan 2003. Vol. 94, Iss. 1;  pg. 12, 2 pgs)

The Foster Business Library Reference Desk is staffed nearly all of the hours that the library is open. The staff at the desk will be happy to help you find business research tools and resources, exploit business databases to the fullest or advise on research strategies. For e-mail questions, direct your query to balib@u.washington.edu. For assistance by telephone, dial (206) 543-8012 during library hours.

For research guides on a wide variety of industries, products, companies, issues and topics, see the Team Librarian Consultation archives.

• Team Consultation Course/Program Index      (Organization & Environment Assignments)      (Independent Study Assignments)
• Team Consultation Industry Index      (Retail Industry)
• Team Consultation Quarter Index
• Team Consultation Title Index
• Team Consultation and Research Guide Index