1 Introduction To determine their future plans, companies must first be able to understand not only their internal position, but also their external environment and how this impacts their potential growth. This document aims to discuss the impacts that the external environment has on Starbucks, a world-renowned coffee shop chain, and provide holistic recommendations to take advantage of the opportunities presented and mitigate any serious threats to their core operations.1.1 StarbucksStarbucks began the its humble beginning in a small shop across from Pike Place Market in Seattle, (http://www.starbucks.com.sg/our-heritage.html). The company prided itself on roasting high-quality whole bean coffee and producing some of the best coffee in the neighborhood. Today, more than forty years later, Starbucks has become one of the world's leading coffee shop chains with more than 18,000 stores in 62 countries. providing the Starbuck experience to its customers. As stated in Starbuck's mission statement, "Our mission: To inspire and cultivate the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time." (http://www.starbucks.com.sg/mission-statement.html). This statement shows that Starbucks is not only creating a business based on its products and services, but also aims to build a closer bond with its customers through a “person-to-person” approach. Through Starbucks' experience with customers, it allows them to attract and maintain the loyalty of their customers without extensive marketing, instead relying on their customers to attract more customers. In order to reach the paper middle, it has further diversified its business with several other mediums in the consumer goods sector such as Tazo Tea Company, Evolution Fresh which produces a range of fruit juices and smoothies and ethical water, bottled water. It should consider further diversifying its business into the hotel and air travel sectors. Tourism has been one of the fastest growing economic sectors and is closely linked to the development of new destinations. With the high demand for air travel and increasing customer load on airlines and hotels, Starbucks can start a journey of supplying premium coffee and other relevant products to airlines for on-board services or to hotels for their daily use during meal services and other ad hoc basis. They also have a research and development team to create coffee machines and products aimed specifically at airlines and hotels.