"It might never be able to get [back to] the new-company, hip, cool, superfly nature of what it was in the mid- to late- '90s, but it can create a whole new cool," Smead said. "When Harvard Business School does a case study on how to revive the cachet around a branded company, they will use what Howard Schultz has done the last year and a half as a textbook." Schultz's changes include closing nearly 800 U.S. stores, dramatically scaling back growth and introducing new products like Via, Starbucks' new instant coffee. Full Article at The Seattle Times