1 2 Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Changing Environments MGT/411 July 26, 2017 Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Changing Environments In 1971 at Seattle’s Pike Place Markets, it is when Starbucks started operations with the future objective of supplying coffee to various surrounding bars and restaurants. Following the hiring of Howard Schultz in 1982, Starbucks changed Schultz opinions taking a different turn in the company. The present international condition for Starbucks looks like an emerging business part as well as the reorganization of this is confirmed through their endeavor to be the leading worldwide company by making difference in lives of people all over the world. This seems to be working in the company’s favor, and is assisting Starbucks to catch the attention of several main companies who wish to share partnership. This is entirely positive news since it gives a strong foundation for future growth of global markets, which strengthens more the mission to be one of the principal specialty coffee retailers worldwide (Kembell, Hawks, Perry, Olsen, April 2002). The Organizational Leadership Philosophy on Innovation Starbucks got several leadership characteristics on how they view innovation. Openness is one characteristic that Starbucks coffee adheres to. At first, workers had a fear culture whereby they feared talking to their superiors. In order to tackle this problem, the former president of Starbucks Behar, initiated open forums to encourage staffs to query as well as communicate with their superiors. Through this, openness culture was developed which empowers Starbucks employees and smooth the progress of innovation (Ferguson, January 31, 2017). Additionally, there is collaboration and communication within the company. The Starbucks organizational culture endorses collaborative attempts by use of effective communication. In the cafes, baristas evidently communicate with one another to meet orders. In addition, they cooperate with each other to make the order completion process efficient. Therefore, leadership at Starbucks encourages business process efficiency, which leads to top quality service, business cost-effectiveness, and customer experience (Ferguson, January 31, 2017). Finally, Starbucks got an anti-discrimination procedure which shapes the company’s culture. The policy forbids any kind of discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, cultural backgrounds, thoughts and ideas, and life experiences. By the observation of this aspect, Starbucks assists rapport and sharing among its workers, and innovation based on different ideas. This feature of the company also makes Starbucks customers feel welcome at the cafes (Ferguson, January 31, 2017). Activities the Organization is Actively Engaged in to Sustain Competitive Advantage Within Its Industry One of the activities that Starbucks engage in to ensure they remain competitive in this industry is product innovation. At all ...

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Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Changing Environments
MGT/411
July 26, 2017
Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Changing Environments
In 1971 at Seattle’s Pike Place Markets, it is when Starbucks
started operations with the future objective of supplying coffee
to various surrounding bars and restaurants. Following the
hiring of Howard Schultz in 1982, Starbucks changed Schultz
opinions taking a different turn in the company. The present
international condition for Starbucks looks like an emerging
business part as well as the reorganization of this is confirmed
through their endeavor to be the leading worldwide company by
making difference in lives of people all over the world. This
seems to be working in the company’s favor, and is assisting
Starbucks to catch the attention of several main companies who
wish to share partnership. This is entirely positive news since it
gives a strong foundation for future growth of global markets,
which strengthens more the mission to be one of the principal
specialty coffee retailers worldwide (Kembell, Hawks, Perry,
Olsen, April 2002).
The Organizational Leadership Philosophy on Innovation
Starbucks got several leadership characteristics on how they
view innovation. Openness is one characteristic that Starbucks
coffee adheres to. At first, workers had a fear culture whereby
they feared talking to their superiors. In order to tackle this
problem, the former president of Starbucks Behar, initiated

2. open forums to encourage staffs to query as well as
communicate with their superiors. Through this, openness
culture was developed which empowers Starbucks employees
and smooth the progress of innovation (Ferguson, January 31,
2017).
Additionally, there is collaboration and communication within
the company. The Starbucks organizational culture endorses
collaborative attempts by use of effective communication. In the
cafes, baristas evidently communicate with one another to meet
orders. In addition, they cooperate with each other to make the
order completion process efficient. Therefore, leadership at
Starbucks encourages business process efficiency, which leads
to top quality service, business cost-effectiveness, and customer
experience (Ferguson, January 31, 2017).
Finally, Starbucks got an anti-discrimination procedure which
shapes the company’s culture. The policy forbids any kind of
discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual
orientation, cultural backgrounds, thoughts and ideas, and life
experiences. By the observation of this aspect, Starbucks assists
rapport and sharing among its workers, and innovation based on
different ideas. This feature of the company also makes
Starbucks customers feel welcome at the cafes (Ferguson,
January 31, 2017).
Activities the Organization is Actively Engaged in to Sustain
Competitive Advantage Within Its Industry
One of the activities that Starbucks engage in to ensure they
remain competitive in this industry is product innovation. At all
times, Starbucks has managed to maintain its competitive
advantage through being the principal in innovation of product.
The most recently relaunched product is pumpkin spice latter
which is now one among the seasonal preferred at Starbucks. As
indicated by Sense360, after the launch of this product, there
were over 150,000 incremental visits within the first two days.
This saw Starbucks national QSR market rise by about 6.96%

3. (Trefis Team, October 13, 2016).
Another activity that Starbucks engage in to stay in a
competitive edge in the market is capitalizing on changing
preferences of consumers meaning, Starbucks is flexible
managing it to maintain its popularity over time. The company
has been open to adjusting the changing preferences and tastes
of consumers. The fact that Starbucks is flexible has enabled it
to flourish in the difficult and mainly tea-drinking China
markets. Hence, the start of stocking almond milk in its stores,
plus also other non-dairy options like soy milk and coconut
milk (Trefis Team, October 13, 2016).
R&D Initiatives the Organization is Involved in for Long-term
Competitive Advantage
Instead of engaging in fundamental science, Starbucks has
engaged itself in applied science in a tiny though vital section,
which has provided basement for the company and the
capability to engineer its products. The ‘Know How’ has
allowed the formulation of fresh products, their improvement,
and contributed to quality reputation of Starbucks. An example
that is well demonstrated is that Starbucks research into the
capability to get instant drinks of high quality, according to
freeze-dry technology which had been used in procedures of
blood testing in the past (Corporate Innovation Online, n.d.).
Additionally, Starbucks has various types of technology
involving innovation interest for example innovation interest in
research. In 1982, Schultz started to get to learn all concerning
coffee. In 1993, Starbucks founded an R&D facility, known as
tiny, though possibly exceptional initiative under the retail
business of coffee. In the fiscal 2009, 2008, and 2007 Starbucks
spent about $6.5 million, $7.2 million and $7 million
correspondingly, on technical research as well as development
processes. This is including the customary product testing as
well as process or product improvement in all sections of its
business. By that, it can be said that Starbuck shows a long-term
interest in R&D. Another form of technology is that the

4. company stated its wishes to become the coffee authority,
referring to that the company needs to have, always, an
unambiguous and detailed information, on the entire coffee
supply chain (Corporate Innovation Online, n.d.).
References
Corporate Innovation Online. (n.d.). Starbucks Corporation.
Short Profile of Innovation in the Corporate World Retail
Industry – Global Market. Retrieved from
http://www.corporateinnovationonline.com/wordpress/wp-
content/uploads/2011/05/starbucks.pdf
Ferguson, E. (January 31, 2017). Starbucks Coffee Company’s
Organizational Culture. Panmore Institute. Retrieved from
http://panmore.com/starbucks-coffee-company-organizational-
culture
Kembell, B., Hawks, M., Kembell, S., Perry, L., & Olsen, L.
(April, 2002). Catching the Starbucks Fever. Academic Mind.
Retrieved from
https://www.academicmind.com/unpublishedpapers/business/ma
rketing/2002-04-000aag-catching-the-starbucks-fever.html
Trefis Team. (October 13, 2016). Starbucks is maintaining its
Competitive Edge. Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/10/13/how
-is-starbucks-maintaining-its-competitive-edge/#6aa4bb64759c
Title
[Your Name]

5. [Due date for assignment]
2
Title: [title for guidance document #1]
Tool Identification: [official name of the tool]
Description of the Tool:
[Identify capabilities, features, publisher]
Typical Uses for Incident Response:
[identify phases or circumstances when used, identify and
describe specific uses, expected benefits or impacts]
Resources (Further Reading):
1.
2.
3.
How to Use This Tool:
[summarize procedures, do not give step-by-step instructions]
Notes / Warnings / Restrictions:
[is there anything else the incident responder needs to be aware
of when using this tool?]
Title: [title for guidance document #2]
Tool Identification: [official name of the tool]
Description of the Tool:
[Identify capabilities, features, publisher]
Typical Uses for Incident Response:
[identify phases or circumstances when used, identify and

6. describe specific uses, expected benefits or impacts]
Resources (Further Reading):
1.
2.
3.
How to Use This Tool:
[summarize procedures, do not give step-by-step instructions]
Notes / Warnings / Restrictions:
[is there anything else the incident responder needs to be aware
of when using this tool?]
1
CSIA 310: Cybersecurity Processes & TechnologiesLab Activity
#3: Investigate System Backup and Restore ToolsPurpose:
Assess and Document Tools to Backup and Restore the System
Hard Drive for a Windows 8.1 Workstation.
1. Assess and document the use of a system backup tool or disk
imaging utility to create a “known-good” copy of the system
hard drive for a Windows 8.1 Workstation.
2. Assess and document the use of “known-good” copies of
system hard drives to restore system availability after an
incident.Overview:
For this activity, we will focus upon assessing and documenting
tools which are used in the preparation phase and in the
containment, eradication, and recovery phase of the Incident
Response Process (as defined in NIST SP 800-61r2). These
tools will support incident responders by providing “access to

7. images of clean OS and application installations for restoration
and recovery purposes" (Cichonski, Millar, Grance, & Scarfone,
2012, p. 23). Situation Report:
Recent contracts with the Departments of Defense and
Homeland Security have imposed additional security
requirements upon the company and its SCADA lab operations.
The company is now required to comply with NIST Special
Publication 800-171 Protecting Controlled Unclassified
Information in Nonfederal Information Systems and
Organizations. The company must also comply with provisions
of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations (DFARS)
including section 252-204-7012 Safeguarding Covered Defense
Information and Cyber Incident Reporting. These requirements
are designed to ensure that sensitive technical information,
provided by the federal government and stored on computer
systems in the Sifers-Grayson SCADA lab, is protected from
unauthorized disclosure. This information includes software
designs and source code for Industrial Control Systems for
which Sifers-Grayson is providing software support and
maintenance. The contract requirements also mandate that
Sifers-Grayson report cyber incidents to the federal government
in a timely manner.
The engineering and design workstations in the Sifers-Grayson
SCADA Lab were upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 8.1
professional three years ago after the lab was hit with a
ransomware attack that exploited several Windows XP
vulnerabilities. A second successful ransomware attack occurred
three months ago. The company paid the ransom in both cases
because the lab did not have file backups that it could use to
recover the damaged files (in the first case) and did not have
system backups that it could use to rebuild the system hard
drives (in the second case).
The SCADA Lab is locked into using Windows 8.1. The planned
transition to Windows 10 is on indefinite hold due to technical
problems encountered during previous attempts to modify
required software applications to work under the new version of

8. the operating system. This means that an incident response and
recovery capability for the lab must support the Windows 8.1
operating system and the related engineering software
applications. But, the customer’s technical representatives have
strongly suggested that Sifers-Grayson personnel use backup
utilities that are not specific to the Windows 8.1 operating
system.
Reference
Cichonski, P., Millar, T., Grance, T., & Scarfone, K. (2012).
Computer security incident handling guide (NIST SP 800-62
rev. 2). http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-61r2Your Task
Prepare draft incident response guidance to be included in the
Sifers-Grayson Incident Responder’s Handbook. Your draft
guidance will explain the use of a commercially available
system hard drive backup tool. Your guidance will explain how
to use your selected third-party tool to create either a system
backup or a system image (bit for bit copy) of the system hard
drive for a Windows 8.1 workstation. Suggested tools include:
Acronis, FTK Imager, and Paladin.
You will create two separate procedures. The first will explain
how to perform a backup. The second will explain how to use
the known-good backup to restore the system hard drive (also,
how to restore to a new hard drive). Both procedures must
address the use of cryptographic hash codes (e.g. MD5 or SHA-
256) to verify the integrity of the backup files and/or system
image files. Instructions
Part (a): Creating a “Known-Good” (Clean) Disk Image for a
Windows 8.1 Workstation
1. Using the Internet, research commercially available system
backup tool or application. (Do not use any features or utilities
that are part of the Windows operating system.) Then, identify
appropriate sources of information and instructions for your
selected tool. Using those sources, research the procedures
required to
a. Create a “known good” copy (system backup or complete

9. system image) of the hard drive containing the Windows 8.1
system and installed applications for a workstation in the
SCADA lab.
b. Generate a hash code for use in verifying the validity and
integrity of the backup file or system image file. (If your
backup utility does not provide this, you will need to find a
separate tool that will generate an MD-5 or SHA-256 hash value
for the image file or backup file. See
https://www.howtogeek.com/67241/htg-explains-what-are-md5-
sha-1-hashes-and-how-do-i-check-them/ for an explanation of
file integrity checking using hash codes.)
c. You should also research and document best practices for
labeling and storing the digital media containing the backup
files and/or system image files. The storage location should
provide secure storage yet be readily available to incident
responders in the event of an incident. The label or storage log
should include the hash value for each backup file and system
image file.
2. Identify how the backup tool could be used during the
preparation phase of the incident response and recovery process.
Typical uses include:
a. Create a “known good” backup that contains a complete,
verified and approved system configuration that includes the
operating system and all required application software.
b. Create a copy of the original operating system installation
(before software applications are installed).
3. Write a guidance document that identifies the tool, explains
the capabilities it provides, and then lists and briefly describes
the recommended uses identified under item #2. Add a list of
resources that can be consulted for additional information.
Next, summarize the procedures required to perform the tasks
listed under item #1 (do not provide step-by-step instructions).
Close your guidance document with a Notes / Warnings /
Restrictions section that answers the question “Is there anything
else the incident responder needs to be aware of when using this
tool?”

10. Part (b): Using a “Known-Good” (Clean) Disk Image to Restore
the System Hard Drive for a Windows 8.1 Workstation
1. Use the same tool and tool research as performed for part (a)
of this lab. If necessary, identify additional sources of
information and instructions for using your selected tool(s) to
perform the following tasks:
a. Verify the validity of the backup image or file (using the hash
code).
b. Use the “known good” copy (system backup or system image)
to rebuild a workstation hard drive so that it contains the
Windows 8.1 operation system and installed applications.
2. Identify how the tool could be used during the containment,
eradication & recovery phase of the incident response and
recovery process. Typical uses include:
a. Restore workstation hard drives to a “known good”
configuration.
b. Build a new system disk using a replacement or newly
purchased hard drive.
c. Restore the system to full operating status after an attack or
suspected attack.
3. Write a guidance document that identifies the tool, explains
the capabilities it provides, and then lists and briefly describes
the recommended uses identified under item #2. Add a list of
resources that can be consulted for additional information.
Next, summarize the procedures required to perform the tasks
listed under item #1 (do not provide step-by-step instructions).
Close your guidance document with a Notes / Warnings /
Restrictions section that answers the question “Is there anything
else the incident responder needs to be aware of when using this
tool?”
Finalize Your Deliverable
1. Using the grading rubric as a guide, refine your incident
response guidance. Your final products should be suitable for

11. inclusion in the organization’s Incident Responder’s Handbook.
. Remember that you are preparing multiple guidance
documents, which must be presented separately.
2. As appropriate, cite your sources using footnotes or another
appropriate citation style.
3. Use the resources section to provide information about
recommended readings and any sources that you cite. Use a
standard bibliographic format (you may wish to use APA since
this is required in other CSIA courses). Information about
sources and recommended readings, including in-text citations,
should be formatted consistently and professionally.
4. Your submission file for this assignment should start with a
title page which lists the following information:
· Lab Title and Number
· Date
· Your Name
5. The CSIA 310 Template for Lab Deliverable.docx file is set
up to provide the required title page and two incident response
guidance templates. Use the first template for your “How to
Backup” guidance. Use the second procedure template for your
“How to Restore” guidance.
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