One of the most brilliant business strategies ever conceived is that of Starbucks. When former president, Howard Schultz, was fired and then brought back, he introduced the concept of Starbucks Rewards. That concept is now being used by companies like Facebook and Google. Essentially, the Starbucks Rewards made Starbucks a bank. The Starbucks Rewards card holds money that customers haven’t spent and Starbucks is free to use it anyway they want. Google and Facebook want to duplicate that same ecosystem. They want people to put their money in their company and keep it there.
