Starbucks (SBUX) and Amazon (AMZN) are two examples of innovative companies that understand customer focus, according to John Sculley, the former CEO of Apple (AAPL) and Pepsi (PEP), and the author of the business book ‘Moonshot!’ Sculley said while Starbucks had great initial success, after the founder stepped back, the company lost its focus. But with the return of Howard Schultz, the company was able to transform itself. ‘He fixed the customer experience,’ said Sculley. ‘He improved the quality of the experience in those stores, he expanded some products and he eliminated some other products. He trained the people, the baristas better.’ Sculled added, ‘it’s always about the customer experience. And it’s such a simple idea, but it’s not always the simplest things to be able to actually implement.’ Sculley also says Microsoft (MSFT) is ‘one of the most interesting public companies in the world today.’ He says most people don’t give former CEO Steve Ballmer enough credit for what he did for Microsoft on the business side, even though the company still missed out on mobile. But Sculley said Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, is quickly making decisions that Microsoft never would have made in the past, and it is ‘remarkable how rapidly Microsoft is changing.’
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