Globally, there are issues.: The Globalization of Starbucks

Globalization

Starbucks

Starbucks is an American global coffee company that is based Seattle, WA. It is the largest coffeehouse company in the world. The coffee and other products sold by Starbucks are consumed all over the world; in 63 countries with around 20,737 stores worldwide. The company was pretty popular in Seattle when it began in 1971 and eventually spread to the world powerhouse that it is. The marketing strategy of Starbucks that had led to this explosion throughout the world is that of making sure Starbucks is an experience worth the money and also by building brand recognition and loyalty. At one point in the development of Starbucks, on average, new stores were being opened every day. The first store to open outside of North America was in Tokyo, Japan. This then led to the company entering into the UK market. The globalization of Starbucks brought a few things to the world. The whole world was given the idea of a "coffee experience," not just the purchase of a cup of coffee. This created an explosion of similar coffee chains who have tried to recreate the idea of purchasing the experience and the coffee. Another aid in the spread and popularity of Starbucks is that their Globalization teams change the look and feel of each store for the cultural setting they are in.

In China a company called Shanghai XingBake Cafe Corp Ltd, a start-up company that wanted to cash in on the Starbucks frenzy, was sued by Starbucks for using the same name that Starbucks' Chinese name is, XingBake. The trademark dispute ended when a Chinese court ruled in Starbucks' favor. Starbucks had a similar dispute with companies in Ethiopia.

Starbucks has a goal, found on their website, to have all of their coffee ethically sourced by 2015. They work with programs such as C.A.F.E (Coffee and Farmer Equity) and Conservation International to ensure that most of their coffee is procured with social, economic, and environmental standards. Starbucks buys their coffee beans from around 300,000 different growers. Starbucks bought a farm in Costa Rica, where they have coffee farming education centers and have urged their farmers to use safe standards like C.A.F.E.