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Culture and Starbucks

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Culture and Starbucks
Starbucks' Expansion

Starbucks' global corporate goal is to become the leasing coffee seller and brand in each of its expansion targets. They aim to do this through their finest quality coffee and other products, and by means of their high-quality customer service. Right now, Starbucks is known around the world but its expansion plans are still not finished. The company seems to be invincible and promising in the coffee industry right now as it already has 6,000 outlets in 28 countries with 1,200 of them are internationally situated. Starbucks' expansion dreams as it is currently known in three continents have come true. The success of the company in China is an exemplary example of how a Western company can triumph over cultural obstacles especially in the Eastern/Oriental part of the world. While China never even recognized a "coffee culture" a few years ago, now, they even acquired the "Starbucks culture". This coffee shop, which causes cultural concerns in Italy because of threatening to change the Italians' lifestyle of drinking coffee while walking in the streets or relaxing, has been successful in its endeavors to globalize its products.

True, the company experienced several downturns because of cultural issues but it triumphantly gained a name for itself in the global market, especially in China. How did Starbucks able to comeback from its failure? Why did they fail in the first place? How important is it to understand cultures of other countries in globalization? These, we shall answer in the course of this paper. What follows is an enumeration of the cultural barriers that Starbucks encountered in its expansion in China.

The Problem

The reasons behind most corporations' expansion and globalization are strategic growth and profits. Starbucks is not exempted from this fact. However, Starbucks was in a moment taken aback by the consequences of globalization. Patriotism and differences in culture and heritage which may affect the quality and
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