What can chain restaurants looking to operate outside the United States learn from Starbucks’ global expansion?
A. They invest in goodwill in the communities. There is a lot of skepticism about global expansion, that American QSRs see the incredible number of people but really don’t care about those people. In China, which is where Starbucks is looking for its second-largest market outside of the United States, the company is doing really well. Chinese President Hu Jintao quipped that if he weren’t doing his job, he would want to be a regular at Starbucks. The company started investing in various social programs and because of that it got support. There was a goodwill feeling that this was about creating affordable luxury in a country where more and more people are becoming moderately affluent. Q. Certainly Starbucks has its critics. What has it done right in responding to criticism? A. They know when to fold them. When they have done something wrong, they apologize fairly swiftly and take responsibility. There have been exceptions to that. After 9/11, one store near the former World Trade Cente
