Starbucks

STARBUCKS- GOING GLOBAL FAST

Background

* Starbucks Corporation is an American global coffee companyand coffeehouse-chain based in Seattle, Washington.

* The first Starbucks opened in Seattle, Washington, on March30, 1971 by three partners that met while students atthe University of San Francisco: English teacher JerryBaldwin, history teacher Zev Siegl, and writer Gordon Bowker.

* They sold beans and coffee makers.

* Customers were encouraged to learn how to grind the beans andmake their own freshly brewed coffee at home.

* Starbucks name came from a character in classic novel MobyDick, published in 1851, which takes place in sea.

* Logo was chosen with the start of the company in the year 1971.The founders wanted the logo reflects the historical relationshipbetween coffee and sailing traders.

* In 1987, the original owners sold the Starbucks chain to formeremployee Howard Schultz and quickly began to expand.

Company Growth

* Starbucks grew from 17 coffee shops in Seattle 15 yearsago to over 20,891 outlets in 62 countries.

* including 13,279 in the United States, 1,324 in Canada, 989in Japan, 851 in China, 806 in the United Kingdom, 556 inSouth Korea, 377 in Mexico, 291 in Taiwan, 206 in thePhilippines, 171 in Thailand and 10 in India.

* The company planned to open a net of 900 new storesoutside of the United States in 2009.

* Since 1987, Starbucks has opened on average two newstores every day.

* The first store outside the United States or Canada openedin the mid-1990s, and overseas stores now constitutealmost one third of Starbucks stores.

Some Challenges Facing The Company

* Starbucks faces antiglobalization movement.-During the World Trade Organization talks in November1999, Starbucks was among the aims of protesters , asymbol, to them, of free-market capitalism.

* Dropping Sales from ($10.4 billion) in 2008to ($9.8 billion) in 2009, and dropping inprofits from $673 billion in 2007 to $582billion...