Starbucks Forbidden City

Case study n°3: Starbucks in the Forbidden City.

Starbucks in Forbidden City

The question about Starbucks shop in Forbidden City is a fiercely debated subject in China. Behind the walls of cultural monuments and sites, the apparition of multinationals points of sale can be perceived as an attack on culture and pride of a people. Rui Chenggang's blog was followed frequently and focused the opposition to Starbucks' expansion across China.

Everybody knows Starbucks nowadays. Under its real name, Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spice was founded in Seattle in 1971 by three friends sharing passion for coffee. Ten years later, with four stores, Schultz, the Director of Retail Operations and Marketing, went on a trip to Italia where he experienced the culture of Italian Café. However, because of the strong opposition of Starbucks' founders to create a place outside home market, Schultz left the company and created in 1985 a chain of cafés in Seattle. Two years later, thanks to a group of investors, he acquired Starbucks and became the CEO and president of the company. After that, Starbucks experienced a period of great expansion throughout the USA and around the world, continuing to expand during the next decades until the success we know today. The company opened its first shop in China in 1999, in Beijing. In 2007, Starbucks had about 250 outlet in the biggest Chinese cities which became potentially the most important market after the USA. With this in mind, they wanted to be perceived as a different kind of company" in China.

Jim Donald, former president of Starbucks' North America is known as a turnaround champion. Thanks to the record of financial performance of its division, he was promoted to president position of the whole group in 2005. Rui Chenggang was the director and anchor of BizChina, the prime-time daily business show on CCTV, a news-oriented international television channel. When they last met face to face in Yale CEO Summit, Donald did not answer to...