Starbucks is everywhere except...

by Chee Leng
(Singapore)

Starbucks is big. In the whole world, there are more than 10 000 stores, they have about 100 000 and more full time workers.

And it is worth more than $20 billion in terms of market capitalization. So, given the size of this company, one would think that they are everywhere right?

Heck, even in so different culture such as Japan and China, they have their presence, but they are not in one particular place -the home town of espresso -Italy!

This is pretty weird, considering that if Italians drink so much coffee, wouldn't it make sense to have some outlets there to make more money.

This has to do with numerous factors, one of which is image. The way Italians drink coffee is vastly different from how we drink (we being influenced by the US) does what is known as the fast food way of drinking coffee.

The Italians like to drink their coffee slow, in fact, they do not even have take-away! Coffee is to be drunk inside a cafe.

So, if Starbucks goes in. If they succeed, they would make a few more millions. But, if they failed, their image as a gourmet coffee shop chain would be threatened.

Guess, this is why they have not make an entry into this market. They might ultimately...who knows...