Good article from the New York Times.
Summary
Starbucks China is losing customers at a very rapid pace. Starbucks corporate executives are angry. Brian Niccol, the new $100 million CEO of Starbucks, sounded the alarm in October, calling the competition “extreme”. For the Chinese Lunar year, Starbucks released a pork flavor latte. It cost more than $9 and was widely seen as a disaster.
Billionaire Howard Schultz, Starbucks’s former CEO, insisted that Starbucks would not enter a price war in China. He claimed “as chinese customers become more knowledgeable about coffee, they will want to upgrade from lower-end or discounted products”
Exactly what I was thinking. Why should I give a shit that Starbucks is failing in China? I didn’t even know they were in China.
Yeah this more an Uplifting News article, but I guess people who still shop at (nonunion) Starbucks should know it.
Because it represents the tipping point where America lost its dominance. Starbucks doesn’t sell coffee but an affordable access to experiencing the American way of life.
If Starbucks loses its appeal it means that people stop looking up to America. Students won’t dream of becoming a scientist in America, business men won’t long for participating in the American economy, consumers don’t care about buying American products for being American.
All American products from now on have to compete on quality and service. This changes the value of the products and the value of the work that American workers deliver.