Starbucks is a successful company that is treated by many as a symbol of America. Its main feature is its policy that has become particularly aggressive recently and its main goal is expansion that has already overcome national borders and has acquired an international character. However, before discussing its goal and directions of expansion it should be said a few words about the current situation of the company in general.
At this respect it is noteworthy that Starbucks currently has more than 6,400 stores throughout the world, among which only 1,300 in 30 countries outside North America. Furthermore the company demonstrates a constant trend to growth, notably its second-quarter profit rose 27,4% to 100,5 million dollars, or 24 cents a share. Sales meantime grew 22.4% to 1,5 billion dollars as the company continued to open more stores and received a bump from a recent beverage price increase. Starbuck expected to earn 1,17 to 1,19 dollar a share for the fiscal year.
In such a situation it is obvious that the company co9uld hardly achieve such results without its aggressive policy of expansion. In fact the company gradually evolved from a regional to national and nowadays it is on its way to become one of the worldwide known brands. The Starbucks’ expansion is currently particularly obvious in the international market. Nowadays the company plans to be widely presented throughout the world and operate in different countries of the world while North American countries were its main market. To put it more precisely the company plans to have 25,000 stores, at least ten of them in North America that is particularly contrasting to the quantity of stores in North America and other countries mentioned above. In such a way the strategic plan of Starbucks is to enter new markets. Among them particularly important is the market of Europe the Middle East and Africa, where the company plans to have 7,500 stores, as well as the market of the Asia-Pacific region where the number of stores is supposed to be about 6000, and naturally Latin America where the company plans to have 1,500 stores.
Speaking about the ways of expansion Starbucks uses, it should be said that its international strategy - where it forms joint ventures of licences other companies to own and operate Starbucks stores – significantly differs from its domestic strategy, where the stores are largely company-owned. The reason for such differences is the idea that an experienced local partner can help identify locations, sift through tax issues and give Starbucks stores more community appeal.
Thus, it is evident that being a leader in national terms Starbucks looks for new ways of expansion in terms of international, global market and the strategy the company uses seems to be quite effective but at the same time it is necessary to remember about the risk the company may face because of such aggressive policy of expansion. As the example of McDonalds reveals the company risks to face number of protests which are not directly related to the company or its policy but that is the protest against the policy of the US which such companies as Starbucks, due to their worldwide expansion, represent.