The critical HR issues with Starbuck’s international goals is whether or not the foreign countries where this US based company will be operating are in line with the standard of employee treatment that is acceptable and pioneered in the US. The CEO of Starbucks was voted the top CEO in the US in 2011 I imagine in large part because Starbucks has a reputation of going over and above in treating it’s employees. Such is the premise of a book written by an employee “How Starbucks Saved My Life.”
The five important HR questions before going into a country to be asked I see as follows:
- What are the laws and HR standards of a given country and how to they differ from those of the US.
- Are law in the given country structured in a way that their sales structure will give Starbucks a legal precedence for imposing it’s US standards on the selected country.
- What are the health care policies in the given country? Some countries have a nationalized health care which might alleviate the need for employees to opt in for a company plan.
- Will the given country still have the same structure in order for employees to have the same vacation plans?
- How will Starbucks CO assure that their partners they have chosen do not engage in mistreatment of their employees?
I think that Guatemala would be a great place to open a Starbucks. It is already known as coffee country and I was surprised when I researched it to find out that Guatemala does not have a single Starbucks! This is very ironic since much of the coffee that Starbucks serves comes from Guatemala. Obviously, it would not work as well in the smaller villages, but in tourist cities like Antigua, I think it could be a viable business.
Reference:
Bernardin, J. H. (2012). Human resource management: An experiential approach (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN: 9780078029165
