Sample Case Study On Starbucks Entertainment

In Turkey there are already a lot of Starbucks stores in such a big cities as Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya etc. However, this country still remains to be very promising location to develop Starbucks business and especially Starbucks Entertainment. The point is that Turkey has its strong coffee traditions and at the same time it has a very rich cultural identity that differs a lot from other countries in Europe as well as from Asian countries. That is why I suggest that it is reasonable to concentrate Starbucks Entertainment strategy on coffee stuff and souvenirs that will highlight Turkish coffee culture and traditions.
I believe that Starbucks Entertainment should increase its international business by focusing on specific countries where it is planned to be implemented and developed, especially on their traditions. In this way, it will be easier to follow the initial idea of Starbucks stores being the third place besides home and work. Starbucks brand will be associated not with “American-style coffeehouse” but with a “home coffeehouse”. Same thing with music, books, and the atmosphere in general, they should be adjusted to local culture. Starbucks is considered to be a filter for the entertaining stuff, thus, filters for music, books, films etc. should be customized to meet the taste and moods of local people. At the same time, this idea may be useful in popular tourist destinations because mostly people coming to the new unknown place unconsciously look for something familiar. They find Starbucks and go there to have some rest and to recharge their laptops or cell phones. There they see some traditional stuff or they listen to traditional music and there is a high chance that they will buy something as a souvenir. Basically, it works like 2-in-1 (something familiar to have a rest and something totally new related to the country you are visiting in one Starbucks store). My point is that Starbucks Entertainment should focus on selling Starbucks brand (those cute and useful coffee related products (cups, bags with coffee and tea, spoons, t-shirts, magnets etc.) associated with Starbucks) but to not lose the turnover of customers the company should adjust its brand to local culture step by step.
There may be many cultural, political, and legal issues affecting development of Starbucks Entertainment internationally and mostly they depend on the country where the Starbucks is located. Let us discuss two cultural, two political, and two legal issues that may influence Starbucks Entertainment business.
I will start with cultural issues. I believe that for Turkey it is reasonable to discuss the issue of “americanization” (Starbucks being American brand) which may be very vulnerable for such countries and societies as Turkey that are closely tied to their traditions and are afraid to lose their identity. As I mentioned before I suggest focusing on Turkish cultural peculiarities in order to win people’s appreciation. There is one more cultural challenge that may occur in Turkey. As in many less developed countries where fast-paced society is not so active yet the idea of coffee-to-go service in general may be not as popular as for example in USA where you under normal circumstances do not have time to stop and have a cup of coffee.
Talking about political issues it is important to admit that the price for Starbucks as well as for Starbucks Entertainment products in Turkey is too high for local people, thus, they may prefer to buy coffee elsewhere. Probably it does not apply to Turkey so far, however, I have to recall one more issue that may be faced by Starbucks in its international sales: as an example we may present recent relations between Russia and USA when many American businesses (as well as brands) in Russia are under risk of being prohibited.
I should also pay attention to the problems in legal sphere that may affect Starbucks business. Fortunately, Turkey does not face them but in general Starbucks has to be ready that on its way of increasing of international sales some of legal issues may be met. First of all, in many countries Starbucks cannot be established and in others cannot develop properly as these countries have a very poor franchise laws (for example, Ukraine where the Starbucks chain cannot be launched at all). In some countries there may be much higher taxes for international companies and franchise which makes the business irrelevant. One more thing that is pretty problematic for Turkey for example is non-smoking laws. This problem is partially legal and partially cultural as Turkish people have smoking in their culture. Hookah is something they were used to smoke from childhood, thus, for Turkish people it is very hard to stay in closed public place not having a cigarette. That is why they are not ready to stay in Starbucks (or in any other coffeehouse) for a long time as they need to smoke.
Turkey is a perfect place for business development especially for such business as Starbucks. First of all, economy of Turkey is fast developing which encourages businesses to be conducted here. Second of all, there are not many competitors and Starbucks is probably the only place in Turkey where you can just sit and study with free Wi-Fi internet access. People already like and appreciate this place which makes it a perfect background for launching entertainment business. And at last, this country at the moment is in between two cultures: traditional and modern, that allows Starbucks Entertainment to fit between these cultures and take roots. On the edge of cultural changes multicultural offers that appear may sound very attractive. It is proved by the popularity of Starbucks Stores in Turkey and now it is time for Starbucks Entertainment, especially if the product is new, fresh, and unconsciously beloved worldwide US brand.