Summer Cold Brew Coffee Making Method! Super Simple Iced Coffee Recipe with Illustrated Tutorial!

On the afternoon of June 9th local time, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz spoke with host Andrew Ross Sorkin at the DealBook/DC conference organized by The New York Times, discussing the need for improved relations between China and the United States.

Howard Schultz stated: "The back-and-forth between China and the United States is harmful to both sides and is certainly not what the global market needs. If we can significantly improve our relationship with China, it would greatly benefit both countries and even the world at large. Both the United States and China need to build a positive cooperative relationship with each other."

For a long time, Howard Schultz has been advocating for positive Sino-US relations. In January of last year, he received a reply letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping, recognizing his and Starbucks' positive role in continuing to promote trade cooperation and bilateral relations between the two countries.

At this conference, Schultz specifically pointed out that canceling the $360 billion in tariffs on China would "help American consumers" and would be "the beginning of trying to solve the global inflation problem."

Starbucks' Global Operations and Chinese Market

As an internationally renowned coffee chain, public data shows that as of April this year, Starbucks had over 34,600 stores in 84 markets worldwide. Among these, the Chinese market accounts for 5,700 stores, making it Starbucks' largest overseas market and second-largest market overall.

Under such a massive system, Starbucks must cope with global market supply and demand changes, rising raw material prices, employee compensation and benefits, and mental health issues. As the key figure at Starbucks, interim CEO Howard Schultz returned in early April this year to serve as interim Chief Executive Officer, helping Starbucks navigate a new round of financial and management "crises."

Challenges and Schultz's Return

Before his return, due to the ongoing pandemic, Starbucks employees began to show "rebellion" due to dissatisfaction with insufficient store staffing and the imbalance between income and workload. Employees in multiple locations joined unions, demanding direct negotiations with Starbucks. At the same time, due to changes in global market supply and demand, continuously rising prices of beverage raw materials, and inflation leading to increased costs across the board, Starbucks entered a "vicious cycle" state in terms of operations, finance, and employee management.

Therefore, on his first day back, Howard stopped the stock repurchase program and planned to distribute the funds intended for stock repurchasing to employee benefits and store operations.

Regarding the continuous union actions, Howard did not take a hardline approach but instead employed both soft and hard tactics, hoping employees would have a change of heart. For example, he stated that according to federal law requirements, Starbucks cannot unilaterally change the compensation and benefits of union members or the operating funds of unionized stores. He hoped this would allow employees to choose their future path for themselves.

Leadership Changes and Future Plans

However, as interim CEO, Howard emphasized that he would not stay at Starbucks for too long. Recently, Howard stated in a media interview: "For the company's future, we need to supplement our lacking multidimensional experience and professional knowledge."

Howard believes that some of Starbucks' current problems are caused by the company's own factors. Therefore, in the more than two months since his return, he has already asked some company veterans to leave to make room for new talent. In May this year, Starbucks announced that its human resources director and two vice presidents responsible for public affairs and public policy would leave the company, with two of them having worked at Starbucks for over 15 years.

Another part of the challenges stems from the pandemic accelerating changes in consumer behavior. "No CEO could fully anticipate these challenges, and Starbucks needs to rethink its operating model," Howard stated. Therefore, he is looking for managers from outside Starbucks to serve as the next CEO, but this move has made many investors and former management employees question whether Howard will truly let go of Starbucks in the future.

In response, Schultz stated that he is encouraged by the diversity and quality of current CEO candidates, and his only concern is whether the next CEO can succeed. He also stated that the next CEO will be selected this autumn, and if all goes smoothly, Howard will end his interim CEO position after the first quarter financial report next year and will remain on the company's board of directors.

Image source: Internet

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473