Page 138 - The Starbucks Experience

Embrace Resistance

stand what is important to individuals in those markets and
demonstrate that they have a legitimate concern for individ-
uals’ well-being.

Never Try to Beat Them; Always Join Them
Resistance to a company or a product is often the direct result
of a lack of information about the company or its product or
service. Starbucks partners initially had some difficulty pen-
etrating the Japanese market because they were trying to
bring a coffee culture into an ancient tea society. As reported
by Ginny Parker of the Associated Press, a competing coffee
chain owner, Thomas Neir, noted that coffee drinkers in
Asian cultures often “spent five minutes stirring Nescafé into
hot water, and that was coffee. Very few people even knew
that it came from a bean.” 123
Starbucks executives knew that Japan offered a great
opportunity, even though tea was the favored beverage. Cof-
fee consumption in Japan was more established than many
had assumed. Therefore, the challenge of the Japanese mar-
ket involved elevating the quality preference of the consumer,
an obstacle that Starbucks leadership had successfully over-
come in the United States.
Ginny continues, “There is a deeply embedded coffee cul-
ture in this country. . . . Canned-coffee vending machines are
everywhere, and people flock regularly to tiny cafés for cof-
fee breaks while smoking or reading.”
To be successful, Starbucks had to distinguish the quality
of its coffee from what the Japanese consumer had previously
experienced. Management did this, in large measure, by edu-
cating Japanese coffee drinkers on the difference between
canned or instant coffee and aromatic, gourmet varieties.