Please, Could you help me with answering the following questions? DO NOT recycle old answers. Thanks!

Questions

1. Based on the following text about an interview with the CEO of Starbucks, what do you see as Starbucks approach to global markets? Does Starbucks sell a standardized product to a standardized consumer? If they customize to each market, which aspects do they focus on while customizing?

2. After more than 40 years in business and locations in countries around the world, Starbucks is getting ready to open its first store in Italy. Discuss Starbucks approach to the market. Why is this market different from others? Discuss the challenges facing Starbucks in Italy.

The following is the text about the First 11-12 minutes of the interview video. Use this text to answer the questions above.

Starbucks's First Roastery in Italy

Our souls thank you so much for speaking to Bloomberg and the loan this is bring you back to 1983 this is the quintessential moment for Starbucks and as you know it started in 83 when I came here as a young man walking around the streets of Milan and Verona and I became enamored with the Italian coffee bar and I was fortunate enough to realize my first dream to bring that back to the US and many many years later here we are really trying to complete that circle and we are announcing that we're opening a roastery at the old post office and I think it's going to be spectacular bring me back to 1983 first of all so you walk around Milan yes and the first thing you say is wow there are coffee shops everywhere well the interesting thing is I think people don't really know the story and that is you know Starbucks had three stores in Seattle and we were selling coffee only for the home no no beverage at all so when I came to Milan for the first time walking to all these coffee bars and seeing espresso cappuccino cafe latte and seeing that sense of community around coffee I I realized we were kind of in the wrong segment of the business and but what really struck me is coming back to these bars every day I began to see the same people at the same time of day and it was that human connection that really struck me could we replicate this through the lens of an American experience and create the third place in America between home and work with coffee as the beverage and romancing it and with 25,000 plus stores and 75 countries later I I think we can say with humility we we did a pretty good job did you ever doubt it no I doubt it it in at moments where we had significant challenges you know I I grew up as a poor kid in Brooklyn I had no money I had no resources I just a dream and I think it speaks to the American entrepreneurial spirit that a young kid from public housing the promise of America and the American dream was available to me what is the one thing you've learned about people in coffee over the last what 30 years almost I think what I've learned now that we have stores all over the world from China to Japan to the Middle East to Latin America to Europe is that there is a universal acceptance to Starbucks because people are longing for human connection and coffee and Starbucks has brought people together and perhaps given the environment that we're all living in today there is a longing for that human connection more than ever before it talked to me a little bit about Italy it it was we've been waiting for you to actually comment it to me for a very long time why has it been so difficult you know I've been asked that many times as you might imagine coming to Italy strategically it's not the biggest market in the world but it's the most important market for me personally and for the company why because the Italians mastered coffee way before Starbucks we're not coming here to teach the Italians how to make coffee but we are coming here to present our interpretation of what coffee could be and I think I also realized that our success all over the world is not going to entitle us to success here we're going to have to earn it so we weren't ready and we have to come here with humility and respect and reverence for all things Italian and the coffee but the site the location in my mind could not be a small Starbucks store it had to be something Rand and yes and so we opened our first roster in Seattle two years ago it's massive it's over 20,000 square feet 2000 meters the roastery at the post office will be larger more dramatic and I'm involved in every I'm in so fastidiously involved in every detail including creating this new coffee for the Milanese people it's gonna be incredible is it more difficult to sell coffee to the Italians than it is to the French well we've been pretty successful in France and and in Paris specifically we'll have to see you know I II we've done some market research here not a lot but the thing that has surprised us is the awareness of Starbucks especially among young people the majority of young Italians have consumed Starbucks coffee in other places and there's such excitement among them so I I feel pretty good about it but I'm taking nothing for granted so talk to me about this new site it's yeah the older post italiane yes you're you're taking every single piece of detail yourself when will it open end of 2018 it'll open towards the end of 18 yeah the architecture of the building is spectacular I have great respect for what that building was represented we're gonna use it to our advantage because when you walk in it's gonna be we're gonna take you on a magical carpet ride and the roastery in Seattle has been labeled as the Willy Wonka of coffee and we're going to take that and put it on steroids for the Italian experience literally I think people have no idea what we're about to do well because it's bigger than say it's only the bigger it's gonna be so theatrical and so romantic and the level of innovation and design and creativity I think it'll be the balance of coffee art fashion and tremendous innovation in terms of technology as well going to see standalone Starbucks shops after that and literally you will see standalone shops as well and I think we're we're sitting in a in a princey bakery and when I came to Italy over the last few years and had Rocco princi's bread and pastries I knew I was tasting something of a true artisan and I went to Rocco and I said is it possible can can create a partnership with you and bring your food into a Starbucks environment he had never done that before we flew him to Seattle to see the roster and I think once he saw the roastery in Seattle he said are you going to do this in Italy I said yes and he said I will give you my food so we we're going to have the best possible culinary artisanal food experience coupled with a dramatic dramatic experience for our customers so how many stores are you expecting in Italy over the next 5-10 years you know I I think we have not said publicly but if you look at our history we we've tended to open 11 stores a year but the roastery is like many stores in one what is one thing that surprised you the most in Europe I know you've been very focused on expansion in Asia is Europe different I don't know if it's labor laws or if it's the taxation system is it more difficult it's not more difficult I I think the challenge whenever we open in a new market is to present the Starbucks experience in trying to localize it for the local market we've done that well in the UK and France and Germany and Spain Italy will be no different except the true essence of everything we've done over 45 years is steeped in Italian culture and so we have to come here with tremendous humility and respect it talk to me a little bit about some of the technology that you've been using you've really pushed this yeah but you've had what an oversubscription of orders where you're at your desk you order a coffee and then you just show up and run it well I think we were we invested way ahead of the technology and the growth curve in a mobile ecosystem in the US And today over 25% of our customers in North America are paying with their phone in advance and many are using it to order in advance and come in while it's ready well the good news is the technology is been embraced I don't want to say the bad news but the challenge has been it's been so wildly successful that in many stores it's created congestion in the morning that we are in the process of fixing how because we're going to we're creating multiple new stations that will create a opportunity for the mobile order person as well as the person in the store but the point is that we've created a fantastic mobile ecosystem with loyalty with technology with content with rewards and we will we will be bringing that all over the world and we have a few new surprises that we will announce at our annual meeting with regard to technology on the 22nd of March but it's more technology it would be less technology no it's more it'll be more technology and when I say technology I think what we're all we're trying to do is recognize this and that is that every brick and mortar retailer today must recognize that we must be as relevant on people's smartphone and their mobile devices as we are inside our stores and we've done that as well or better than any other company in the world in fact in China today three weeks ago we announced this partnership with Tencent and we became a company with Tencent and you can do social gifting so you could be sending another person a friend a family member a latte or actually Starbucks money and that has been wildly successful in three weeks and that's just the beginning social gifting will be part of Starbucks all over the world in time Howard talked to me a little bit about the Chinese markets will it change and evolve over time well China for Starbucks you know people don't realize we've been in China for 17 years we have 2600 stores in China in over 125 cities we open a new store in China every day it's been a fantastic market for us and the roastery the next roastery which will be 30,000 square feet 3000 meters on Nanjing road will be incredible opening in December and I said publicly that China probably will exceed the US in terms of the number of stores we just introduced by by what year we haven't said what year but I think it will be bigger than the US overtime we've just brought our consumer products business to China in a partnership with tiny so ready to drink bottled frappuccino is now in China and we're also doing things in China for our customers and our partners as an example we have an annual meeting that I attend every year for the parents of our people our employees in to honor and respect the family and I think again this is another opportunity to demonstrate the humanity of the companies and being locally relevant not only on things that are customer facing but also for our own people Howard do you open a Chinese store differently to to the Italians or the French to the Chinese you know take a lot more take away coffees or they sit down and and have it there every market is different but every market is the same let me explain the equity of the Starbucks brand in Seattle 45 years ago and today everywhere in the world is exactly the same and what I mean by that is we are sourcing and roasting the highest quality coffee in the world we have great designs and store locations but the equity of the brand is based on the experience the experience comes to life to the people who wear the green apron our obligation our responsibility as managers and leaders is to exceed the expectations of our own people so they can exceed the expectations of the customer there's 331,000 people all over the world who wear the green apron 91 million customers last week came into Starbucks stores they didn't come in because of advertising or marketing or because of technology that's the price of admission they came in because of the emotional relationship they have with our people and the experience that exists in our stores and that experience is universally accepted all over the world and hopefully it'll be accepted here in Italy but this is the dream of so many entrepreneurs how how did you achieve that the kind of recognizable brand that people want to go over and over to well I think we've built the company in a very different way I mean people know that that that Starbucks has has created a business plan over the years that was based on the balance of profit and social impact first company to give equity in the form of stock options comprehensive health insurance to every employee two years ago free college tuition in China we just gave housing allowance to our employees our partners who are traveling long distances not every decision in my view is economic I I think the price of admission is financial performance but I don't wake up every day saying how are we going to make more money how are we going to ring the register I wake up every day saying how can we really create a deep sense of loyalty with our people and our customers based on our values our guiding principles and listen we we are living in a world today that is very fragile and there's a lot of uncertainty and I think we have an obligation and a responsibility as a company to add value to humanity and and and I if I could say it in my own parlance but this is a time where I think we as private citizens and as business people need to build bridges not walls is that why you announced the hiring of 10,000 refugees at the at well you know for me that that decision was not a political decision it was decision based on the values of our company and and our guiding principles and and you know I believe very strongly that your station in life your sexual preference the color of your skin the country you were born in should not define the opportunities that we have as people and if Starbucks as a company can create an environment where the entrepreneurial spirit and the opportunity for everyone is based on merit then I think we're doing a pretty good job and that's what I want to try and do as a company.