The Analysis Of Starbucks (China) Cross-Cultural Marketing Strategy

With the rapid development of Chinese economy, increasing income of residents, huge potential of consumer purchasing power, especially the changing of consumption structure driven by the rapid rise of the middle class, China provides the world’s largest potential market to global giant brands in pursuing business globalization. At the same time, the policy support for foreign-invested enterprises and the speed up opening markets also facilitate the transnational operations of internationally renowned enterprises. More and more foreign enterprises shift their attention to China, hoping to share the dividend created by the Chinese economy. However, due to cultural differences, multinational enterprises also face a complex environment and larger business risk while conducting market strategies in China. It seems that cross-cultural marketing failure are not uncommon. Therefore, how to implement cross-cultural marketing strategy successfully in China and win the huge market is critical for multinational enterprises when developing their Chinese market strategies.Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse chain in the world. Since entering Chinese market in 1999, Starbucks has been developing rapidly. By the end of 2015 fiscal year, Starbucks has had 1,811 stores in China and is planning to expand with a rate of 500 stores each year in the next five years. The strategic goal of Starbucks is to build China into the largest market outside the United States. Starbucks’ success in achieving its goals, to a large extent, depends on whether it can win in cross-cultural marketing strategies. This is the significance of the study.This thesis includes six parts:the first part is introduction, which introduces the background, purpose, research ideas, methods and main innovations and deficiencies of this study. The second part is theory and literature review on the domestic and foreign scholars’research in cross-cultural marketing field. The third part summarizes the related background of the case, including Starbucks’ global expansion, Starbucks’ entry background and development in China, paving the way for the following text.The fourth part analyses Starbucks’cross-cultural marketing strategies in China combined with Chinese cultural characteristics. The fifth part is based on an investigation in which the author designed a specific questionnaire to collect consumers’perception and evaluation of Starbucks’ cross-cultural marketing strategies in China. Then SPSS is used to analyze the investigation results to find out the factors which affect consumers’perception and evaluation of Starbucks. Based on the analysis of the whole thesis, the sixth summarizes the full text and puts forward the obstacles and challenges Starbucks might be faced in China.This study finds that the success of Starbucks cross-cultural marketing strategies in China are:precise positioning of people and brand; excellent quality assurance and brand image; new products and marketing activities with Chinese characteristic; unique cultural experience design; the "Internet+" strategic expansion. Starbucks to win in China is also faced with obstacles and challenges, mainly including:the decline of Chinese economy might have adverse effects on Starbucks business and financial performance; rapid expansion leads to the decrease of Starbucks experience and brand value; the influx and imitation of competitors make Starbucks’ differentiation advantage gradually disappear; Starbucks business models may hinder its expansion in China; Starbucks also faces the risk of cultural conflict.