Howard Schultz on China boom amidst fragile politics | Forward Progress

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1:02It's Thursday, and that means we're offering you another positive piece of a past interview. Each week, our team digs through the archives to find our strongest feel-good stories to present to you in podcast form. This week, Howard Schultz.

1:20How would you best put into context the success that Starbucks has had in China as an American company? It's a very interesting question that you're asking at a very interesting time. So, first and foremost, between Putin and President Xi, the two of them have somehow managed to do something that certainly in my lifetime has been something I haven't seen before, and that's get the Democrats and Republicans to agree on something. And that is both of them have agreed that China is the enemy of America and China's our problem. A lot of saber rattling and certainly a lot of issues with Taiwan, etc., all which I think are very serious.

2:11We've been in China now for 24 years. Of all the CEOs that are doing business in Asia, I probably have been to China more often than almost anyone. We employ 60 ,000 people. We have 6 ,000 stores. We open a store a day in China. And I think because of the values of Starbucks and the way we have managed China, we became the first company in China to give health insurance to the parents and grandparents of our Starbucks employees in China, which I think demonstrated to the Chinese government that we were not seeking profit only, that we wanted to give back as much as we were trying to make money.

2:49And I think we are a respected brand in China. What I said in my speech at Peking University was that I feel so strongly that there were many more similarities to the Chinese people and the American people than differences. And that my hope and dream is that before something really bad happens that should be avoided, that President Xi and President Biden and their representatives get together and realize the extraordinary critical importance to the world that China and the U.S. figure out a way to cooperate. and how China needs America and America needs China. Get in the game with the college-branded Venmo debit card.

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4:18Try it today at Starbucks.

4:23One thing that has been really interesting about Starbucks success in China is, you know, as I understand most American companies, when they have success, get a local partner. And obviously, it's a credit to Starbucks that you've been able to have so much success. Yeah, it's a company-owned business, but it's a credit, literally. There's never one person that is the reason why you are successful. But in this particular case, our success is directly linked to Belinda Wong. who is the CEO of Starbucks China. It's her insight, her understanding of consumer behavior in China, her ability to build an extraordinary Chinese leadership team.

5:12And she might be the most valuable person within the company. And my relationship with her goes back 20 years. I put her in that job. And here's an example where I don't think she thought she was ready for that, didn't think she was capable. And I saw something in her that I just felt, you can do this. I'm going to help and support you. And she's done an amazing job. But yes, we decided that we did not want a partner. We wanted to be company-owned. And it's been the right decision. But China is fragile. U.S.-China relations are fragile. And how do you navigate that? Yeah. It seems like that's because you have social issues and then you have business success in figuring out what that line is.

5:58Wherever we've gone in 84 countries, we proudly carry the American flag with us. We are an American company. In terms of China or Japan or any market, we've got to be locally relevant. And the stores are designed to appeal to the Chinese customer. The partners in China, our employees, are very proud to work for Starbucks. But one of the extraordinary moments was a young Chinese Starbucks partner, employee, standing up. name was Noah, saying that Starbucks enabled him to be himself. And as a gay man, Starbucks was a company he could work for. And it was an amazing moment because that's a difficult situation in China.

6:46Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week and every week sharing long-form interviews on Mondays and shorter, uplifting stories on Thursdays and then trending clips on Fridays. We'd love to hear from you with ratings and reviews. Do you prefer the longer podcast episodes or our shorter ones? I'm excited to get your take. Thanks again. Two teams, one cup. The primetime stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app.

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