星巴克押下重注培育中国市场

星巴克正在中国押下重注。

2016年1月初，星巴克首席执行官霍华德·舒尔茨在成都对几百名员工及家属表示，他认为中国有望成为星巴克的最大市场。

在一场活动上，舒尔茨宣布了多项旨在保证员工全情投入工作的新举措，例如提供丰厚的住房补助和休假。当天活动也邀请了中国最杰出的商人、阿里巴巴创始人兼执行董事长马云。此前，星巴克已经在天猫商城开设了网店。

入华17年后，星巴克已在中国开设了大约2000家门店，美国本土则有约7600家。该公司计划到2019年将中国的门店数增加到3400家，这是一个宏伟的目标。

舒尔茨在活动上表示：“中国是星巴克在全球的第二大市场，是我们最重要，最令人激动的机遇。可以想象，中国可能会在未来成为我们的最大市场。”

舒尔茨深知，一些西方品牌在中国迅速发展，与它们巧妙融入当地文化密不可分，比如曝出食品安全问题之前的肯德基和美肤品牌雅诗兰黛。正因如此，舒尔茨在访华的几天中，频频展开魅力攻势，竭力向员工和顾客传递星巴克秉承与他们一致的价值观这一讯息。

在中国门店数量达到2000家这一里程碑后，这家咖啡巨头举办了一场“星巴克中国伙伴家属交流会”。尽管在西方人看来，此举似乎有些奇怪，但星巴克希望借助这类论坛来赢取员工父母的肯定，因为他们意识到了家长在中国文化中扮演的强大角色，甚至对成年子女而言也是如此。

舒尔茨表示：“我们会尽力建立一个强大持久的公司，让你和你的父母能够为之骄傲。”这位CEO甚至还提到他自己也想让父母认可自己的成就。

这不只是停留在甜言蜜语上。舒尔茨表示，星巴克将给全职咖啡师和轮班主管提供月度住房补贴——平均可以达到租房费用的一半。这对在中国吸引和留住人才有着不言而喻的重要作用。星巴克也给那些在公司工作10年以上的员工提供一年的学术休假，称作“职业休息时间”。

星巴克中国区总裁王静瑛表示：“家庭在星巴克中国伙伴的人生和职业决定中扮演了重要的作用。直接跟他们的家人交流，具有十分重要的意义。”

在美国，星巴克也采取了类似的措施来挽留员工，包括给一些员工提供大学学费补助，为参军员工的配偶和孩子支付全部学费。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

审校：任文科

Starbucks SUB 0.02% is betting big on China.

CEO Howard Schultz even told an audience of hundreds of employees and their families in Chengdu, China on Tuesday that he thinks the Middle Empire has the potential to one day be Starbucks’ top market.

And so Schultz announced a number of moves to make sure workers are on board, including generous housing subsidies and sabbaticals, at an event that featured a guest appearance by China’s most prominent businessman, Alibaba BABA 0.14% founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma. (Last month, Starbucks opened an e-store on Alibaba’s Tmall.)

Starbucks currently operates about 2,000 stores in China after 17 years in the country, compared to some 7,600 stateside. The company has plans to increase its Chinese fleet up to 3,400 locations by 2019, a tall order.

“As Starbucks’ second largest and fastest-growing market globally, China represents the most important and exciting opportunity ahead of us,” Schultz told the audience. “It’s conceivable that China could become our largest market.”

Cognizant of how some Western brands have thrived in China (KFC, pre-food safety scare, for one, and Estée Lauder EL 1.64% for another) by deftly adapting to local culture, Schultz is in China for a multi-day charm offensive to show workers and customers that Starbucks is in tune with their values.

The coffee giant hosted a “Starbucks China Partner-Family Forum” to mark hitting the 2,000-store milestone. And though that might seem odd to Westerners, the company actively wooed employees’ parents, in acknowledgement of the strong role parents play in Chinese culture, even for adult children.

“We will do everything we can to continue to build a great and enduring company that you and your parents can be proud of,” he said. Schultz even spoke of wanting to make his own parents proud of his achievements.

But it wasn’t just sweet talk. Schultz said Starbucks will give full-time Chinese baristas and shift supervisors a monthly housing allowance that would cover half of their monthly housing expenditures on average, a tacit recognition of the importance of attracting and retaining talent in China. Starbucks will also offer one-year sabbaticals, called “career coffee breaks,” to workers with 10 years of service.

“Families play a tremendous role in the life and career choices for our partners in China and it’s important that we include their families in the conversation,” said Belinda Wong, president of Starbucks China.

In the United States, Starbucks has taken similar steps to enhance worker retention, offering assistance with college costs to employees in some instances, and free tuition to spouses and children of its employees who serve in the military.