Global Staffing Strategies and Starbucks

Essay by CarissaReyUniversity, Master'sA, June 2008

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Starbucks Corporation (Starbucks) is a specialty coffee retailer of hot and cold beverages, coffee-related accessories, complementary food items, teas, and other non-food related products. Starbucks has retail stores in 39 countries and about 146,000 employees. The company operates primarily in the United States (U.S.) with headquarters in Seattle, Washington (Starbucks, 2007).

In the early 1970s, Starbucks was established and the first location was in Seattle's Pike Place market in 1971. By 1982, Starbucks began supplying coffee to restaurants and coffee shops. Starbucks expanded the business in 1996 to new locations in Japan, Hawaii, and Singapore. Other locations in Taiwan, New Zealand, Thailand, and Malaysia were created in 1998. Starbucks continued to expand globally in 1999, by reaching locations in China, Korea, Kuwait, and Lebanon (Starbucks, 2007).

In a hypothetical situation, Starbucks will acquire a similar business in Mexico. The company will explore locations within Mexico and identify the human resource (HR) challenges that will arise from this expansion.

Mexico has unique cultural and regulatory factors that need consideration for the development of Starbucks stores. The organization's effectiveness to succeed in Mexico is dependent upon solving any issues that result from the growth of Starbucks in a new country.

Starbucks will address recruitment and selection practices to use in the newly acquired company. Another HR decision is determining the appropriate mixture of expatriates and nationals to ensure the acquisition is successful. The skill and abilities of employees, along with training and development practices, are an essential part of the company's organizational strategy to achieve goals. The HR department of Starbucks has a considerable amount of research and decision making to ensure this acquisition successful.

Mexico's DemographicMexico is prepared to become the wealthiest country in Latin American between 2008 and 2010 in basic gross domestic product (GDP). The middle class is...