Stat of the day – Starbucks in China

According to a recent USA Today report:

Early next year, China will replace Canada as the global coffee giant’s second-largest market, where Starbucks plans to open its 1,000th store sometime before the end of 2013. As it expands in China – where Starbucks announced the opening of two iconic, flagship stores on Monday – Starbucks is experimenting both with the interior and exterior designs of its new stores in a bid to appeal to Chinese customers.

[…]

For Starbucks, it’s all about tapping into growth markets with room to run. The chain, which has more than 12,000 U.S. locations, now views China as its biggest growth market, which can help it taper the pace of domestic growth. By the end of this year, Starbucks will have 4,000 locations across China and Asia Pacific, says Culver.

See also Chapters 2 & 16 regarding the food and beverage industry.

Stat of the day – Robots in China

From The Economic Observer this past week according to Akira Mizutani of Yaskawa Electric Corporation:

“The total sale of robots in China last year was 28,000 units. It will be about 30,000 this year. And it’s going to continue to grow by 20 to 30 percent a year for for quite a while.”

[…]

Wang Feiyue (王飞跃), director of China’s State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems (SKL-MCCS), says that for every 10,000 manufacturing workers in Japan, 300 robots are used — whereas in China that number is just 10. So there’s a huge potential market for robots in China, the widespread use of which will improve the country’s overall manufacturing level.

See also robots discussed in Chapter 7.