Rebekka Zuckermann Kristiansen's Blog

Yes, it is true. The almightly almost holy entity named Starbucks once upon a time launched their heavenly coffee shops in Israel only to shut down again a little while later. Why did this fairytale not work out you ask? Because Starbucks was lacking a grounded idea of their own situation.

Starbucks – The One And Only

An article in Haaretz (an Israeli news-agency) explains how Starbucks, in not realizing that they were entering a country with a deep-grounded coffee culture, failed at charming the critical Israeli coffee-drinkers. Firstly, the market research was insufficient. Secondly (and most importantly) the overconfidence coming from being a successful company co-operating with a local successful company (Delek Israel Fuel Company – I know, a fuel company – big shock this didn’t work out) lulled Starbucks into thinking that they could easily break into the Israeli market.

This situation sheds light on a larger-scale issue: The collision between globalization and local culture. From one side, an international brand must be standardized to succeed, something IKEA has displayed in abundance. Then again, many businesses employ a “glocalization” strategy – a mix of international standards and local flavour, clearly lacking in the example of Starbucs vs. Israel.