On the Starbucks story: It’s not a new problem. When I lived in Jinan about ten years ago, the flagship Starbucks was regularly crowded with senior citizens and mothers with children escaping the sweltering heat. Many weren’t consuming anything: they would recline, sleep, and some even smoked.
I asked the staff why they didn’t intervene, as this clearly put off paying customers and affected the experience. They told me they had no means to ask these people to leave “because the authorities did discourage it”. I’m not sure that explanation was actually true, but the staff were clearly instructed to avoid confrontation at all costs.
Starbucks, like most customer-facing businesses in China, seems to be aware and afraid of customer backlash and shitstorms that can hit when things go wrong. What makes this even trickier is that customer attitudes seem to be shifting, particularly among younger generations.
Easy indeed for Jiemian to say “make a clear choice”; much harder for Starbucks to implement it across thousands of stores while trying to keep everyone happy.
Really enjoyed this one! One thing I'd like to add is that these pieces can be useful even when the management advice is weak (in this piece's examples is almost ridiculous). Given the media’s traditional - and political - role in guiding public opinion in China, I think their usefulness is more in figuring out if they're sending a signal, rather than pure advice. When I notice this type of articles, I like to ask myself why this topic, why now, and why this framing.
The same thing happens in America, with different administrative forms, well funded foundations and think tanks, media consultants, funding via special interests attempting to sway public opinion, and various other inputs...but still similar unsolicited advice by folks unknowledgeable on most everything related to the business they're "advising". The difference is folks in China see the game and refuse to pay for it, while in America folks can hardly wait to pay subscriptions fees to multiple sources to hear an even more ridiculous range of advisories, exhortations, and ideological blather.
Interesting and (probably unintentionally) funny piece, thanks much.
Are you advising newspapers how to write their articles?🤣
On the Starbucks story: It’s not a new problem. When I lived in Jinan about ten years ago, the flagship Starbucks was regularly crowded with senior citizens and mothers with children escaping the sweltering heat. Many weren’t consuming anything: they would recline, sleep, and some even smoked.
I asked the staff why they didn’t intervene, as this clearly put off paying customers and affected the experience. They told me they had no means to ask these people to leave “because the authorities did discourage it”. I’m not sure that explanation was actually true, but the staff were clearly instructed to avoid confrontation at all costs.
Starbucks, like most customer-facing businesses in China, seems to be aware and afraid of customer backlash and shitstorms that can hit when things go wrong. What makes this even trickier is that customer attitudes seem to be shifting, particularly among younger generations.
Easy indeed for Jiemian to say “make a clear choice”; much harder for Starbucks to implement it across thousands of stores while trying to keep everyone happy.
Really enjoyed this one! One thing I'd like to add is that these pieces can be useful even when the management advice is weak (in this piece's examples is almost ridiculous). Given the media’s traditional - and political - role in guiding public opinion in China, I think their usefulness is more in figuring out if they're sending a signal, rather than pure advice. When I notice this type of articles, I like to ask myself why this topic, why now, and why this framing.
The same thing happens in America, with different administrative forms, well funded foundations and think tanks, media consultants, funding via special interests attempting to sway public opinion, and various other inputs...but still similar unsolicited advice by folks unknowledgeable on most everything related to the business they're "advising". The difference is folks in China see the game and refuse to pay for it, while in America folks can hardly wait to pay subscriptions fees to multiple sources to hear an even more ridiculous range of advisories, exhortations, and ideological blather.
Interesting and (probably unintentionally) funny piece, thanks much.