Restaurants: The Great China Unbundling: Trading Global Control for Local Agility

What is the The Equity-for-Agility Exchange Trend: The New China Co-Management Model

Summary: The Equity-for-Agility Exchange describes the strategic decision by major foreign brands, exemplified by Starbucks, to divest majority operational control to local partners to gain critical market speed.

• The Starbucks Divestment: Starbucks is selling a 60% operational stake in its mainland China business to Boyu Capital, retaining a 40% non-controlling equity stake. This move is a direct response to a drastic slide in market share, which fell from 34% in 2019 to roughly 14% last year. The deal ensures Starbucks's valuable global brand and intellectual property remain fully owned and licensed by the Seattle headquarters. The strategic trade-off is clear: sacrificing control to gain access to local execution power.

• Valuation and Scale: While the 60% stake is valued at approximately US $4 billion, the overall estimated value of the China retail business (including retained equity and future licensing income) is positioned by Starbucks at over US $13 billion. This valuation underscores that the move is not an exit, but a high-stakes growth strategy. The joint venture aims to aggressively expand the store count from the current 8,000 to more than 20,000, a scale only achievable with deep local resources.

• A Well-Trodden Path: This pivot follows a clear precedent set by other foreign consumer giants who faced similar pressures, including McDonald's (which sold 80% of its business in 2017) and Yum China (which spun off its operations). These deals confirm that the challenge in the mature Chinese market is no longer primarily about brand recognition. Instead, it is about the speed, cost-efficiency, and regulatory finesse required for local execution.

Insight: This trend redefines successful market presence, shifting the metric from ownership percentage to operational responsiveness and scale.

Why it is the topic trending: Market Maturity and the Margin Squeeze

Summary: The trend is accelerating because China's highly competitive market now rewards speed and low-cost models, which legacy foreign structures are ill-equipped to deliver.

• The Local Execution Challenge: The market is intensely competitive, with razor-thin margins and consumer expectations for instant service and competitive pricing. Foreign headquarters, relying on global systems and decision cycles, cannot move quickly enough to optimize real estate, supply chains, and pricing locally. This friction leads to high operating costs and slow reaction times against local competitors.

• Hyper-Competitive Local Rivals: Local challengers like Luckin Coffee and Cotti Coffee have mastered the art of speed, low-cost delivery, and highly localized digital integration. These domestic champions operate with far greater agility, offering products that satisfy the core consumer need for convenience and value. Their relentless pressure on pricing and speed has directly contributed to the sharp market share slide of legacy players.

• The Regulatory and Real Estate Barrier: Navigating China's complex regulatory landscape, securing prime real estate, and obtaining rapid financing for aggressive expansion requires deep relationships and local political capital. These "on-the-ground levers" are simply inaccessible to a foreign-majority-owned entity. Partnering with a powerful local financial firm like Boyu is a necessary step to unlock expansion and regulatory fluency.

Insight: Zero-tolerance competition from agile local players has rendered slow, centralized foreign decision-making obsolete for the daily mass market.

Overview: The Strategic Recalibration: Protecting Brand, Outsourcing Execution

Summary: The Starbucks sale is a prime example of a global strategy that protects the valuable brand and IP while outsourcing complex, localized execution to a highly capable domestic partner.

The strategy is a pragmatic acknowledgment that maximum scale in a hyper-competitive environment requires shedding the burden of day-to-day operational majority control. By retaining a significant 40% minority stake and full ownership of the Starbucks brand and IP, the global company minimizes its operating risk while ensuring revenue through licensing fees and equity value appreciation. The deal provides Boyu Capital with the mandate to use its deep local insight to aggressively push into lower-tier cities and adapt pricing to local consumer reality. This separation of brand stewardship (Starbucks HQ) from market execution (Boyu) ensures the integrity of the global product is maintained, while the necessary operational agility is injected directly at the local level, allowing the new joint venture to pursue a target of over 20,000 stores. This is not an exit; it is a full-scale, accelerated localization pivot.

Insight: The goal is to maximize the Brand Value Multiplier by ensuring market penetration, even at the necessary cost of majority operational control.

Detailed findings: Data Points of Decline and Pivot

Summary: Core data reveals a sharp market share decline for Starbucks in recent years, validating the urgent necessity of this localization strategy to reverse competitive erosion.

• Sharp Market Share Erosion: Starbucks's market share in mainland China fell dramatically from approximately 34% in 2019 to roughly 14% by late last year. This unprecedented erosion signals that the legacy foreign operating model could not withstand the low-cost and high-speed assault from domestic rivals. This single data point serves as the primary impetus for the drastic strategic shift in ownership structure.

• High Valuation Despite Decline: The $4 billion valuation for the 60% stake, and the overall $13 billion claimed enterprise value, indicates the massive underlying potential still recognized in the Starbucks brand within China. This high valuation suggests that the divestiture is not a fire sale but a strategic capitalization designed to fund rapid, locally-managed expansion. Investors believe the brand, when properly localized, can still capture significant market value.

• Aggressive Store Expansion Goal: The declared ambition to grow the store count from 8,000 to over 20,000 shows that the pivot is entirely focused on gaining scale rapidly. Achieving such dense penetration requires a local partner skilled in sourcing high-traffic, non-traditional retail locations, especially outside the Tier 1 cities where most foreign brands concentrate. This goal is impossible without Boyu’s expertise.

Insight: The massive loss in market share serves as the ultimate justification for trading equity for necessary operational velocity and local scaling.

Key success factors of The Localization Pivot: Unlocking Local Agility: The Execution Levers

Summary: Success for this new joint-venture model hinges on accessing critical local levers: regulatory, real estate, and financial, all facilitated by the domestic partner.

• Regulatory Fluency: Boyu Capital possesses the deep regulatory and governmental relationships necessary to navigate the often-complex licensing, permitting, and business operation requirements across China's tiered cities. This fluency removes significant bureaucratic friction and allows the joint venture to accelerate its development pipeline. Global companies often face delays or misunderstandings when dealing with local authorities, which Boyu can efficiently mitigate.

• Real-Estate Access and Velocity: The ability to rapidly scout, secure, and negotiate favorable terms for thousands of new retail locations is paramount for the 20,000-store goal. Local partners have unparalleled networks and knowledge of hyper-local foot traffic patterns and market dynamics that a foreign entity lacks. This access ensures optimal store placement and quicker expansion into high-growth, lower-tier markets.

• Financing Agility and Domestic Capital: The partnership immediately provides access to domestic financing pools and capital structures, allowing for swift, multi-billion-dollar investments without relying on complex, bureaucratic global financing approvals. This speed of deployment is crucial for gaining an advantage over competitors and funding the aggressive build-out phase. Domestic capital is often more readily available and flexible for local-market scaling.

Insight: In a mature, regulated economy, hyper-local proficiency in finance, permits, and property trumps centralized global corporate expertise.

Key Takeaway: The Control-Adaptation Trade-off

Summary: The key takeaway is the pragmatic realization that achieving growth in China now requires accepting less direct control to maximize adaptation speed and operational efficiency.

• The Execution Pivot: Foreign brands are realizing that maintaining 100% control of operations is an expensive liability that impairs speed and responsiveness. The pivot shifts the focus from managing every retail detail to ensuring the consistency and growth of the core brand asset. The local partner is responsible for the demanding task of execution in a fiercely competitive landscape.

• Brand Stewardship vs. Operations: The global headquarters' role fundamentally changes from operator to brand steward and strategic licensor. Starbucks will focus on coffee sourcing, quality control, and global marketing consistency. Boyu will focus on store deployment, supply chain pricing, and local marketing campaigns needed to drive volume.

• The New Normal: The structure established by Yum, McDonald's, and now Starbucks represents the new normal for foreign consumer goods and food services in China. This pattern confirms that the local joint venture structure has become the mandatory template for scaling aggressively while offsetting the unique pressures of the Chinese market. It is a necessary structural evolution for survival.

Insight: The foreign headquarters’ role transitions from day-to-day operator to strategic licensor and long-term brand equity guardian.

Core consumer trend: The Speed and Value Equation

Summary: The underlying consumer trend driving this strategy is the market's demand for faster service, extreme value, and immediate local relevance, forcing global players to de-premiumize or differentiate at pace.

The modern Chinese consumer, especially in the daily coffee segment, has fundamentally shifted their perception of value. They expect high-quality service and product, but the rise of domestic chains has commoditized the functional delivery of coffee. This has created a "Speed and Value Equation" where consumers increasingly prioritize convenience (hyper-fast delivery and pick-up) and cost (low price point) over the traditional premium positioning of Western brands. This shift forces foreign players to seek partners like Boyu to rapidly accelerate store penetration into areas served by local competitors and to optimize their value chain to compete effectively on price elasticity.

Insight: The modern Chinese consumer prioritizes convenience and cost-efficiency over foreign brand heritage for their daily routine.

Description of the trend: The Divestiture Doctrine

Summary: The Divestiture Doctrine describes the pattern of consumer giants selling majority stakes to local consortiums to maintain market presence without the burden of centralized operational management.

• A Pre-Vetted Strategy: This doctrine is not new; it has been rigorously field-tested by major quick-service and retail brands for years. The success of spin-offs like Yum China and the sale of McDonald's majority stake demonstrates its viability as a necessary structural defense against intense local competition. This established track record provides confidence in the model for the Starbucks partnership.

• Pragmatic Recalibration: The move represents a pragmatic recalibration of global ambition versus local reality. It acknowledges that the systems and knowledge that work in Western markets are often a liability in China. By ceding operational authority, the foreign brand accepts an optimized, less-than-majority return over a sub-optimal, majority-controlled return.

• Global Brand Remains Intact: Crucially, the global brand's image and intellectual property (IP) remain under the full control of the foreign company. This allows Starbucks to ensure the core product quality and brand messaging are consistent globally, while local execution is optimized for maximum sales volume. The brand's reputation is protected even as its operational model is decentralized.

Insight: This doctrine establishes a scalable, low-friction template for managing consumer-facing brands in hyper-competitive regulated economies.

Key Characteristics of the trend: Ownership Transformation: From Monolithic to Hybrid

Summary: The key characteristics of this trend involve a shift from 100% foreign-owned operations to hybrid joint ventures, focusing on local expertise to drive market penetration.

• Focus on Lower-Tier Cities: The divestiture is often tied to an aggressive plan to push into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where growth potential is highest but local knowledge is absolutely essential. Foreign companies traditionally struggled to understand the unique consumer behaviors and real estate complexities of these regions. The local partner is thus tasked with leading the charge into these high-growth frontiers.

• Partnership for Deep Insight: The partnership explicitly seeks the domestic partner's deep understanding of local supply chains, shifting consumer price tolerances, and necessary product localization (e.g., adapting menu items). This deep market insight allows the brand to remain relevant against domestic competitors who are already masters of local taste. The foreign brand is paying for this essential intelligence.

• Ownership Structure Transformation: The characteristic majority-minority structure (60% local, 40% foreign) is key. It provides the local partner with the authority to make swift, necessary decisions without needing lengthy, multi-national corporate sign-offs. This empowerment accelerates time-to-market for new products and store openings, while the 40% retained stake aligns the foreign brand's financial interests with the local partner's success.

Insight: Hybrid structures are the new prerequisite for scaling and competing in competitive Asian markets.

Market and Cultural Signals Supporting the Trend: The Local Relevance Imperative

Summary: Market signals, including the success of culturally tailored local competitors, underscore the imperative for foreign brands to achieve instantaneous local relevance, which is difficult from a foreign headquarters.

• Success of Localized R&D: The explosive growth of Luckin and Cotti is directly attributable to their ability to rapidly deploy localized, digitally-integrated services and products tailored to Chinese tastes. This market success signals that foreign brands must match this pace of localized R&D. Failure to do so leads to stagnation, regardless of global brand heritage.

• Regulatory De-risking Demand: The repeated pattern of major foreign companies seeking local partners suggests a perceived necessity to de-risk against potential future regulatory or geopolitical uncertainties. A locally-controlled entity often enjoys a smoother operating environment than a wholly foreign-owned enterprise. This minimizes political friction.

• Consumer Preference for Domestic Champions: There is a growing trend of national pride in supporting domestic champions, especially among younger, digitally-native consumers. This cultural signal creates a natural headwind for foreign brands. By having a powerful local partner, the brand can implicitly align itself more closely with domestic economic interests and cultural sentiments.

Insight: Cultural alignment and domestic pride increasingly create a protective economic and sentiment barrier for local champions.

What is consumer motivation: The Quest for Cost-Efficient Speed

Summary: The consumer motivation is primarily driven by the availability of high-quality, ultra-fast, and significantly cheaper alternatives provided by Luckin and Cotti.

• Price Sensitivity in Daily Habits: For the routine, daily coffee habit, consumers are highly price-sensitive. When local brands offer comparable quality at a significantly lower price point, the perceived value of the expensive foreign premium disappears rapidly. The consumer is motivated by optimizing their daily spending.

• Speed and Convenience as the Key Differentiator: In densely populated urban environments, speed is the ultimate currency. Consumers are motivated by the convenience of mobile ordering, quick pick-up, and rapid delivery services perfected by local competitors. The local brands’ ability to integrate seamlessly into daily digital life outweighs the prestige of a traditional café experience.

• Value Proposition Shift: The traditional motivation for buying foreign coffee—status and a "third place" environment—has shifted to the functional utility of the beverage. Consumers are motivated by getting the necessary caffeine dose efficiently and cheaply, treating the purchase as a commodity rather than a lifestyle statement. This shift undermines the legacy business model.

Insight: For the daily coffee habit, functional value now decisively outweighs aspirational premium brand heritage.

What is motivation beyond the trend: Beyond the Brew: The Real Estate Game

Summary: A motivation beyond simply competing is the strategic necessity of leveraging a local partner’s network to secure prime real estate and expansion financing for the next phase of growth.

• Real Estate Leverage for Scale: The ambition to reach 20,000 stores necessitates an enormous expansion into non-traditional retail formats and smaller spaces in lower-tier cities. Boyu Capital's local real estate expertise and connections are the only way to rapidly and cost-effectively achieve this density. The motivation is to bypass the costly, time-consuming process of foreign real estate acquisition.

• Regulatory De-risking and Efficiency: Beyond simply getting permits, the local partner provides efficiency in handling constant regulatory changes and local business compliance. This motivation is driven by the desire to focus management effort on the core product while outsourcing the heavy lift of the complex local operating environment. It translates directly to faster store openings.

• Access to Domestic Capital: The deal ensures a flow of domestic capital aligned with the expansion goals, reducing the reliance on transferring global profits or seeking external financing in foreign markets. The motivation is financial agility—the ability to deploy capital instantly to seize market opportunities before competitors can react. This is critical for rapid expansion.

Insight: Scaling to 20,000 stores requires local ties and financial agility that transcend the capabilities of any centralized foreign corporate structure.

Description of consumers: The Value-Vigilant Urbanite

Summary: The consumer segment driving this shift is the Value-Vigilant Urbanite, characterized by high digital literacy and an increasing demand for convenience and competitive pricing.

• Informed and Digitally Native: This consumer is highly informed about market pricing and promotions, using mobile apps for ordering, loyalty, and price comparison extensively. They are the same demographic that powered the growth of digital champions and they expect the same level of convenience and cost-efficiency from all vendors. They demand seamless digital integration for all purchases.

• Post-Premium Mindset: While they appreciate quality, the Value-Vigilant Urbanite has adopted a post-premium mindset for routine consumption. They are less willing to pay a status premium for daily necessities when high-quality, low-cost alternatives are available on every corner. They reserve their premium spending for high-value experiences, not daily consumables.

• Time-Sensitive: Their urban, fast-paced lifestyle means speed is a non-negotiable feature. They will choose the option that gets them their product fastest, whether it's the closest store or the quickest delivery service. This inherent time sensitivity puts immense pressure on operational logistics and store location.

Insight: This demographic is aggressively seeking utility and speed, eroding the appeal of legacy premium positioning for routine purchases.

Consumer Detailed Summary: Demographics of the Coffee Wars

Summary: The shift is driven by a digitally native, urban, and value-conscious demographic prioritizing convenience and cost-efficiency for routine purchases.

• Who are them: They are educated, urban professionals and students who are highly exposed to Western-style consumption but are acutely aware of domestic value alternatives. They are the backbone of the mobile and O2O (Online-to-Offline) economy, making their purchasing decisions based on app functionality and promotional pricing. They are pragmatic buyers.

• What is their age? Primarily Millennials (28-44) and Gen Z (18-27). These groups have come of age during the peak of digital commerce and the rise of local tech champions. Their consumption habits are defined by speed, digital accessibility, and a critical eye toward price, unlike previous generations who prized foreign luxury.

• What is their gender? The demographic is balanced, though the high-frequency coffee consumer segment often skews slightly female, particularly in metropolitan areas. Both genders demonstrate a high degree of technological fluency and value consciousness, driving the shift towards high-utility, low-cost options.

• What is their income? Middle to Upper-Middle Income ($50k - $120k household). This is the segment most sensitive to the value equation; they can afford the premium but choose not to pay it daily when a high-quality alternative is available at half the cost. Their discretionary income is spent intentionally on experiences, not routine commodities.

• What is their lifestyle, Digitally Integrated and Value-Seeking. Their lifestyle is characterized by intense work schedules, high reliance on mobile apps for all services (food, transport, shopping), and a focus on efficiency. They use coffee as a daily fuel and convenience, not a leisurely event, reinforcing the speed-and-value motivation.

How the Trend Is Changing Consumer Behavior: The Erosion of Premium Loyalty

Summary: The trend shifts consumer behavior by normalizing hyper-competitive pricing, reducing loyalty to legacy foreign brands, and elevating local champions as preferred, high-utility providers.

• Normalization of Low Price: The fierce competition has made low-priced, high-quality coffee the expected norm, effectively resetting the consumer baseline for value. This makes future attempts by premium brands to revert to high-price models extremely difficult without radical product differentiation. Consumers now expect significant discounts as standard practice.

• Shift from Premium to Utility: The daily act of coffee consumption is transitioning from a status-driven, premium experience to a functional utility purchase. Consumer loyalty is shifting from the global brand logo to the domestic brand that offers the fastest service and best promotional deals. This signals the commoditization of the product.

• Increased Consumption Frequency: The availability of significantly cheaper coffee options encourages higher consumption frequency across the board. Consumers who previously limited themselves to one daily premium coffee are now comfortable with two or three low-cost alternatives. This volume-based growth offsets the lower unit price.

Insight: Consumer decision-making for daily habits is now dominated by the utility of the closest and cheapest option, not the global brand logo.

Implications of trend Across the Ecosystem (For Consumers, For Brands and CPGs, For Retailers): The Experiential Ecosystem Divide

Summary: The trend creates a market divide where foreign brands must choose between hyper-localization for scale or niche premium positioning, while CPG and retail brands must follow suit.

• For Consumers: Consumers are the primary beneficiaries, receiving an unprecedented combination of choice, competitive pricing, and high service speed. They gain high-quality products at mass-market prices. However, they may lose some of the unique, third-place experiential appeal that legacy foreign brands once provided.

• For Brands and CPGs: Foreign brands face a mandatory choice: sell a majority stake to a local partner for massive scale and competition, or retreat into a high-end, niche, boutique strategy. CPG brands must follow the same mandate by localizing their supply chains and forging local retail partnerships to maintain shelf presence and relevance. Global management systems are increasingly viewed as a competitive liability.

Insight: The path to scale in China requires mandatory divestiture and deep integration with the local execution ecosystem.

Strategic Forecast: Predictive Model: The Hybrid Future

Summary: The forecast points toward the mandatory adoption of hybrid ownership models, with local partners driving execution, digital integration, and supply chain optimization.

• Universal Hybrid Models: Within the next five years, it is highly likely that almost all major foreign retail and food service brands operating in the Chinese mass market will have transitioned to a majority local-owned joint venture structure. This will become the default mode for market survival. The 60/40 split will be the new industry standard.

• Advanced Supply Chain Localization: The local partners will drive deeper localization of the supply chain, moving beyond just sourcing ingredients to full vertical integration of processing and distribution. This minimizes reliance on dollar-denominated imports, reduces exposure to tariffs, and cuts cost faster than global systems ever could.

• Digital and O2O Integration: Future joint ventures will invest heavily in AI-driven O2O (Online-to-Offline) systems that integrate store placement, inventory, delivery, and marketing. The local partners are best equipped to leverage domestic platforms (WeChat, Alipay, TikTok) for optimal customer engagement.

Insight: The template for successful, long-term scaling in China is now 'Global Brand + Local Data + Local Capital'.

Areas of innovation (implied by trend): Innovation in Velocity and Vertical Integration

Summary: Innovation will focus on technology that enables extreme speed-to-market and deep vertical integration to reduce costs and respond to local consumer preference shifts instantly.

• Hyper-Localized Product R&D: The joint ventures will prioritize building dedicated, localized R&D teams empowered to launch region-specific, flavor-tailored products instantly, bypassing slow global corporate approval processes. This immediate responsiveness is essential for competing with agile local brands.

• Logistics and Distribution Optimization: Innovation is needed in rapid logistics networks that can support the 20,000-store goal, ensuring fresh inventory delivery to lower-tier cities at the lowest possible cost. This includes automated warehousing and AI-driven route optimization tailored to the Chinese road network.

• Data-Driven Store Placement: Local partners will leverage proprietary domestic data (mobile traffic, density, public transit flow) to use advanced analytics for near-perfect store placement. This maximizes foot traffic and pick-up efficiency, a critical component of the value proposition.

Insight: The competitive battleground has decisively shifted from brand equity to execution velocity and supply chain efficiency.

Summary of Trends: The New China Mandate

Summary: The strategic realignment is defined by the necessity of Agility, Localization, and De-Control to maintain competitiveness in the hyper-mature Chinese market.

• Agility: Required to match the speed and price responsiveness of local competitors.

• Localization: Mandatory for navigating real estate, regulation, and consumer preference in Tier 2/3 cities.

• De-Control: The strategic choice to accept a minority stake to gain majority operational velocity.

Core Consumer Trend: Value-Driven Switching

Summary: The Chinese consumer now sees high-quality coffee as a commodity, driving swift brand switching based on price and proximity rather than international heritage.

Insight: The daily beverage choice is now an economic decision, not a cultural statement.

Core Social Trend: Domestic Champion Preference

Summary: The market exhibits growing cultural pride and preference for domestic champions (like Luckin and Cotti) over legacy foreign symbols, making local partnership a cultural necessity.

Insight: Brand success is increasingly tied to alignment with national economic interest and local cultural pride.

Core Strategy: Full-Stack Divestiture

Summary: The leading strategy is Full-Stack Divestiture, wherein global firms hand over majority operational control to local partners to achieve the required scale and speed-to-market.

Insight: Operational majority control has become a liability that must be shed to achieve meaningful market share growth.

Core Industry Trend: The Decoupling

Summary: The industry is experiencing the Decoupling of brand ownership from operational control, establishing the joint venture as the default structure for high-growth, high-risk territories.

Insight: Brand integrity can survive without operational majority, proving that IP is the ultimate long-term asset.

Core Consumer Motivation: Functional Utility

Summary: The primary consumer motivation is shifting from the premium, aspirational experience to functional utility—the need for efficient, low-cost caffeine delivery for the daily routine.

Insight: When utility is maximized by local players, the foreign premium collapses.

Core Insight: The Price of Speed

Summary: The Price of Speed dictates that foreign brands must pay an equity premium—selling off majority control—to acquire the necessary local execution velocity and market connections.

Insight: The true cost of market entry is no longer capital investment, but the required sacrifice of operational authority.

Main Trend: The Localization Pivot

Summary: The Localization Pivot: Foreign brands trade equity control for local market agility to survive intense competition and achieve aggressive expansion goals.

Trend Implications for consumers and brands: The New Contract of Scale

Summary: The New Contract of Scale dictates that brands must accept a minority operational role in exchange for access to the domestic partner's execution engine, reducing friction at every level.

Insight: To win the volume game, global brands must submit to the localized rules of speed and price efficiency.

Final Thought (summary): Mastering Intentional Divestiture for Hyper-Growth

Summary: The Starbucks sale to Boyu Capital is a seminal moment marking the transition to Intentional Divestiture as the mandatory strategy for foreign brands seeking scale in the mature Chinese consumer market. Driven by the Value-Vigilant Urbanite demanding speed and price competitiveness, the old model of 100% foreign control has proven too slow and too costly to compete with agile domestic champions. The Equity-for-Agility Exchange is a pragmatic and calculated structural optimization. It allows Starbucks to retain long-term brand equity while outsourcing the high-velocity execution, real estate procurement, and regulatory navigation necessary to meet its aggressive goal of 20,000 stores. This shift confirms that the power has fundamentally passed to local partners who hold the keys to cultural relevance, supply chain optimization, and, most importantly, the speed of deployment.

Final Insight: The lesson for all global players is clear: maximum market penetration in China now requires accepting a strategic minority position, transforming the foreign headquarters from an operator into a high-value licensor.

Source: https://daoinsights.com/news/starbucks-sale-analysis/