Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest-quality arabica coffee in the world.
Howard Behar, retired president of Starbucks Coffee Company, used this same tactic of showing employees they are appreciated to help establish the Starbucks culture, which stresses the importance of people over profits.
In advance of the 2012 Social Innovation Summit taking place next week at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, and as the third installment of an exclusive interview series, I spoke with Adam Brotman, Chief Digital Officer for Starbucks Coffee Company.
FORBES: Chief Digital Officer for Starbucks on Technology, Change and Community
"The expansion of our mobile payment footprint to two of our most important markets is a strong milestone for us, but more importantly, it extends the number of customers who now have a faster and easier way to pay at Starbucks, " said Adam Brotman, chief digital officer at Starbucks Coffee Company.
ENGADGET: Starbucks Android app gets caffeinated update, also launches in UK and Canada
The company also competes with Starbucks in the specialty coffee market.
As Benzinga readers know, Reuters reported rumors of Starbucks and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters meetings Monday, but neither company has confirmed nor denied a collaboration.
Actually, that era from about a 1999 to 2008 had a few other failures as Starbucks tried to nearly be a media company, not a coffee company.
The company's McCafe has taken on coffee-chain Starbucks, which slipped 0.1% Tuesday.
Another problem for Starbucks is ethanol--hardly what investors might expect to trip up the coffee company.
India remains one of the big untapped markets for Seattle-based Starbucks, and the company's expected entry comes at a time of growing popularity of coffee outlets in the country.
However, Starbucks felt his remark about "smell the coffee" was a "cheap shot" at the company and considered suspending millions of pounds worth of investment in the UK, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
As a result, the company was losing business to competing local coffee shops, and eventually to McDonalds and to Starbucks.
The coffee chain hopes to encourage customers to transfer physical Starbucks Cards onto their phones, cutting big costs for the company.
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