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GLOBAL Restaurant Franchises in China Successes and Failures
Nick Salvatoriello
CHINA STUDY TOUR
November 2008
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Introduction and explanation of purpose:
My research paper seeks to answer the question, "What is the best strategy for opening
a chain of restaurant franchises in China today?" The answers are based on the
successes and failures of entrepreneurs and corporations seeking to do business there.
I draw my research from a personal interview of a franchise executive with first
experience as well as economic and trade articles published on the topic over the past 5
years.
I chose to use Phidias Dantos and Green Mountain Company Ltd. as a local case for
my research. His involvement adds a personal aspect to the project for me. I grew up
in Hanover, NH. Phidias and his wife Alice lived on the same street as we did and they
were close with my parents both as neighbors and business associates. I was able to
interview and research him personally, Phidias provided a local account and perspective
to compare with the successes and failures of global franchises and international retail
operations in the China market based on these common themes. The result of this
blend of research has revealed themes for success for companies to go into the China
market. My research is far from complete, but three major themes emerge as critical to
success:
1.) Location
2.) Guanxi
2.) Joint-Ventures & Partnerships
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Dantos Case Study: Background
Phid is an entrepreneur of the old-school who earned their MBAs from the trenches of
their businesses and from trial and error. Since he started his first company at age 25,
hes gone from nothing to being a millionaire and back again. To him it seemed, this
was all part of the package of being a businessman. Through his career development,
he had experience the successes and challenges of food service franchise ownership
from owning and running them personally for over two decades. In 1986, with the help
of financing from a few close friends he formed a private corporation called Northern
Bakers Inc, Franchisee of Au Bon Pain. He was offered the opportunity to franchise
license for the company, by a pair of Harvard graduates, Louis Rapuano and Louis
Kane who founded Au Bon Pain in 1978. Their first Au Bon Pain bakery, established in
Boston, was proving to be a successful concept for the region. Their caf concept
focused on serving coffee drinks, baked goods.
In 1991, the company went public as Au Bon Pain Co. Inc. In 1999, Au Bon Pain Co.
Inc. (later renamed Panera Bread Company) sold its Au Bon Pain division to
Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. Inc., which then sold it to Compass Group in 20001.
Phidias enjoyed success through these stages as the bakery-caf business developed
and eventually expanded his stake within the operation through the years to 10 stores
throughout the Northeast. He watched with interest as Au Bon Pain expanded their
business to over 230 cafes in the United States and abroad. Most of the stores in the
northeast United States remained company-owned, while stores that stretched into the
1 (Source: Panera Bread Company History Overview
http://www.panerabread.com/about/company/history.php)
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lucrative Asian market in countries like Thailand and Indonesia were typically
franchised. Their stores have been particularly successful in transportation facilities
such as airports and train stations, as well as shopping centers and business districts in
cities. For example, the companys website lists that Au Bon Pain has three locations in
New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal alone. The website noted that the chain is
also very successful on college campuses; the University of Pennsylvania has four
locations on its campus2.
As a franchisor since their founding, Mr. Dantos was with Au Bon Pan for almost 18
years and had witnessed a lot of international growth in the restaurant franchises and
the success it had brought his business associates and competitors. Not content to run
a regional chain of franchises forever, he eventually developed international ambitions
of his own. Occupancy and labor costs in his Au Bon Pain stores were starting to
outstrip his profits from his cafs by 2004 and Phidias decided to seek new frontiers for
a better franchise model. This new frontier turned out to be China and the opportunity
to go there came from right from my own back-yard, Phid told me in our interview. As a
business operator in their state, Phidias became well connected within the Vermont
State Chamber of Commerce and was its president at one point. In late 2003 the
current chamber president, Chris Babieri went to China to represent trade between
China and Vermont. At the same time he was talking to the Green Mountain Coffee
about franchising and distribution opportunities in Chinas coffee market that were
largely untapped (save for the recent entry of Starbucks). Chris was a friend of Phidias
2 (Source: Au Bon Pain Location Finder
http://www.aubonpain.com/locations/alllocations.aspx)
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and knew his experience running Au Bon Pains specialty coffee, pastry and sandwich
concept was just the type of know-how he needed to launch Green Mountain Coffee as
a global franchise concept in China. If he could Phid was willing to go to Shanghai and
set up a specialty-coffee franchise model they could expand with in China, Green
Mountain would give Phids company the exclusive rights to sell their coffee in Mainland
China and Hong Kong. When I got there I realized only 2% of the population drank
coffee, but 2% of a billion should be a lot.
In order to get the finance and connections necessary to launch in China, Phid worked
with the Vermont Chamber delegation to seek out someone on to bring language and
business experience in China. He eventually decided on a gentleman named Nelson
Lo, a Taiwanese businessman whose resume displayed he had the expertise and
connections necessary to get this new venture off the ground. They formed Green
Mountain Coffee, Limited, a corporation with mostly Taiwanese shareholders.
Before heading off to Shanghai, China to take his business global, Northern Bakers
CEO was by most peoples standards, a thoroughly experienced executive in the
retail/restaurant industry. During the first half of his career in business, he had owned
and managed everything from convenience stores, to hotels, to luxury resorts. The
second half consisted of owning and running successful restaurants and 18 years in
franchise operations like Au Bon Pain in New York and New England. Because of this
experience in the food service industry for over 55 years, Phidias was confident he had
what it took to teach the Chinese a thing or two about the food service businesses.
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Before going any deeper into Mr. Dantos and the coffee business in China, the
background of what a franchise is and how it is structured must be provided:
What is a global franchise?
When people think about the franchising concept, McDonalds usually comes up first as
a prime example. Today, McDonalds franchise network is the worlds leading food
service retailer, with more than 30,000 franchise restaurants serving 52 million people in
more than 100 countries. Of those stores, more than 70 percent are owned by
independent operator franchisees
i
.
Truly, McDonalds is not just a success in America, it is the leading global franchise
chain. Interestingly enough, although McDonalds has spread all over the world, its
largest franchise store featuring more than 700 seats is in Beijing, Chinaii. The question
that naturally follows is, what factors contribute to making franchise models such a
success globally? One essential factor that contributes to McDonalds and the franchise
business models success across the globe is a consistent commitment to standards
and as a result customers know that no matter where they travel, they can rely on those
qualities at every franchise they visited.
How the franchise structure works:
(INCLUDE MORE ON THE PROCESS FROM THE DUNKIN DONUTS STEPS TO
FRANCHSING WEBSITE?)
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If youre going to start a franchise anywhere, youre going to first need aproven
concept, a proven winner Phid tells me in our interview, it is best if the chain has
shown success in around 2-10 stores initially.
-Franchisors that plan to go public need to prepare documentation that must pass SEC
stringencies. Phid advises me, If you want to sell stock, you need an approved
prospectus which is very controlled, and precise.
-Franchisors who will remain private can file for an S-Corporation. This is what Mr.
Dantos told me his company was in China; a private thing financed by friends rather
than strangers.
-The owner must next compile a franchise agreement. Phid considered this step almost
as needy of precision as the prospectus. Disclaimers need to be there, exact
percentages and royalties must be spelled out. You have a model.
-Included in a franchise format is what the franchisor agrees to provide. This largely
pertains to the restaurants format (standards). This could be a requirement that you
buy from a certain vendor ect. Phid explains.
-The franchisor agrees to the responsibility for developing new products, systems, and
procedures for their stories. The franchisee has the responsibility to keep it clean and
tight for the benefit of everyone, Phid continued, Quality, service and cleanliness must
be standard so that all stores will contribute to the common image. In exchange for the
rights to utilize the franchisors proven format in this way, the franchisee provides
anywhere from 5-7% of either gross or net sales depending on the specific franchise
agreement. The franchisor also provides a territory to their franchisee that protects
them from competition from other franchisees regionally. Mr. Dantos added, You buy a
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territory from the franchisor and so many stores to begin and you have to sign an
agreement on how many stores youre going to put in. In order to provide a growing
revenue stream to the franchisor to develop system wide improvements, franchisors
typically include a commitment to expand and open new stores in the agreements for
their franchisees. Franchisee can typically choose the sites of the new stores in their
territories, which could be as small as a neighborhood in a major city, or an entire
country. Franchisors want multi-unit owners, not ma-pa says Phid.
Franchising and China:
As a distinct business vehicle, franchising was introduced to China in the early 1990s.
With a population of more than 1.3 billion, an average economic growth of 9.4% for
more than twenty years, GDP per capita exceeding $1000 (over $ 3,000 in Shanghai),
as well as entry into the World Trade Organization, China was clearly becoming a focal
point in the world franchising market iii.
At the time Mr. Dantos took his first trips to explore business in China, there were over
1,900 franchise companies with around 87,000 franchised outlets covering more than
60 categories in Mainland China. Phidias quickly learned from researching reports on
franchising provided the U.S. Economic Development offices that Shanghai is a magnet
for this business model as the leading commerce and economic center of China that
has become one of the most dynamic city in the Asia-Pacific region, with the GDP
reaching the level of developed countries, it should be the natural first choice for
investors abroad.
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Because he was interested in developing new relationships and promoting his products
in the Shanghai area, Mr. Dantos pursued membership and association in the China
Chain store & Franchise Association (CCFA), which acts as the official spokesperson for
China's franchise industry. Its 600 members come from more than 40 industries and
include franchisers like KFC, MacDonalds, and Century 21 as well as retailers like Wal-
Mart and Carrefour. According to reports published by the group on the U.S.
Commercial Service website, China is expected to become the worlds largest importer
of franchises. Shanghai will become the leading market in China for franchise
operations, they write in a 2004 article. According to a survey conducted by the CCFA
in 2002 among Chinas top 100 retailers, the number of franchised outlets increased up
to 30 to 40 times over last year and sales revenue in 2002 reached $2.9 billion, an
129% increase over 2001iv.
This data concludes that Chinese peoples rising living standards has coincided with an
increased brand consciousness and desire for Western brands in the food and
beverage industry especially. Chinas gradual encouragement of a free market economy
and socio-economic developments have also greatly increased the number of well-
educated entrepreneurs in China who are eager to develop their businesses, careers
and lives by owning a franchise. These factors are encouraging international franchisers
to expand into China. Among the international brands have already been established in
China and have achieved great success are McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Athletes
Foot, Century 21, and the leading global caf chain, Starbucks.
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Starbucks in China: Think Local, Act Global Success
No other company was better positioned to tap into this market than the behemoth
international coffee chain, Starbucks. Their multitudes of stores that have spread
across the US and now the world have made a cup of coffee into a global phenomenon.
In the US aloneit is estimated that an average of 40 million people consume one of
their coffees every weekv. This statistic is an impressive example of Starbucks
Corporations ability to capture a huge segment the coffee industry market within the US
and internationally. With their international expansion in recent years, more markets in
Europe, Africa and Asia are discovering and cozying up to the Starbucks model. This is
acknowledged in the companys Fiscal 2007 Year in Review where they have dubbed
themselves The Worlds Coffee House:
With more than 15,000 locations around the globe, Starbucks is acknowledged as the
worlds coffeehouse. Our familiar green logoa symbol of one of the worlds most
recognized and respected brandsis a welcoming beacon familiar to millions of people in
43 countries. In fiscal 2007, FORTUNE magazine rated Starbucks the second most
admired company in the U.S., while brandchannel.com rated Starbucks among the
worlds top five most recognized brandsvi.
STARBUCKS demonstrates its commitment to China began another statement from
the company published in China Today. Seeking to take their successful coffee chain,
the American firm has poured huge efforts over the past decade into making China a
key market.vii
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Although its stores and brand are as familiar to us as McDonalds, Starbucks is actually
not a coffee franchise. It is actually a chain of stores owned and managed by the
Starbucks Corporate management team, not by independent franchisees like Phidias
Dantos and Northern Bakers Inc. Thats not to say Starbucks avoids strategic
partnerships and alliances to open locations in the most prime markets.According to
Schultz, the companys famous chairman and CEO, Starbucks will only enter into
licensing arrangements with companies when access to prime real estate which would
otherwise be unavailable such as airports, national grocery chains, college and
university campuses, hospitals, major food service corporations
viii
. This quote is an
example of the importance of key partnerships and prime locations in the successful
growth of franchisors that seek to emulate the success of the Seattle-based coffee
company. For, while they may not be a coffee franchise, Starbucks and their ability to
build their brand and retail operations lends itself very well to the principles of
franchising.
An example of the success of partnerships and join-ventures in China is shown by
Starbuck is in their recent deal to increase its stake in its southern China operations.
With the June deal, the NASDAQ-listed Starbucks will increase its ownership in Coffee
Concepts (Southern China) Ltd. to 51 percent, a colossal increase on its previous five
percent. To those interested in the burgeoning coffee business, this signaled a new
focus on China as the worlds leading retailer and roaster of specialty coffee . The joint
venture began opening Starbucks Stores in Chengdu towards the end of 2005.
Starbucks opened its first store in Hong Kong in May 2000, its second in Shenzhen in
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October 2002 and its third in Guangzhou in 2003. There are currently 13 Starbucks
stores in Southern China, including six in Shenzhen and six in Guangzhou. The
numbers are tiny compared to the potential, says U.S. coffee markets analyst Bill
Tanner. Starbucks has more than 9,000 outlets in northern and Latin America, Europe
and the Middle East. But its in Asia that it sees its future. Theres more virgin coffee
territory in Asia than anywhere else. And nowhere more so than in China.ix
As mentioned before, Starbucks underlying business principles- a great product,
effective marketing and PR, dynamic management and determination- can be applied to
a successful working principle for any successful coffee franchise. Their success and
struggles to take their Starbucks Experience into countries such as China and
succeed should inspire all potential franchisors and franchisees that with the right
ingredients and some elbow grease, American restaurateurs can come to China, sell
coffee, and succeed.
Further academic commentary I research on the business model contended that the
global-franchise chain provides a special challenge that business owners must confront
in operating their franchises across multiple markets that often represent a range of
different ethnicities, income levels, and cultural barriers. Understanding the culture in
which the global franchise is to operate in appears to be paramount. Dennis Cambell,
an author of a HBS case study on the organizational design and control challenges of
operating franchises across multiple markets. The basic idea is to think about how the
complexity of the customer-facing operating environment affects organization design
choices such as control systems, incentives, performance measurement, and ownership
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structures, Cambell wrote in the HBS case. Even firms that have very standardized
business models in terms of products, labor, and merchandising will face the challenge
of serving customers with different preferences and behaviors when that model is
stretched across multiple marketsx.
During his stay in Shanghai, Phidias Dantos studied Starbucks very carefully and hired
those who had worked for Starbucks. They had 25 stores at this time (2004-2005) in
downtown Shanghai. Seeking to understand his competitor, Phid went to Starbucks
stores around the city, seeing whos there, what theyre changing, what theyre paying
their employees. His experience meeting and speaking with patrons at the coffee stores
shows just how admired American brands our culture can be to the Chinese public.
Girls working at department stores here earned about $25 dollars a week for a 40-hour
week. Every Friday theyd meet at Starbucks to pay $3 (10% of their pay) more than
anything else because this was the place to be seen, Phidias told me in amazement,
Frankly theyd rather have a cup of tea that come free at any restaurants, but theyd
rather drink a late because they want to be very Westernized. The Chinese want to go
for the classiest most Western stuff they can afford, He recalled their love of
Westerners.
It is for these reasons that its little wonder Starbucks chose to launch in China as a joint
venture with a Hong Kong catering company that was tasked with convincing Chinese
tea drinkers to try the Starbucks Experience, their brands marketing slogan that
encapsulates the companys mix of quality coffee, cordial staff and a cultured
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atmosphere. According to a recent article on the joint-venture in China Today, if anyone
could bring Starbucks into China it was Maxims, Hong Kongs largest catering company
and a firm favorite at major mainland airports. We have worked hard to gain
acceptance of the Starbucks Experience in southern China, says Maxims managing
director Michael Wu in the article, adding that the local buy-in to the brand exceeded
expectations in such a short time.xi
Meanwhile, most start-up franchises in China fail because they are independent
operations that lack the management and marketing know-how or branding insights
inherent in the big chain-stores researched here. Bad location coupled with bad
management usually spell disaster, though another locally owned coffee chain, SPR
Coffee has managed to keep its handful of outlets in Beijing open. Bars and
restaurants go under almost every day in China, says Beijing-based marketing analyst
Jerry Garcia. A lot of people here dont seem to do any market research and choose a
bad location, offer crummy service and lack management skills, says Garcia, who runs
MGM, a branding and business consultancy in the Chinese capital.xii
There are some mixed advantages in Shanghais location and market particularities.
The Occupancy costs in extremely high, but labor costs were extremely low. Benefits
and Labor were 27% in US, Occupancy was 10%. This was flipped in China in the key
in the areas I wanted to open which were basically the 5 th Avenues and Lexington Aves
of Shanghai.
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Factoring the location into your franchise business mix means entrepreneurs must take
into account that occupancy costs are extremely high if youre going to go where you
want to be successful. These are famous streets such as Nan Jing Lu, Wai Hai Lu in
downtown Shanghai. If youre going to introduce a new brand, thats where you have
to be because thats where all the high end brands are there, Gucci, ect., Phid tells me.
You might run negative cash flow (50% occupancy) but thats your advertising. Theyll
see Green Mountain coffee nestled into the big brand names so theyll recognize it in Su
Jo. Once they see the name on 5th Avenue its better than seeing it in Time
Magazine.
It seems that Phid understood initially some things that Starbucks has forgotten recently
as their break-neck pace of growth has melted away with decreased earnings in recent
years: sometimes in marketing, less is more. For, although the companys new lines
like of Tazo(R) Teas have sold well, the firms recent venture into music, offering CDs of
cutting-edge chart music and ditties played in-house for sale under its Hear Music(TM)
label was less successful. In this regard, coffee drinkers proved decidedly less
enthusiastic than Starbucks executives had hoped. But the company is still young, and
liable to make mistakes. We are still in the early pages of the first chapter of our
international journey, says Christine Day of Starbucks. Truly, not all moves by the go-
getting coffee brewer have been wise.
This view was also supported by the authors of a HBS Working Knowledge Article titled:
Starbucks Lessons for Premium Brands. The paper points out that growing a global
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chain of stores and launching a vast array of products takes managements focus off
their main responsibility of improving same store sales year-on-year. This is the heavy
lifting of retailing, where a local store manager has to earn brand loyalty and increase
purchase frequency in his or her neighborhood one customer at a timexiii. The authors
warn that the exclusiveness of a brand requires controlled growth and premium pricing
comes from a limited distribution model. Public companies like Starbucks is constantly
challenged to grow and now runs the risk of having its brand experience being devalued
in the face of increased quality and competition from low-priced coffee offerings like
Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds.
The fact that his budding coffee business, Green Mountain Company, Ltd was a
privately run business controlled by private investors appeared to offer Phidias Dantos a
chance to build budding venture in a new exclusive brand in Shanghai. He continued to
visit various stores affiliated with his future business throughout his 18-months in the
booming city. He noticed KFC was very big in the fast food business here, bigger than
McDonalds hamburger stores. The Chinese like chicken, theyre afraid of beef. Theyll
never sell you a steak unless its black inside. They wont take red meat. A KFC
opened nearly every day in China in 2005, and KFCs and Pizza Huts now number more
than 2,300. (McDonald's has about 1,000 restaurants) Sam Su, who runs the China
division of KFC & Pizza Huts parent company, Yum Foods, projected January, 2008
article that they had plans for 20,000 stores someday. "We're nowhere close to
saturation at all," he said. "The sky is the limit."xiv
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As millions of Chinese find their wealth swelling and their time shrinking, sit-down meals
involving several generations no longer fit the needs of a hurried and harried middle
class. KFC's grab-and-go menu items were a novel solution, while Pizza Hut launched
the concept of eating out at a casual restaurant with the whole family. KFC opened its
first drive-through in 2002 just as China was becoming a car-owning culture. In 2001
Pizza Hut Home Service began introducing the idea of hot meals delivered to the door
(which might seem ironic to Americans, for whom Chinese is the ultimate delivery
meal)xv.
Pizza and fried chicken are tasty treats, but they're not staples in China like, say,
noodles and dumplings. So a franchise entering the market shouldnt worry if they don't
seek to offer overtly American fare. The most importance advantages a strong chain
store brings is that it still attracts Chinese consumers because of the quality and service
associated with an American brand. The formula developed by franchises like KFC --
cheap food delivered in cheerful surroundings--has provided a welcome mat reception
for their stores. Diner Frank Li, a project engineer on a trip from Suzhou, says
restaurant's link to KFC and Pizza Hut are a draw based on their reliable experiences
they deliver each time. "Those places are good quality," he says. "You know what you're
going to get. They are a very professional company that must know what it's doing, and
I think the quality there shows thatxvi."
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You walk into a Pizza Hut and its just like walking into the Ritz Carlton or Four
Seasons, Mr. Dantos told me, Marble floors and finely dressed waitresses. I recall
there was a bathroom attendant in Pizza Hut!
Alice, Phidias wife, shared copies of the many emails her husband would write home to
their son mark who managed some of their Au Bon Pain stores back in the US. In these
emails he noted some of the many elements needed in order to establish their
enterprise to compete with the established chains like Starbucks: greater infrastructure
and partnerships.
The Chinese are bad at the service business, therefore theres a need for a training
place for them. There is a need for coffee in China; a need to have our own factory in
China; otherwise too expensive to import food. When we went to a Starbucks here, we
asked the worker how much she earns. She said 60 cents an hour. Yet, the prices
were almost the same as the US and the blueberry muffin was crap.
In order to ensure efficient training of the standard operating procedures in a good
franchise, Phid saw would be a need to have a textbook on all their food processing
procedures written in Chinese. Phids partners were already drawing up plans for
corner stores and working on the question of whether it was better for him to use his Au
Bon Pain name recognition and pay that franchise company the 5 cents franchising fee
per transaction, or to and start our own and do the caf concept better. They would
eventually settle for a new name and new brand for their venture. They formed a
corporation: Green Mountain Company, Ltd of Hong Kong (as the only condition Green
Mountain Coffee gave them was not to sell their coffee in a store with Green Mountain
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Coffee in its title. Now that they had the concept, they worked on a franchise
agreement with Green Mountain Coffee where they were naturally required to sell
certain units a year plus growth in order to retain the excusive license. If they could
prove an ability to sell so many thousand pounds of coffee, they would be the exclusive
agent to sell it. Mr. Dantos has spent months planning everything that hed need to
grow the business through multiple channels-mail order, supermarkets, but most
important their own coffee shops where the Green Mountain experience would
emanate.
The new CEO of the young coffee company proceeded with drawing up the blue prints
for his future Green Mountain cafs in Shanghai. I planned to put full grown coffee
plants into the store with big sacks of coffee beans out for patrons the patrons to give it
the feel of an import-warehouse Phid told me excitedly. He had blue prints from
Panera Bread that were given to him to draw from by one of the Au Bon Pain founders
who started that franchise back in the states that allowed for a high volume of customer
intake and an express lunch coupled with a warm atmosphere and sophisticated menu.
He then complemented this layout with the style and ambience drawn from the many
popular Starbucks cafs he had visited. Phidias was confident that drawing inspiration
from both Starbucks and Panera Bread stores would result in the new design for the
coffee shop he envisioned possible in China. Art and culture would be fused with form
and function.
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As the central feature, I had it so adorning the walls of each store would be murals
painted of authentic scenes and images of the places Green Mountain harvests their
coffee from and the cultures that exist there. It would be a cultural way-station where
Chinese people can appreciate the setting as much as the coffee. Phidias and his
Taiwanese partner, Nelson, both agreed that corner shops (location) proved to be the
most effective, but they had to be in the most desirable locations, which Nelson
promised he had the necessary connections to deliver for the new Green Mountain Ltd
stores. However, as the months wore on and the anticipated deals to rent choice
properties ended with both Phid andNelson being turned down regardless of the money
they offered, Phid finally understood the most important currency in the China trade
Guanxi:
According to the background reading on Chinese and research done on the subject
dealing with the cultural aspects of Chinese business, everything is Guanxi
(relationships). Guanxi describes the basic dynamic in the complex nature of
personalize networks of influence and social relationships, and is a central concept in
Chinese society. These networks, in practice can range from families, companies,
industries and especially, political offices. If you wanted to go into Shanghai or any of
the major cities, dont kid yourself. You got to be in with the Communist Party, Phid
warned me. The party membership goes back generations. I learned that those who
were in with Mao thus their decedents would do extremely well through the
generations.
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From a patronage perspective like this, Guanxi describes a personal connection
between two people in which one is able to prevail upon another to perform a favor or
service, or be prevailed upon. To begin to establish Guanxi, franchisors that are new to
the country must go to the American Embassy to access U.S. business connections in
China. More important for an American executives quanxi is the influence of local
politicians. Phidias was very clear on his opinion on how important patronage from the
party is in successes: If you want any sort of substantial business, you must be in with
the Party. The Party is making things happen in China right now. He admired the
authoritative way the government system pursued economic development there.
Recounting his 18-months of experience dealing with their differing systems, Mr. Dantos
showed considerable understanding of the US government and the Chinese
government. Theyll do anything to move ahead and their government would just
ORDER it to happen, thats what so impressed him. To him, the communist partys
totalitarian practices have merit in a time when the economy needs to be developed and
things need to be done. They can move 200 million people in a matter of years.
In continuing to dine out and mingle with the business community there, Phidias also
learned a lot about how to get to know the Chinese socially around conducting
business. If youre invited to a party, you better go. Its extremely important for guan,
he would tell me. He assured me that when it came to the evenings in Shanghai,
everybody loves Karaoke. Phidias assured me that nights of karaoke were almost
standard in any business negotiation (which always run longer than American as used
too). Id be invited out night after night to these private clubs and here along with me
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were all the big deals of every big corporation. If one wishes to win the trust of their
Chinese counterparts it is important that you plan a big dinner and go out to Karaoke.
Phid learned a lot about Chinese culture and shared this interesting example; Heres a
story from an executive at Dow Chemical I met while I was there. The Chinese are
sneaky and crafty in a business deal and they know us well. For instance, they knew
this executive was a Christian they were doing business close to the holidays. They
knew hed want to Celebrate Christmas, so they procrastinate and stall until its
December 23rd. He recalled by the 23rd the businessman been going for 15 days and no
deal, just going out to Karaoke and club hopping until he was in a proper bargaining
position advantageous to the Chinese.
Guanxi also describes a network of contacts, which individuals can call upon when
something needs to be done, and through which he or she can exert influence on behalf
of another. This affects was is and is not possible for American businessmen and the
people they choose to partner with. This is why party patronage is very important and
why I was stuck when I eventually learned that neither me nor my Taiwanese partners
had the type of connections necessary to get into the right locations for our Green
Mountain Ltd cafs. Phid recalled, If you didnt support the party, they wouldnt rent to
top spaces to you. For every deal we were turned down on it was nevera question of
rent. It turns out it was a question of who Phidias had supported politically in the past
and who has was currently associated with. In both areas, Phid later determined, he
had poor Guanxi.
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Because he didnt have the support of the city officials, Phid couldnt get sites on key
streets in Shanghai (Nang Jing Lu ect). This is why Guanxi and location are two
important elements in the success of a China franchise in the food service industry.
Phidias tried to explain this serious dilemma to Nelson Lo, but he responded with stall
tactics and asked him to focus on other things, assuring Phid it would all work out.
When Phid tried to develop this Guanxi on his own he was discouraged by his
Taiwanese backers from utilizing the connections that the consulate recommended.
The Shanghainese are untrustworthy! Nelson always told me, and I believed him As
the months wore on, however Phidias began to see the truth of the matter: His
Taiwanese business partner had dressed up his capabilities a lot better then they
actually were. His partner didnt have Guanxi with the Shanghainese business
community and instead and tried to use Mr. Dantos and Green Mountain Ltd to provide
patronage to his own people by convincing Phid to bring in his own Taiwanese friends
on the company board. I had realized too late my big error in getting a Taiwanese to
open in Shanghai, Phid admitted, Taiwanese and Shanghainese did not trust each
other. Their two parties dont trust each other. When I went to meet with the financiers
Nelson and lined up for me in Taiwan, I was startled to find there werent flights allowed
from Shanghai to Taipei. I had to go to Hong Kong first!
He saw that this man was eventually out to use him. His wife, Alice, came over to visit
him shortly after. She fell in love with Shanghai immediately and wanted to sell the
house and stay in the country when Green Mountain Ltd. eventually launched its stores.
Rather than waiting for his Taiwanese partners to bleed him dry before his stores could
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ever open or vote him out of the company once they did, Phid decided hed had enough
and would return home while he remained whole financially. When he broke the news
to Alice, she cried.
When we dissolved the company and went back to New Hampshire, I actually came
out of it with $10,000 more than I started with, he recalled. The money wasnt the
reason I left and I didnt even mind discovering Nelson and his cronies were out to
screw me, Phid told me with a smile, But I just cant do business with people who I
cant have fun with in the long run.
So that was it. Two and a half years ago, Phidias Dantos, CEO of Northern Bakers Inc.
& Green Mountain Company Ltd. of Hong Kong, returned home from his last trip of his
China venture. On July 4th 2006, his plane touched at tiny Lebanon Airport in NH. 18
months after arriving to seek a new beginning on the streets of Shanghai, this lifetime
entrepreneur packed his bags to return another day. The global franchise venture on
behalf of Green Mountain Coffee was an experience not lost on Mr. Dantos, however,
nor should they be for anyone who chooses to follow in his footsteps. He realized, I
cant teach these people a thing. In fact, Phidias returned to the U.S. realizing that
China could in fact teach him a thing or two instead. Because I got burned and battered
and screwed, I learned, Phid said to me wistfully at the end of our talk, I earned my
MBA many times over in my career as a businessman not the MBAs like you got at
Union or Harvard, but just as good I think.
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Even as he told me of his past setbacks, Phidias Dantos retained sense optimism as
well as a great desire to return and to apply to many lessons he had shared with me.
He was just as excited about Shanghai as the day he experienced it for the first time.
He assured me, You can see the pictures, watch the movies, read the articles about it,
but you gotta go and FEEL Shainghai. Your entire body will shiver with electricity,
because youre a business man, I know you can appreciate the site of thousands of sky
rises, the buildings lit up in different colors and the energy of the enterprise. Phidias
was right, I can appreciate it and cant wait to experience it myself soon.
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