咖啡王国星巴克

　　在一九八二年加入星巴克咖啡公司当零售业务及市场总监的侯活舒尔兹，在一次意大利之旅，对米兰蒸煮浓缩咖啡馆的流行文化留下深刻的印象，终于说服了星巴克的创办人，在西雅图开设了一间同类概念的咖啡馆，为他奠定了发展日后其咖啡王国的基础。侯活在一九八五年创办Il Giornale，两年后收购星巴克，将公司改名为星巴克股份有限公司。自此，星巴克由不断开设分店、在超级市场设立零售点，提供邮购服务，到推出果茶、雪糕及开设雪糕专门店，自行推出瓶装咖啡，甚至售卖唱片，扩展速度惊人。星巴克的咖啡文化，自此遍及世界各地。

　　星巴克现时在全球已设有近六千三百间经营店，至去年九月底的财政年度为止，其资产总值接近二十亿三千万美元，净收入达三十亿二千八百多万美元，纯利二亿一千五百多万美元。

　　Coffee Kingdom Starbucks

　　When Howard Schultz joined Starbucks as director of retail operations and marketing in 1982

　　and later traveled to Italy, he was impressed with the popularity of espresso bars in Milan. He

　　convinced the founders of Starbucks to test the coffee bar concept in a new location in

　　downtown Seattle. This successful experiment was the genesis for a company that Schultz

　　founded in 1985. In 1985, Schultz founded Il Giornale and acquired Starbucks’ assets two

　　years later and changed its name to Starbucks Corporation. Starbucks since explored its

　　business from opening outlets, setting up locations in supermarkets, introducing mail order

　　services, launched a blended juice tea, Starbucks ice cream and ice cream bars, marketed a

　　bottled version of Frappuccino® blended beverage to selling compact discs. The expansion is

　　impetuous.

　　Starbucks at present has nearly 6,300 locations worldwide. As for the fiscal year ended Sept 29, 2002, its total assets totaled to USD2.3 billion, with net revenues at USD3.28 billion, and net earnings reached USD215 million.