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At 4:37 PM +0200 8/7/04, Per Boysen wrote: >How about starting a separate "Starbucks list"? >Here in Europe we only hear about "Starbuck" on >Loopers-Delight. Not exactly essential reading >;-) Starbucks itself may not have reached Sweden yet, but the underlying question that initiated this discussion has to do with corporate citizenship. There is a growing trend of "gigantism" exemplified by businesses such as Walmart and Starbucks, that is tending toward global domination of their respective market niches (in the case of Walmart, more than a "niche"). One result of this trend is the homogenation of culture, something of potential concern to all. Your implication that Starbucks is limited to the United States is not entirely accurate; the company has been in Europe and Asia for several years (2000 stores as of 2002). Considering that Sweden leads the world in per capita coffee consumption (1097 cups/year according to a 2002 study by Nescafé) you should probably start to see local Starbucks "real soon now." But the larger question is "How do you feel about this sort of economic/cultural imperialism?" -- ______________________________________________________________ Richard Zvonar, PhD (818) 788-2202 http://www.zvonar.com http://RZCybernetics.com