Japanese consumers are also much more likely to eat meals at cafes. This required Starbucks to create a larger array of meal-based foods, rather than pastries. The Japanese tend to prefer drinking tea, as opposed to coffee, and once the initial novelty of coffee-drinking wore thin, Starbucks was forced to incorporate a wider array of beverages (Lewis 2003). Starbucks made coffee-drinking in Japan more popular than it was before the company took root on Japanese soil, but Starbucks had to adopt a nationally-specific approach to thrive in the Japan and suit the needs of the Japanese consumer. Having a division specifically devoted to understanding Japanese consumer habits was vital in facilitating Starbucks' growth. Starbucks is an extremely complex organization. It is multinational, yet coffee tastes and preferences are highly regional in nature. Although it is a large food conglomerate, the character of different stores and food offerings vary widely, not only depending upon the region the store is located within, but also the specific customer needs it addresses. A busy Midtown Manhattan Starbucks that mainly serves businesspeople will have a different physical...

Having a matrix-style structure enables Starbucks to offer a personalized experience while still engaging in efficient management.
Matrix structures clearly have their downsides. They can be expensive and unwieldy, and interests between different divisions may collide. The finance department of Starbucks, for example, might want to cut down on product quality and employee benefits, while the public relations and human resource divisions may chafe at such a requirement. However, a matrix structure still seems to be the ideal organizational format for Starbucks, given Starbucks' stated mission to offer high-quality coffee at a reasonable cost, in a manner that is suited to the needs of individual consumers -- wherever they may reside.

References

Lewis, Leo. (2003, December). Japan's coffee kings and the Starbucks effect.

http://www.japaninc.com/article.php?articleID=1218

Organizational chart Starbucks. (2011). The Official Board. Retrieved May 21, 2011 at http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/starbucks