Sophia Magazine vol.5 / SUMMER 2017

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With about 25,000 stores around the world, including 1,260 stores throughout Japan as of March 2017, Starbucks is the biggest coffee chain in the world. Minaguchi gradu-ated from Sophia University in 1989, worked for consulting firms and LVJ Group K.K. (currently Louis Vuitton Japan Company), and later joined Starbucks in September 2014, becoming COO before assuming the position of CEO in June 2016.“I decided to join Starbucks because of the unfaltering power of its brand, which is reinforced by its unique corpo-rate culture. I related really well to the company’s new way of management and pursuit of growth, while implementing proactive initiatives to foster employees and contribute to local communities,” says Minaguchi.Starbucks is known for referring to all employees as “part-ners” who are considered to be equals, further attesting to the company’s unique culture.What appealed to Minaguchi as an executive was the com-pany’s simultaneous pursuit of growth and contributions to society. “It’s extremely important in managing that you aim Attracted by the Unique Brand Power andCorporate Culture of StarbucksCompany Growth Creates Opportunities and Cultivates Talentfor the company to grow and establish its reason for being within society. And what’s needed most for the growth of the company is for its people to grow through their jobs. The growth of the company creates opportunities that foster partners, and that is the cycle that is indispensable for man-aging a company. That is the goal that Starbucks is aiming for.”Starbucks is renowned for its wealth of knowhow in culti-vating human resources, which Minaguchi says is based on the idea of building sincere interper-sonal relationships. “For example, a store manager may ask a partner what his or her goal for the future is, and then encourage discussion on what needs to be done now to attain that goal. It is important for partners to set that goal on their own. Finding what they want to do is the key to fostering creativity, cultivating a sense of own-ership among partners, and allowing them to grow as people. To achieve this, our company invests a surprising amount of time and money in training and other ways of fostering human re-sources.”Progress in digitization in recent years has resulted in fewer oppor-tunities for people to interconnect directly, but building mutual trust through discussion by giving up-to-the-minute feedback is undoubtedly the greatest characteristic of human resources development at Starbucks. This, as a motivating factor, has re-sulted in low employee turnover. 1 and 2. Starbucks locations with regional air in Kagoshima and Kobe3. Youth Connection @ STARBUCKS 13224Sophia People