Market entry in India: The curious case of starbucks

Abstract

We examine Starbucks� entry strategy in India, as well as the antecedents to the entry. Employing Dunning's eclectic paradigm and Ghemawat's AAA framework offers unique insights to understand the entry. By analyzing publicly available data, we undertake an in-depth case study. We argue that Starbucks simultaneously enjoyed ownership, location, and internalization advantages, and thus, aptly chose equity participation as the entry mode. Our unique contribution lies in concluding that Starbucks enjoyed high, medium, and low advantages for Ghemawat's dimensions of adaptation, aggregation, and arbitrage. Further, we introduce extensions to the AAA framework.