This is a photo of a beautiful coffee mug designed by a Thai but made in China for the Seattle coffee company Starbucks. It was a present from my brother to me during a visit to Thailand I just made.

The photo says several things. For instance it says that Starbucks has gone to Thailand. In fact it has been opening franchises there for several years, spreading Italian, or Italian-American, coffee there. Italian coffee has been known in Thailand for many years, but it is now much more popular, and local coffeehouses also spring up in competition with each other and with international ones.

To me this picture also shows how this company, like other international companies, does something to incorporate something local to its line of products. I don't think Starbucks has incorporated any local foods into its offerings. However, McDonald's and Pizza Hut have done so. When McDonald's first started in Thailand, they were very strict about offering foods that were exactly like what they would offer in the U.S. For instance, local potatoes were too small, making their French Fries too short. That was unacceptable, and they ended up importing potatoes into Thailand! As another example of companies trying to keep Thai franchises the same as the original ones, I heard that several years ago Pizza Hut International tried to keep Pizza Hut Thailand from serving pizze with different flavors by threatening to shut down Pizza Hut franchises in Thailand. Well, according to what I heard, Pizza Hut Thailand sued its parent company. I don't know what happened to the lawsuit, but now if you do a Web search for "Pizza Hut Thailand" you'll find the following site -- http://www.pizzahut.co.th -- which at this moment (about noon, Jan 7, 2007 in Thailand) boasts Atlantic Salmon Pizza!! Hmmmm, I don't remember that on the menu at the branch next to my university in Pocatello!! The furniture in the restaurant in Thailand also looks a lot better than what I'm used to in Pizza Huts.

Another thing this picture makes me think about is the fact that the mug was made in China, not Thailand. This may have to do with the fact that Thai labor has become rather expensive. Thais now are into precise manufacturing. For instance, workers in Thailand now make camera and lenses for Nikon, and my Canon printer purchased a few years ago was also made in Thailand. Pretty soon when Chinese labor becomes too expensive factories will be moved to Africa or someplace else.
This was actually photographed in Pocatello, but I put it in the Thailand gallery because the mug pertains more to Thailand than to Pocatello.

The coffee inside is homemade from Kivu grounds, not Starbucks'.