Both Sides Now

“For a decade it appeared there was no such thing as too many Starbucks for U.S. coffee drinkers, whose willingness to buy its $4 lattes and dark drip brews rationalized a second green-and-white mermaid awning just down the street — and sometimes even a third. But in a sign that those days are over, Starbucks Corp. announced Tuesday it will close 600 company-operated stores in the next year as the faltering U.S. economy hastened the pain caused by the company's own rapid expansion.

“Starbucks shares, which have been falling steadily for nearly two years, jumped 72 cents, or 4.6 percent, in extended trading after the announcement…

“Starbucks is closing 19 percent of all U.S. company-operated stores that opened in the last two years, Chief Financial Officer Pete Bocian said…

“In total, the company forecast up to $348 million in charges related to the closures, $200 million to be booked in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30. Starbucks reports third-quarter results at the end of July.

“The company had previously planned to shut 100 stores. The 500 more that will be closed had been on an internal watch list for some time. They were not profitable, not expected to be profitable in the foreseeable future…

“Some analysts had wondered whether Starbucks' explosive growth in the U.S. would come back to haunt it as the market became saturated.

“But before Tuesday, the company avoided acknowledging that saturation was an issue and pinned weak financial results and adjustments to new store openings on the economy…

“‘We believe we still have opportunities to open new locations with strong returns on capital,’ Bocian said.”

(“Starbucks to close 600 US stores, rein in growth.” by Jessica Mintz of the Associated Press. news.yahoo.com. July 2, 2008)

GROWTH OR PROFIT, what will it be? How long and how well can we pursue both sides of this balancing act?

What will be rewarded? How will that enable the ongoing accomplishment of our mission?

Emergence, growth, maturity, decline -- all systems move through life cycles as surely as sunshine follows rain, and rain follows the sun.

What are we learning and changing within each stage?

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall...
(Joni Mitchell)