[vmurthy]

> If that's so, why doesn't starbucks, with all it's money and resources become better than local coffee shops

A local coffee shop optimises along a very parameters (let's say taste only) at the expense of scale, cost and other parameters. A Starbucks has to optimise quite a few other parameters but each of these parameters won't be at the levels that local coffee shops do. Remember, another thing a listed company like SBUX has to optimise is shareholder wealth so that constraint drives the rest of the optimisations.

On a related note, refer this[0] article by Joel on quality and scale. Here's a sampler:

"That’s because McDonald’s real secret sauce is its huge operations manual, describing in stunning detail the exact procedure that every franchisee must follow in creating a Big Mac. If a Big Mac hamburger is fried for 37 seconds in Anchorage, Alaska, it will be fried for 37 seconds in Singapore – not 36, not 38. To make a Big Mac you just follow the damn rules."

[0] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/01/18/big-macs-vs-the-na...