[mseebach]

> they could have scored some major plus points on the day Public Accounts Committee in the UK

There's nothing like politicians calling businesses who are obeying the law "insulting" in a play to stir up outrage to attract new businesses to a country. Come here, and be publicly harangued.

Instead Dropbox seems to have scored major plus points with IDA Ireland.

[BenjaminDyer]

Maybe, however in these times of austerity there's also nothing like a large corporate playing smart to irritate the natives (speaking as a UK income and corporate tax payer).

I would love to see the impact the UK boycott of Starbuck has had on their bottom line. Sure, not everyone cares but clearly enough people have forgone their red cups over the past few weeks for Seattle to take notice based on todays headlines.

[mseebach]

People practically never follow through on actual actions to back up their "principles" - to the point where the Starbucks next to the Occupy London was, well, occupied. If not even people who sleep in tents on the pavements for weeks are principled enough to forego Starbucks coffee, don't count on the average guy to be.

So I'd venture a guess that Starbucks UK haven't seen any real decrease in sales - rather, it's probably their PR people who figures it's better to be seen as "responsible", as you put it, to not irritate the natives.