We're Number Three, We Try Harder

摘要

"It's raining. I have to open the roof!" blurts Victor Sassoon, as he rushes inside the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Singapore's popular Orchard Road. In seconds an awning unfurls over the patio. Sassoon, always fussing, stops to rearrange chairs before sitting back down to finish his favorite coffee drink, an iced mocha latte. Details count in the hypercompeti-tive, highly fragmented $100 billion (worldwide sales) coffee market. If customers aren't happy at this Coffee Bean, there's a Starbucks across the street. Nowadays there's a Starbucks across just about every street.