'* WHERE? -STARBUCKS-CHINA - THERE! *'

DEALBOOK : IN CHINA, trust-building pays off for Starbucls, which is run by a female executive, Belinda Wong.

Google does very little business there. McDonald's  has agreed to sell its business and license its name there. Coca-Coca, after investing heavily, sold its bottling unit there.

Where is ''there''? China, of course. At a time when many United States companies have been  beating a path away from China, worried about censorship as well as political and economic volatility, one company has been quietly going the other direction : Starbucks.

Amid last many, many week's busy news cycle - filled with company earning reports and chaos in Washington-

Starbucks made a momentous deal that was largely overshadowed. It bought out its longterm partner in Chinese operation [making it the sole owner] and detailed its huge expansion plans for China.

Consider the  mind-boggling statistic that I culled from the  company's statement last week about its Chinese ambitions ;  Starbucks is opening more than 500 stores a year there - which amounts to more than one new store everyday.

Starbucks is creating more than 10,000  jobs in China annually. In Shanghai alone, there are already  600 stores.

To put that in a perspective, New York city has about half as many stores as Shanghai. ''When people ask me how much can you really grow in China, I don't really know what the answer is, but I do believe it's going to be larger than the U.S.'' Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, told me one recent  Monday by phone.

Mr. Schultz was headed to China that afternoon, preparing for a series of meetings in Shanghai. That's where the company is planning to open a 30,000 square-foot coffee emporium in December, one that  Mr. Schultz believes ''will have a larger consumer impact than the opening of Shanghai Disney.''

The story of  Starbucks in China is a nearly 20-year journey that maybe a case study for the American companies that have struggled to do business there.

Starbucks has found a way into the culture of China as well as the good graces of the Chinese government - by investing heavily there, paying significantly higher wages than competitors and extending its employees ownership benefits to Chinese workers.

The company has also been offering  housing allowances and health care benefits, and unusually,  offering critical illness insurance for the parents of employees and inviting those parents to an annual meeting of the company's Chinese staff.

Today, Starbucks is run by a female executive, Belinda Wong.

The Honor  and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on  Economic environment, business deals in global concept continues  to Part 2. !WOW! thanks author and researcher Andrew Ross Sorkin.