On July 11, Starbucks Coffee Company announced a new corporate structure to accelerate its growth strategy, which will come into effect by the end of September. It means that Starbucks will move to a new three-region organizational structure: China and Asia Pacific, Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico and Latin America) and EMEA (Europe, U.K., Middle East, Russia and Africa).

“Our company performance over the past two years has positioned Starbucks for the significant international opportunities ahead and the acceleration of our global growth strategy,” said Howard Schultz, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Starbucks Coffee Company. “Today we are successfully executing our multi-brand, multi-channel strategy and we believe the leadership and organizational moves announced today will optimize our speed and focus going forward.”

Starbucks retail business current structure include Starbucks U.S. and Starbucks Coffee International (SCI), which spreads on 54 markets outside the United States.

Starbucks named the current president of its international division, John Culver, as head of the China and Asia Pacific region, which focuses on the company’s operations in China, Japan and India. Cliff Burrows, the president of the U.S. division, will expand his responsibilities to overseeing Canada, Mexico and Latin America markets. The third group, including Europe, will be headed by Michelle Gass, president of unit Seattle’s Best Coffee, another Starbuck’s brand.

A president for each region will manage the company-operated retail business and work closely with the licensed and joint-venture business partners in each market. They will also work with Starbucks Global Consumer Products and Foodservice team to continue building out Starbucks brands and channels in each region.

As for the Asian market, many global brands consider China a very prospective one. Nestle has recently signed  a partnership agreement with Hsu Fu Chi, a leading Chinese confectionary company.