The thing with big chains like Starbucks is that they've found a simple standard way of making things. This ensures that they easily win their low-quality competitors and the customers know what to expect. But on the other hand, the standard level is the only thing they can work with when competing against seriously better competitors.
Coffee shops like Starbucks will always be better than the worst, but never as good as the best.
Also, there are so many things which can be done "right" or "wrong". The furniture, the location, the general atmosphere, what kind of beans are used, how the coffee is made etc. It requires much more than just some chairs, some tables, some place, some kind of coffee etc. to get a pleasant cafe.
They certainly did some research before actually opening one. There aren't many of these in the country which adds extra branding to them; exclusivity. But once they expand their stores, I think it'll be common and perhaps will also impact people's view over them. I honestly been wondering how their coffee taste in another side of the world like Europe, where most of its people drinks coffee a lot. From what I experience, even places in Indonesia with frequent EU tourists have better cafe that actually makes Starbucks irrelevant than the rest of the country. Maybe it's the same in Europe where it's way better to get it from cafe than these chains.
Cultural differences, you never really understand them without seeing them in action. I mean, in Europe, there are many cafe's which are clearly worse than big chain places like Starbucks. I'm not even sure how they have survived, unless it's because of the same people who have been going there for 30-40 years and don't want to try anything new.
If Starbucks will expand in Indonesia, what if it'll stir up the competition and some small premium cafe's will pop up to provide something even better? Let's hope so at least.