New York (CNN Business) Starbucks wants to be big in China, and even bigger in the United States. To do that, the coffee company is making some changes.

After years of aggressive growth, the coffee company has locations all over the world. But now, CEO Kevin Johnson wants to focus on growing in the two coffee-loving countries where it thinks its efforts will pay off the most.

To drive that growth, Starbucks freed up cash and resources by closing its Teavana retail stores, partnering with Nestle to create a "global coffee alliance" and reorganizing its corporate team.

"I tend to bring a much more disciplined approach to picking the priorities," Johnson said during the Oppenheimer Consumer Conference in June. "If you pick the right priorities and you put the resources and energy behind them, you move the needle."

Since taking over from Howard Schultz in April of last year, Johnson has outlined a plan to trim fat and bolster the company in its two largest markets. So far, it's working.

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