Case Analysis Of Starbucks Social Responsibility

Founded by three partners in Seattle in 1971 in Seattle’s, renowned open-air Pike Place Market and Starbuck’s was named after the first mate in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Howard Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982 as director of retail operations and marketing, he returned to the United States with 1500 coffee bars. Schultz had recognized an opportunity to develop a similar retail coffee bar culture in Seattle. The first coffee house was tested in 1985 serving the first Starbucks café Latte, as well as introducing its Christmas Blend (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell, 2015).

Starbucks has expanded across America the United States and around the world with more than 25,000 stores in over 75 countries (Starbucks Company Profile, 2012). Starbucks

As we read in the case Starbucks has made Social Responsibility a big part of its corporate strategy. Social responsibility is very important when it comes to businesses today. Social responsibility represents firm’s discretionary business practices that are intended to improve societal well-being (Mishra & Modi, 2016). I believe that Starbucks has worked hard to strengthen their brand and cater to their consumers. It is important for organizations to behave in a socially responsible way, as well as embrace Social Responsibility as a component of their overall strategy (Mishra & Modi,

Starbucks is dedicated to its mission, in which they have created a corporate Social Responsibility Department which is known as the Global Responsibility Department. This department create an annual report on its shared planet website that allows its shareholders to track its performance. Starbucks is very concerned about the environment, its employees, suppliers, customers, and it communities. In 1992, Starbucks developed an environmental mission statement to clearly articulate the company’s environmental priorities and goals. To help with reducing their environmental footprint, they created the Environmental Starbucks Coffee Company Affairs Team. Under this team they began using environmental purchasing guidelines and reduced waste through recycling and energy conservation. They also educated their partners through their “Green Team” initiatives (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell, 2015).

Further, Howard Schultz’s desire was to create a good work environment. Starbucks has one of the best health care programs in the coffee shop industry. His key to maintain a strong business is to create an environment where everyone believes they play a part of something larger than themselves, and that they have a voice (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell, 2015). Starbucks supports their employees and