starbucks

960 Words2 Pages

Since its founding, Starbucks has become a staple in the United States and a customary sight globally. Besides the association of Starbucks with coffee, the next familiarity is the company’s pride in being efficient in social responsibility. According to the Starbucks Heritage Statement, they still root its actions on CEO Howard Schultz’s visualization for the company, “Every day, we go to work hoping to do two things: share great coffee with our friends and help make the world a little better. It was true when we first opened in 1971, and it’s just as true today.” Today, the three core aspects of social responsibility that Starbucks focuses on as reported by their most recent Global Responsibility Report from 2012, are ethical sourcing, environmental impact and fostering strong communities in the areas they work in. Though many of the company’s stakeholders and consumers praise Starbucks for the undoubtable responsibilities in some areas, they tend to overlook the fallouts in other aspects of the company’s social responsibilities.
Starbucks is the not the worst company currently operating when it comes to responsibility. It remains recognized on multiple lists regarding high corporate social responsibility, however most importantly, Corporate Responsibility Magazine featured Starbucks on the list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens. This ranking is probably due to Starbucks’ work with over thirty NGOs with specialties ranging from community, ethical sourcing, environmental impact, global diversity and inclusion, environmental stewardship, and community involvement.
For their work with ethical sourcing, the major partnership Starbucks has is with Conversation International, an NGO focused on helping Starbucks with C.A.F.E. P...

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No one company can truly be perfect; therefore, it is essential to recognize the mistakes Starbucks has committed. However, in regards to being an ethical company and actively being socially responsible, Starbucks is still a leading competitor in this market. They lack significantly in vital areas of their responsibility, but the reality is that Starbucks has a bountiful of stakeholders that they must please. Unfortunately, the majority of their stakeholders are more concerned with Starbucks’ public relations, so Starbucks stresses their social responsibility work with concerns of the average consumer like the environment and ethical sourcing instead of labor rights. Although I do not personally agree with this way to approach responsibility, it is easy to see the other side and I do not doubt that Starbucks will begin work on their responsibility fallouts soon.

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