Csr; Study on Starbucks

Businesses, specifically larger corporations, play a major role in what occurs in society therefore, they are responsible to their stakeholders not only to pursue economic goals but the greater social good as well. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment. (Lawrence, 2010). Social responsibility is becoming the norm so much so that some businesses have incorporated it into their business model. There are three components of the bottom line of social

The purpose of this essay is to research the notion of CSR and uncover its true framework and outline what social responsibility truly means to corporate organisations, and whether it should be seriously considered to be a legitimate addition to the corporate framework of an organisation.

Starbucks desire as the leader in the specialty coffee industry is to be acknowledged for its responsibility to coffee farmers and their families to improve their well-being. The corporation’s primary stakeholders are broad organizations such as, coffee trade associations, suppliers, and groups with interest in sustainable coffee production. Including non-profit groups focused on human rights, social justice, and environmental issues. Other stakeholders include governmental agencies such as, U. S. AID (Starbucks Corporation, 2010).

Ethics must be global, not local. In order to build a truly great global business the leaders need to bring forward a global standard of ethical practices.

With the globalization in world budget, business ethics became essential necessity for companies. Business to business ethics of applicable behaviors in the long-term achievement of businesses in a positive direction, otherwise it has been the supremacy to adversely affect the behavior. As a result, the breakdown of ethical scandals has emerged released in the United States of America and Europe. Business, which

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.

In this article, “The Truth About CSR,” authors Rangan, Chase and Karim stress the importance in aligning a company’s social and environmental activities with its business purpose and values (Rangan, Chase, & Karim, 2015, 41). Outcomes of CSR programs should be a “spillover” and not a primary focus of a business, expressing concern towards social responsibility and corporations failing to contribute to society accordingly (Rangan, Chase, Karim, 2015, 42). There is a great deal of importance in companies refocusing their CSR activities on a primary goal and in providing an organized process for bringing consistency and discipline to CSR strategies (42). Rangan, Chase and Karim want corporations to understand why it is important for them to evaluate their CSR activities and refocus them towards the goal of reinforcing the firm’s societal and environmental actions, while also ensuring their actions add to the overall purpose and values of the corporation. According to the authors, even though

People do know that there are business organizations that have disregarded ethical standards and encounters ethical issues inside their company. There are times that ethical standards or norms have to be set aside to achieve something worthwhile for the company. Lately, businesses recognize the importance of ethics to help establish the integrity of the

Drawing from these debates, Archie Carroll has developed “the Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility”, one of the most significant concepts of CSR. There are four kinds of social responsibilities that contribute total CSR, he suggested, Economic, Legal, Ethical, and Philanthropic (1991). Therefore being socially responsible does not mean forgetting the fundamental aspect of business, to make profit. The obligation of Law restricts business activities and they are the rules of the game which businesses have to obey. Being ethical is to perform actions that are fair, morally good, and of stakeholders’ interests, even outside the boundary of law. Considering corporate citizenship, philanthropic responsibilities are responses to the rising society’s expectations to business (Carroll, 1991). The notion of discretionary and voluntary distinguishes philanthropic responsibilities to ethical responsibilities. A good CSR firm should “strive to make a profit, obey the law, be ethical, and be a good corporate citizen” (Carroll, 1991, p.43) and without simultaneous fulfillment of the four responsibilities, the business should not be characterized as operating within CSR.

International business ethics challenges the corporate world to deal with questions of what to do in situations where ethical standards come into conflict as a result of the different cultural practices in the nation. Since, there is this dilemma that has progressively troubled the large multinational corporations, international business ethics has arisen to help address these adhesive subject matters. There are several international business ethics discussions on the question of how to act in the home country as opposed to the host country is at the central point of most international corporations. The argument in question is how companies should practice their business according

The importance of ethics becomes more obvious than any time for multinational companies. Their pressure of international business ethics rules due to economic globalization increases. Daily News, the best ranked,

CSR lacks universal methods. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) mentions that it is important to draw a distinction between CSR as part of strategic business management concept and charity, sponsorships or philanthropy. The latter applications make valuable social impacts that enhance the reputations of the companies, however, CSR is a continual effort instead of an instance. A few features that CSR should focus on are: eco-efficiency, employee and community relations, environmental management, gender balance, responsible souring, anti-corruption, stakeholder engagement and human rights. Utilizing some of these key features a company can bring competitive advantages into the market place. Increased sales and profits from operational cost savings as well as improved reputation and brand image and customer loyalty can result from a well-defined CSR strategy.

In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.

However, modern theory known as corporate social responsibility (CSR), has complicated the situation in that stating that companies are not only responsible to its shareholders, but also to the stakeholders which its actions may impact (Freeman 1984). While this may seem to contradict the mantra of profit maximisation, Russo and Perrini (2010) suggest that in today’s conscience-minded society, success is based not only on maximising profit but also on a corporation’s stakeholder relationships, which include social and environmental issues.

Starbucks is an American multinational corporation that is arguably considered as the best coffee house in the globe in terms of global performance. The company has for a long time considered CSR as an important part of its operations and currently, it adopts an Anglo-American model of corporate social responsibility. This is an approach to CSR that maintains close links between shareholder interests with the operations of the organization. The company ensures that its CSR initiatives are appropriately audited so that it is able to learn of its CSR performance and not as an effort of complying with legal regulations and this is what makes the strategies adopted by the company very relevant. The corporate social responsibility codes that are derived from Starbucks’ Anglo American model have contributed to great product development by the company, efficient production and quality customer service. All these have been made possible through the company’s Corporate Governance Codes . At starbucks, the codes have provisions for the code of conduct which acts as guidelines as to how the employees at the organization behave. The code of conduct guides the entire organization including the board of