`` Everything But The Coffee ``

I researched Metropolis Coffee Company and the sourcing process that their beans took to get into their shop. In this case, the coffee beans were sourced from countries across South America and Africa. This exercise displayed how we directly influence other people in society through our consumerism. More so, this exercise raises concern to the issues surrounding low wages towards the workers of these food products as well as harsh work conditions they are exposed to. If we were aware of our consumer influence for supporting ethical companies, we could effectively work to support companies whose product comes from an ethical means of

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).

Also I did find interesting that coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world. In addition to second paragraph she goes more into detail the root of her argument. The employer does not pay the workers well enough, because a one pound bag cost more twelve dollars. The workers only get paid forty cents for one pound. Furthermore paragraph three she explains to us what fair-trade is and how it works.

Coffee has played a major role in the lives of many people around the world. “Yet, poetic as its taste may be, coffee’s history is rife with controversy and politics…[becoming a] creator of revolutionary sedition in Arab countries and in Europe” (Pendergrast xvi). After reading Uncommon Grounds, it is apparent that the history of coffee is intertwined with the aspects of the globalization process, the role of Multi-National Corporations, and global economic issues.

Starbucks Corporation is a multinational coffee conglomerate that opened their first store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington in 1971. Over the course of the next 40 years, Starbucks has grown in leaps and bounds in not only opening more stores domestically and internationally but also in selling a variety of some of the world’s best coffee and tea blends available. The selling of Starbucks products does not only happen in their stores, it also happens in grocery, convenient, and specialty stores across the world. With the growth of the Starbucks Corporation came the responsibility of ethical and financial compliance to their organization, their shareholders, and the multitude of government agencies they deal with

The documentary follows Tadesse Meskela, the man who represents the union for many of the Ethiopian farmers. Specifically, he represents the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-op Union, which includes 74 co-ops, 74,000 coffee farmers, in southern Ethiopia. Tadessa is looking for a fair trade, to help his coffee producers get better trading conditions and to promote better conditions, and most importantly to improve the overall life of the coffee farmers. Tedessa travels the world trying to cut out the middle man who ultimately drives up the prices of coffee. His goal is to try and sell to the buyers directly. The big corporations responsible for

I set out to find a place to begin my observations, not knowing what to fully expect, what I may find. So I decided to look around at what is close to my home that isn’t a place I frequent or have even visited at all. Then it came to me, the Starbucks that is only about a mile away is a perfect place for me to observe subjects that I would consider different from myself, seeing as how I consider such obscene prices for coffee ridiculous. Starbucks is a very popular chain of coffee vendors that describe their product as more about quality than what Americans are used to in typical coffee joints.

Following Meskela’s journey, the film demonstrates the power held by multinational corporations (MNCs) in setting the price of coffee. He wants a solution, but what happens with commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), he is faced with challenges in finding that. Meskela worked diligently to eliminate the players who tend to come in between the buyers and the sellers. Instead, he went directly to the buyers to ask for a fair price. The fair-trade movement embraced his cause as they work to bring supposedly fairly-traded commodities to grocery stores in America.

Topic: An examination into the rise and fall of Starbucks Coffee Company and its relationship to certain microeconomic principles.

The primary use for this encouragement is for preserving the woods. Founded on research, Americans drink 100 billion cups of chocolate per year. At least 14.4 billion are served in disposable paper cups. Most of their paper cups are un-recyclable due to the plastic lining inside the cup. Aims for Starbucks by 2015 are they launch 100% recyclable cup and their coffee must be 100% ethically sourced. The causes they promote good ethics are portraying a serious public image of the company and want to protect image as being a socially responsible governance and a good option for consumers. Other than that, Starbucks wants to increase focus on ethical and moral issues in business generally. In addition, Starbucks makes it a priority to always pay coffee farmers proper wages for the chocolate that they produce. They even travel as far as buying all the coffee that one specific farmer can bring forth to make a coffee unique and exclusive to Starbucks. Non only does Starbucks work with the coffee farmers that they are purchasing from, but they also play with the local governments to ensure fair treatments, and social conditions. They suffer with these governments frequently to ask for aid to be socially responsible. In return, Starbucks does their best to help them by building schools and education programs. According to the individualism theory Starbucks would be considered ethical because

Starbucks has evolved and itself become an icon of globalisation, symbolising the role of corporations in combatting the consumerist society that is the West and exploiting the rest of the world, particularly the vulnerable and poverty stricken Global South. Thus, the contention of this essay is to highlight that the new globalised world has resulted in the exploitation of the Global South, in order to fulfil the consumerist society that is the Global North. This exploitation is exemplified by Starbucks, one of the largest corporations in

The vital part in political concerning Starbucks is that they have to comply with the regulations from where they extract the raw materials. This has caused Starbucks to be more aware in adhering to the current social and environmental norms. As the politicians from the West and the activist are becoming more aware of Starbucks garnering its raw material, Starbucks are currently conforming to the strategies that are in line with “Fair Trade” practices (PESTEL Analysis of Starbucks, n.d.). This issue has become the basis of Starbuck’s sourcing strategies.

When Schultz returned to the States he presented his new-found discoveries, of what he believes a coffee shop should be like. However, his bosses didn’t share the same belief, that creating a coffee shop with “artistic and joyful experiences” was less as important as making coffee that sells well. So, Schultz quit and he went on to raise money to fund his own coffee shop establishment , “Il Giornale.” The store started very small, with only two, or three employees, to keep labor costs down. Only sixteen months into his new founded company, Schultz found himself in the position to buy his former employers’ small scale coffee shop. To Schultz it was a no brainer to buy the company which first sparked his love for coffee, so he did. And at only thirty-four years old Schultz had one-hundred employees, several locations throughout the city of Seattle, and a dream to create a nationally recognized brand of “Starbucks Coffee.”

In bargaining power of suppliers, the interest for coffee is high in worldwide level and espresso beans can be produced just in certain geographical zones. Also, the issues connected with African espresso producers being dealt with unjustifiably by multinational organizations are generally determined with the endeavors of different non-government associations, and this is helping the expanding bargaining force of suppliers.

Costa Rica now provided raw material for Starbucks which accounted for about 15 percent of the total coffee beans Starbucks needed every year. Costa Rica as one of the raw material suppliers plays an important role in global value chain. Coffee has played a pivotal role in the development of Costa Rica. It has shaped social, cultural and political institutions and is still one of country’s major agricultural exports. (Anywhere, 2016) The global value chain in this coffee industry can be described that Starbucks, the centre in this coffee global value chain, purchasing raw materials (coffee beans) from coffee farms in Costa Rica, reprocessing and reproducing in retail shops, selling the finished products (various kinds of coffee) to customers in the world.