How the Greening Program Could Be Implemented at Starbucks - Research Paper Example

?Starbucks Climate change has affected the residents of Seattle due to the increased frequency of hurricanes and storms that visits the that has taken numerous lives and destroyed many properties in the area. In light of this, Starbucks should seriously consider a green corporate social responsibility program in the sourcing of its coffee means and business practices. The proposed CSR program is in response to the customers’ growing concern for the environment and their increasing sensitivity about company’s ecological practice at low cost to Starbucks. The following proposal and research will illustrate how the “greening program” could be implemented at Starbucks. Issue in the community of Seattle In a study conducted by Oxford Review of Economic Policy, evidence suggests that the implementation of ecological practice in business operation as a corporate social responsibility is more profitable to the company and contributes to their financial goals. In the same study, Reinhardt and Stavins debunked the traditional notion that going green is an altruistic sacrifice of profit just for the company to look good because evidence suggests that it can in fact be profitable (Reinhardt and Stavins, 2010). In addition, the study also showed that CSR in today’s business is a necessary management function as “firms that engage in unsustainable CSR may find themselves being pushed out of business” (178). If the ecological practice of businesses is such a big deal among customers, this is doubly important to the community of Seattle because survey showed that Seattle is among the most environmentally conscious in the whole of United States (Rolph, 2010) and that they take the issue of climate change seriously considering that they had suffered from fiercer storms that claimed many lives and properties. Just recently, a windstorm hit Seattle which hurt people, and knocked out its power supply which affected thousands of its residents making environmental concern a pressing issue today (Fateh et al., 2013). Going green in supply chain as CSR To respond to the environmental issue that besets Starbucks, it must contribute its share in reducing its carbon footprint into the atmosphere that caused the climate change. Although the manifestation of the issue of climate change is local such as storms getting fiercer and more frequent in the community of Seattle that kills, hurt and destroy property, the solution is global. The solution is global because the collective carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that caused climate change is emitted by everybody of which Starbucks must contribute in reducing its carbon footprint even if such business activity is somewhere else other than Seattle. The solution to the environment issue which besets the community of Seattle includes not only the reduction of carbon emission but also the avoidance of cutting trees that absorbs (and in effect minimizes carbon dioxide emission) carbon dioxide that reduce it to the planet’s regenerative capacity. Starbucks as a company is a direct agent of either aggravating the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere or a socially responsible party that helps reduce carbon emission into the atmosphere. This is due to the fact that Starbucks raw material which is the coffee beans is a product of farming whose methods of growing can either aggravate the issue of carbon emission or help reduce it. There are coffee farming practices that aggravate the environment such as swidden farming or the cutting and burning of trees to plant crops of which Starbucks must avoid so as to retain the goodwill of the community of Seattle (Buttino, 2007). Starbucks must be particularly conscious in its CSR practice in the community of Seattle because it is the home of their headquarters. Any negative perception there will surely ripple to its other franchises across the world which could severely damage its brand and affect its bottom line negatively. Program specific: green supply chain Ethical sourcing of beans as a CSR practice will include not only the quality of beans but also on how the beans were grown. At present, Starbucks sourcing of beans only include the criteria of quality, equitable purchase and labor practice of its farmers. While it is also conscious of their envionrmental practice, the guidelines for ecological sourcing is not clearly spelled out in the criteria of its supplier’s/farmer’s evaluation. The criteria must be clearly set because it is imperative that these beans are grown in a sustainable and ecologically friendly manner that does not involve ecologically hazardous farming such as the slash and burn practice of swidden farming. This CSR approach will respond to the ecological sensitivity of Seattle community. The CSR program that is proposed is green sourcing of its raw materials or making its supply chain green. Green supply chain is the integration of a company’s effort to make its traditional supply chain “green” or environmentally friendly including all the processes in the company. These activities would include “product design, purchases, purchasing, manufacturing processes and the delivery of ?nal product to end customers (Lai et al., 2012 pg. 113). The biggest difference in green supply chain from the traditional supply chain would be the inclusion of environmental criterion in evaluating the sources of Starbuck’s beans, making the environment criterion a factor in sourcing decisions and the environmental collaboration and environmental monitoring (Vachon, 2007). Such, farmers’ qualification will encompass the traditional criteria of price, quality and reliability of supply but will now include the supplier’s environmental performance. In effect, Starbucks will be offering guilt-free coffee because they are sourced in a manner that does not contribute to the degradation of the environment. How will it be implemented and cost Carefully choosing bean suppliers whose farming methods do not destroy the environment is low cost. It will only involve an increase in administrative cost, particularly more manpower hours and travel because exercising due diligence among its bean suppliers according to the set ecological criteria takes time and effort. The item expenditure that may increase would be payroll because due diligence in ethical sourcing would require staff from Starbucks to ensure that its ecological criteria are met. In addition, travel expense will also increase. These costs however are minimal compared to the potential benefit of portraying and practicing an ideal CSR that would earn the goodwill of the citizens of Seattle where it can increase its patronage and enhance its image and thus will be beneficial to Starbucks if implemented. References Buttino, N. (2007, April 4). Early Humans. Early Humans. Retrieved November 30, 2013, from http://fubini.swarthmore.edu/~ENVS2/S2007/nbuttin1/swidden_overpopulation.html Fateh, Ali. (2013, November 2). Windstorm in Seattle rocks floating bridge, hurts two, knocks out power to 135,000. NBC News. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/02/21289798-windstorm-in-seattle-rocks-floating-bridge-hurts-two-knocks-out-power-to-135000 Lai, R, Hsu, L, & Chen, J (2012). 'Green Supply Chain Management systems: A case study in the textile industry', Human Systems Management, 31, 2, pp. 111-121, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 March 2013. Reinhardt, F. L., & Stavins, R. N. (2010). Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Strategy, and the Environment. Oxford Review Of Economic Policy, 26(2), 164-181. Rolph, A. (2010, October 28). Seattle's Big Blog. Seattles Big Blog. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2010/10/28/survey-seattleites-friendly-casual-and-environmentally-conscious/ Starbucks Corporate Office. (n.d.). Corporate Offices Headquarters RSS. Retrieved November 30, 2013, from http://www.corporateofficehq.com/starbucks-corporate-office/ Starbucks Coffee Company. (n.d.). Starbucks Coffee Company. Retrieved November 30, 2013, from http://www.starbucks.com/ Vachon, S (2007). 'Green supply chain practices and the selection of environmental technologies', International Journal Of Production Research, 45, 18/19, pp. 4357-4379, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 18 March 2013. Read More