Impact and Implications of Starbucks Actions on Society - Case Study Example

CRITICAL ESSAY By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Critical Essay Introduction Multinational Corporations (MNCs) such as Starbucks have in the present day penetrated into people lives, and their actions have positive and negative impact (Zhao et al., 2014, 844). Even though Starbucks bring optimism, comfort and opportunities to people lives, it also spells gloom, threat, misery, and despair for others. Consequently, there is an escalating pressure on Multinational Corporations including Starbucks to clear out their unsustainable actions and act more responsibly towards the society and stakeholders. As mentioned by Baxi and Prasad (2005, p.343), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the only feasible means through which international companies would consider operating more carefully and as a result, impacting people, societies as well as the environment. Companies like Starbucks are progressively more acknowledging the value of giving back to the society, considering that such efforts positively reflect on the company’s values and may eventually assists establish the profitability and customer base of the company (Tonello 2011). These days, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a crucial part of a range of corporations, and it is based on how an organisation makes an effort to be of assistance to all its stakeholder groups. Numerous companies nowadays operate with CSR, and so Starbucks always make certain that it involves in actions that will keep both the social and business environment sound (Semeniuk 2012, 17). This critical essay seeks to analyse the impact and implications of Starbucks’ actions on society as well as stakeholders. Starbucks Performance In view Of Fulfilling Expectations of the Society Starbucks has grown by bounds and leaps, and currently they have over 17,000 stores in more than 55 countries, so they utilize their resources and influence to give back to the community. Their objective is to become a social responsible company, and this has made them to embark on various initiatives that do good to local communities, which includes job creation that assist in sustaining and developing jobs in small-business as well as empowering people to get employment. Besides that, Starbucks Foundation offers monetary support to raise youthful leaders, promote education worldwide, and develop clean water that can be accessed sustainably (FundsforNGOS 2011). Besides that, Starbucks through its Community Stores, that contributes a percentage of all transactions in Starbucks stores to community organizations that are committed in revitalizing the neighborhood, has managed to improve the living standard of people within the society (Lopez 2013). Besides concentrating on communities, Starbucks has adopted a responsibility in its worldwide community approach, mainly through sourcing their products ethically, which promotes long-standing sustainability as well as assists farmers to sustain their way of life. As it will be evidenced later in the essay, Starbucks is dedicated to environment preservation, and they show this stance through efforts to recycle their plastic waste, water reduction, energy conservation and efficiency, as well as by constructing green stores. Starbucks’ effort in reducing waste is evidenced by the 2013 introduction of $1 plastic cups that could be reused. So, consumers reusing such have been receiving 10 cent discount on every cup of coffee (Tice 2013). Besides that, always support the community interests; that is its customer base by providing menu selections intended for promoting wellness and health, which includes low sodium, low-fat, as well as low-calorie. Starbucks as well promotes the idea of broad diversity in store settings, based on suppliers, hiring practices, as well as in conversation over the company’s future, as evidenced by the website ‘My Starbucks Idea’ (Lopez 2013). Starbucks has not just developed a masterful empire of coffee because of its fulfilling drinks, satisfying environment, as well as widespread ease of access, but the company’s community and charitable efforts resonate much with its consumer base and offer still an additional reason for supporting this coffee specialist. The Case for Starbucks Starbucks concentrates on protecting the natural environment and recommends other business organizations to do the same so as to make a great environment for society. Starbucks have launched scores of projects so as emphasize the importance of preserving the environment. Recycling and reducing waste is one of the examples, particularly on the company effort to recycle cups as well as other packaging (Starbucks 2013). Eventually the company seeks to make its cups become recyclable both in practice as well as material, in order that the customers can gain access to recycling services every time they decide to discard their cups. In 2008, Starbucks decided to put front-of-store recycling into practice for its customers across the globe. Since then, Starbucks have employed recycling in many markets and created associations with a number of municipalities so as to expand their materials acceptance in local recycling systems. In this case, decreasing the ecological impact of its cups has relied on the achievement of two interconnected efforts: creating eco-friendly cups and considerably heightening its customers’ utilization of these cups. These days, as mentioned by Semeniuk (2012), CSR is a crucial part of numerous business organizations, and scores of companies including Starbucks are using CSR activities such as environmental improvements to remain viable. Starbucks understands that CSR can help in improving the quality of product and service to customers. Starbucks holds the view that a good business must support and involve communities, and so the company goal has been to support its customers and partners in facilitating more than 1 million people in the community all over the world by 2015. Recently Starbucks has launched a number of projects to engage communities such as the Youth Action, which intends to support and inspire 16-24 year olds desiring to make a positive impact within their communities (Starbucks Youth Action 2013). From 2008 to 2013, more than 90 youth-led social projects in at least 32 countries got support through Starbucks’ Youth Action Grants program, which was created as Starbucks’ part of the Shared Planet dedication to communities. In this regard, the initiative offered grants to youthful social entrepreneurs who had finished International Youth Foundation (IYF) program. A committee comprising of Starbucks partners and IYF employees choose the recipients of the final grant. Ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 US dollars, the grants are used to reinforce the lives of youth in countries affected by war such as Africa, offer micro-credit support for youths, among others. Besides that, there are numerous community programs supported by Starbucks foundation such as nurturing young leaders: This program as per FundsforNGOS (2011) has given young people an opportunity to help their communities. Moreover, Starbucks always supports Coffee, Tea and Cocoa communities through offering training, knowledge, as well as credit or financial services so as to improve quality of product and improve farmers’ lifestyle. Through Ethos water, Starbucks has made it easier for communities to access clean water. Ethos water a social mission that begun in South Africa in 2001 continues to provide children with access to clean water. Hitherto over $7.38 million has been granted in helping support education programs for water, sanitation as well as hygiene in water-stressed countries, particularly in Africa; thus, being beneficial to over 430,000 people across the globe (Starbucks, 2012). Starbucks also promotes education; for instance, the company had subsidized $5 million US dollars to Chinese educational programs by 2005. The Case against Starbucks Starbucks is two-faced concerning community service. Even though they purportedly see themselves as being part of the projects that assist in making life better for the communities, in actual sense this is not the case. For instance, the plastic cups that they are using are not eco-friendly as they purport, considering that scores of Starbucks stores lack the recycling bins. Nearly 10 percent of cups utilised by Starbucks cannot be recycled, for the reason that the plastic coating preventing leakage from the cup as well prevents the cup from being recycled. In most regions, particularly remote areas the plastic cups that Starbucks use for cold drinks are as well non-recyclable (Lozanova 2009). At first, Starbucks cups were made using polyethylene terephthalate but afterwards were changed to polypropylene. Polyethylene terephthalate type of plastic can be recycled in scores of countries, but polypropylene cannot (Slideshare 2012). Starbucks by attempts to introduce eco-friendly material and recyclable plastic cups has been successful in some countries, but it should focus more on composting cups to manure for the coffee farmers (Slideshare 2012). Failure by Starbucks to track recycling at licensed spots such as in grocery and airports stores has made critics brand it an enemy of the environment. Environmental Conservationists are not contented with the environmental record of Starbucks; rather, they are worried about the whole lot from latest plastic lids to Starbucks' Ethos bottled water. Astonishingly, Starbucks purports to ne eco-friendly while its Ethos bottles do not utilize recycled plastic. Ironically, PepsiCo which produces Starbucks' Ethos bottled water uses recyclable plastic in its products. Conclusion In conclusion, it has been argued that Starbucks operates its business by using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a covering instrument it in all sectors of their business. For instance, Starbucks is actually worried about the environment and so takes part in community projects in effort to make the environment sustainable. By using modern technologies to improve its processes’ efficiency, Starbucks has managed to cut costs and simultaneously preserving the environment. With regard to social strategies, Starbucks has superb strategies to collaborate with its stakeholders and partners, bearing in mind that the company has created lots of activities for encouraging communities as well as for creating long-standing relationships with them. Undoubtedly, business is entrenched in society, and so it is not detached from chaotic, broad, and disordered social behaviours. Therefore, for Starbucks to become a sustainable business, it must develop understandable views on every socio-cultural facets through which its business activities interrelate. It is just not feasible to set boundaries of participation or to insist on the view that the business role is to create shareholder value as well as wealth instead of playing an active and full role in developing societies, which entails taking part directly in the multifarious ethical issues affecting everyone. The social aspects that have an effect on Starbucks consists of the lifestyles, values, attitudes and opinions of people in the community with regard to as education, demographic, cultural, ethnic conditioning as well as needs of the customers. The approach of Starbucks to social activities involve developing practices for ethical sourcing, supporting their participation in education programs concentrated on worldwide cultural diversity such as Youth Action, financing water-relating projects such as Ethos water in poor countries, as well as cutting its environmental footprint. Bibliography Baxi, C. V., and Ajit Prasad. 2005. Corporate Social Responsibility: Concepts and Cases : the Indian Experience. New delhi: Excel Books India. FundsforNGOS. October 24, 2011. Starbucks Foundation Funding Opportunity for Youth Focused Organizations. http://www.fundsforngos.org/latest-funds-for-ngos/starbucks-foundation-funding-opportunity-youth-focused-organizations/ (accessed December 5, 2014). Lopez, Jennifer L. January 22, 2013. Companies Giving Back in 2013: Spotlight on Starbucks. http://blog.freeshipping.com/2013/01/22/companies-giving-back-in-2013-spotlight-on-starbucks/ (accessed December 5, 2014). Lozanova, Sarah. June 10, 2009. 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