Social Media and Starbucks Corporation - Coursework Example

Reflective Portfolio Table of Contents Part A 4 Topic Social Media and CSR 4 Preparation 4 Starbucks and CSR 4 The Seminar Discussion 5 Advantagesof CSR 5 Social media and CSR 5 Social media and Starbucks Corporation 6 Short Reflection 6 Topic 2: Sustainability Strategies 6 Preparation 6 Types of sustainability strategies 7 The Seminar Discussion 7 Sustainability strategies of Unilever 7 Unilever adopted Triple Bottom Line Model 8 Short Reflection 8 Topic 3: Whistleblowing and Workplace Ethics 9 Preparation 9 Richard T De George’s contribution 9 The Seminar Discussion 10 Positive and negative implication of whistleblower 10 Importance of workplace ethics 10 Short Reflection 10 Part B 11 Contrasting the Learning from Three Different Topics 11 Reference List 14 Part A Topic 1: Social Media and CSR Preparation Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is referred to the business practice which involves contributing in initiatives which benefit the society (Said, Yuserrie and Haron, 2009). The policy of CSR operates as a self-governing mechanism whereby a firm monitors and ascertains its active conformity with the international norms, ethical standards and various laws (Businessnewsdaily, 2015). According to van Esch, Tsartsidze and van Esch (2014), social media is referred to the set of the online interaction channels which are dedicated to interaction, society-based input, collaboration, and content sharing. Our analysis has discovered that the applications and websites dedicated to micro blogging, social curation, forums, wikis, social bookmarking, and social networking are among the different forms of social media. Some well-known instances of the social media are Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit (Al-Deen and Hendricks, 2013). In the business context, it is applied to promote brands, market products, promote new business, and connect to latest customers. Starbucks and CSR Various companies engage in the corporate social responsibility activities in order to maintain its social responsibilities. Among them, Starbucks Corporation is the one which is completely engage in the CSR activities. It is the leading coffeehouse company with 21,536 stores around the world. It is involved in CSR practices which have helped the company to remain transparent in its actions. The business has formed guidelines of “Called Coffee and Farmer Equity” (C.A.F.E) practices which ensures that the company is supplying sustainably grown as well as processed coffee by assessing the environmental, social, and economic aspects of the coffee production (Businessnewsdaily, 2015). Leveraging corporate social responsibility in the world of social media can reinforce consumer loyalty and trust. It helps Starbucks Corporation to raise consciousness of their brands and to connect with various customers in the manner they want and ultimately encourage positive actions. CSR has turned around as a risk mitigation as well as self-regulation for Starbucks Corporation. It helps to keep the company out of danger (Crowther and Aras, 2008). The Seminar Discussion Advantages of CSR In the group discussion, one of the members mentioned about the various advantages of CSR which can assist the organisations to attain their organisational purposes. A carefully applied CSR practices could assist the companies to boost customer retention, enhance and develop relationships with suppliers and networks, generate learning and innovation, improve the reputation of business and offer access to funding opportunities and investment. It also help the firms to differentiate themselves from the competitors and create positive publicity as well as media opportunities because of the media interest in fair business practices (Fernando, 2009). Social media and CSR As we discussed, social media has both negative and positive effect on CSR, which has been explained by taking the example of Starbucks. It is a known fact that social media offer various benefits to the businesses, it also leads to risk for the companies. The features of social media include user-based network, interactive platform, sentiment over content, thrives relationships and is community driven. There are also a variety of risks of exploiting social media for businesses. Some staff employs personal account in order to communicate the work-related facts and it results in reputation damage of business. Social media also damages the reputation of company by making negative publicity. It always involves the risk of bugs, spy-ware and hacking amongst others. Most of the employees spend extra time on social media by involving in practices which is not related to business work and it hampers their own work and business performance (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Our analysis has explored that companies which show a dedication to the environment and community can draw more customers. Socially responsible and ethical corporations can avoid litigation cost which could have harmful effect on the cash position of the company. We found that the financials of the company which reflects that meeting the CSR norms along with the use of social media helped Starbucks Corporation to record higher revenue in 2014. It has been examined that its revenue has continuously grown from $4.1 billion in 2003 to $16.45 billion in 2014 (Statista, 2015). Social media and Starbucks Corporation Social media is proved to be very helpful for Starbucks Corporation. It is recognized for various things such as friendly baristas, great coffee and involvement with CSR practice. It is present on all the social media sites and its followers ranges from 37.32 million on Facebook to 2.86 million on Google+ (Curley and Noormohamed, 2014). There is no doubt that the company is crushing the social media sites. Social media is also used to improve CSR. CSR helps to exploit opportunity and manage risk by means of broad understanding; social media offers an ideal enthusiastic society to connect with (Curley and Noormohamed, 2014). Our investigation has revealed that the stores of Starbucks Corporation are successful due to the reason that they generate an emotional link with the customers (Friedman, 2014). Short Reflection What I learnt from group discussion is the importance of social media to improve CSR. A CSR approach begins with commitment and enduring vision from the executive. The CEO’s idea should be communicated by means of channels of social media so that the customers can provide feedback and can engage themselves with the brand. Companies as well as their employees provide their message about how they helped others or how the company is eco-friendly or remain transparent in their operations through social media channels (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). I also learnt that social media does not have any negative effects on the operations of Starbucks Corporation. Topic 2: Sustainability Strategies Preparation Carol-Ann and Sur (2013) have observed that a sustainable company is one which generates profits for its stakeholders while looking after the environment as well as enhancing the lives of the people with whom it works or interacts. Sustainability strategy assists the company to conduct its business operations in a manner that will include exploitation of those resources which will guarantee long term orientation of the company (Baumgartner and Ebner, 2010). The organisations which implements sustainability strategies ascertains that the organisation is putting positive impact on the environment as well as it also ensure that it’s business will continue for longer period of time. It enhances the corporate image of the organisation and also help to attract more investors. One member has stated that various companies are making use of technological advancement and zoning light controls to minimise the energy consumption of the companies. The companies like Accenture, Microsoft, Unilever, Google, etc. are recognised for their ethical and fair business activities. Types of sustainability strategies There are four types of sustainability strategies which include employee sustainability, corporate governance, systematic improvements and innovation. Corporate governance is referred to the directions that are used by the companies to control business operations and people. Employment sustainability is a type of internal sustainability strategy which involves compensating employees and developing them above the market levels. Systematic improvements indicate the incremental improvement which is used by the companies for their sustainability strategies. Improvement is a long process; therefore, company requires a sustainability plan which offers systematic improvement throughout future periods. Technology innovation permits an organisation to reduce waste and enhance its business operations (Ornat, 2013). The Seminar Discussion Sustainability strategies of Unilever The seminar discussion shifted from the topic of CSR to the sustainability strategies of the companies i.e. how the companies who are transparent in their activities have prospered in their business activities. In this regard, one member has explained it by taking the example of Unilever. Unilever is a global consumer goods company and is the third largest in terms of revenue. For them, sustainability is essential to how they do business. This means that sustainable development is the only suitable model of progress for their business. The ‘Sustainable Living Plan’ of Unilever decouple their growth from their environmental impact, whereas, at the same time increases their positive societal impact (Unileverme, 2015a). Our analysis has discovered that the sustainability plan of Unilever has three objectives that by the year 2020 will allow them to have the ecological footprint of their products, assist billion of individual to perk up their health and improve the living of individual across their value chain by sourcing 100% agricultural unrefined materials (Unileverme, 2015a). The sustainability strategies adopted by Unilever is that they embed or entrench sustainability in each phase of their product life cycle. The company is working with their suppliers in order to support cautious approaches towards agriculture and making their supply chain safer by functioning with farmers in order to improve the farming practices. They are also taking lessons from the NGOs as well as other stable organisations. It has also been noted that Unilever invest in the local economies as well as develop skills of people outside and inside of the company (Unileverme, 2015a). Through their brands and business, they run various programmes in order to promote environmental awareness, nutrition, hygiene and empowerment. The company is also dealing with climate change and deforestation. Unilever is viewed as the leader in terms of corporate sustainability practice (Unileverme, 2015b). Companies care about their sustainability because it leads to success and is also regarded as the main driver of modernization and innovation (Nidumolu, Prahalad and Rangaswami, 2009). As in case of Unilever also, innovation is regarded as key to their progress (Unileverme, 2015a). Unilever adopted Triple Bottom Line Model According to our understanding, Triple Bottom Line is referred to an accounting structure that includes three elements of performance i.e. environmental, financial and social. The elements of triple bottom line are also known as: planet, profits and people (Slaper and Hall, 2011). On the environmental or planet stage, Unilever is carrying out various initiatives which are environmental based such as reducing waste, reducing water consumption and energy, recycling, reduced packaging, carbon emissions and more. On the social or people level, the company is focusing on enhancing dietary value by lessening salt, sugars, saturated fats and additives from the food product. On the financial level, Unilever is already experiencing growth in terms of its increased revenue due to their eco-friendly initiatives (Werhane et al, 2013). Short Reflection From this discussion, I have learnt that there exists a positive connection between CSR and sustainability strategies. Companies which integrate environmental and social concerns in their operations as well as generate profits for their shareholders sustain for a long time. If the business applies both the sustainability strategies and CSR in its business practice then it will achieve success for a long term. Topic 3: Whistleblowing and Workplace Ethics Preparation Whistleblowing is referred to the disclosure of wrongful acts of a company by a worker (Arszulowicz and Gasparski, 2011). An employee, contractor, supplier or client who by some means becomes conscious of illegal acts taking place within the company may report it in the interest of public and they are known as whistleblower. According to our research, there are three types of whistleblowing such as internal whistleblowing, impersonal external and personal whistleblowing (Arszulowicz and Gasparski, 2011). Internal whistleblowing means the disclosure made by workers to others inside the company concerning about the illegal acts or conduct of others. Personal whistleblowing means blowing whistle on an individual; here the allegation is not against the company. The impersonal external whistleblowing is referred to the harm viewed as done to other (Arszulowicz and Gasparski, 2011). Richard T De George’s contribution Among the various contributors in the field of ethics, Richard T De George is one of them who in his book ‘Business Ethics’ presents a scrutiny of the situations under which the external whistleblowing can be regarded as either morally obligatory or morally permissible (Hoffman and Schwartz, 2014). The workforce are authorized to blow the whistle i.e. morally permissible when they made their worries and intentions known to the managers, the damage that will be made by the company actions or product to the general public is expected as serious and when the employees receive no approval or reaction from their supervisors then they report the board of directors. The employees are obligated to blow the whistle when they have documented proof that would influence the observer that their concern for community security is correct and the product or action of the company will cause serious harm to the public and when there is proof that making the facts public will avert the serious harm (Hoffman and Schwartz, 2014). The Seminar Discussion Positive and negative implication of whistleblower As we discussed, there are both positive as well as negative inferences of whistle-blower. The positive implication is that the whistle-blower may deem as hero because it conveys positive implication or inference to society and organisation (Lewis, 2010). The benefits of whistleblowing are that there will be reduction of mismanagement and organisational waste and it also assist to improve the morale of employees in the company. The whistleblower increase safety of the societal members (Lewis, 2010). The negative implication is that the whistle-blower may deem as traitor because it also conveys negative implication or inference to society and organisation. The managers or supervisors are generally not in favour of whistleblowing activity because it challenges the authority structure of the company. The whistle-blower may face erratic action from company and may also face vengeance, for example being blacklisted or fired by the company (Lewis, 2010). Our investigation has revealed that ‘The Council of Europe’ has constructed a legal mechanism on protecting the whistle-blowers (Council of Europe, 2014). In order to protect themselves from false allegation, the whistleblowers need to logically believe that the malpractice is happening or will take place in the workplace. They are also required to make their disclosure or exposure in the correct way (Nidirect, 2014). Importance of workplace ethics A good ethical culture within the organisation is very important in protecting or safeguarding the assets. Workplace ethics is considered as integral in promoting teamwork and increased productivity among the workers. It assists in aligning the business’ values with those of employees. Making ethical choices also help the companies to earn reputation and status (Zgheib, 2014). Short Reflection From the discussion topic I learnt that, whistleblower is significant to CSR because by making disclosure they try to prevent criminal offenses, environmental damage, threats to health and security of people and miscarriages of honesty and justice. Moreover, they convey positive implication to companies and increase safety of the societal members. Part B Contrasting the Learning from Three Different Topics From the above analysis on corporate social responsibility, sustainable strategies and whistleblowing, the result which is obtained by me focuses on the fact that all the three concepts are inter-related to each other. The concept of corporate social responsibility helps me to understand that the businesses should have some responsibility towards the society as well as environment. Most of the corporations are going ahead to engage in corporate social responsibility as an approach to gain advantages over their competitors. The seminar discussion has helped to know that CSR help to drive corporations to succeed by increasing their sales volume as well as brand awareness (Crowther and Aras, 2008). I came to know that big companies in the developed nations try to develop their business operations in the developing countries because from the emerging nations they can generate more revenue by exploiting cheap resources which are accessible here. It leads to the utilisation of competent workforce at low cost. Therefore, the developed nation can show their concern to the developing nations through their CSR activities. Companies which integrate environmental and social concerns in their operations sustain for a long time (Crowther and Aras, 2008). Our research has explored that Starbucks Corporation has an encouraging or positive consequence on the societies they serve. It is the vision of the company, that jointly they will elevate their customers, partners, neighbours, and partners to generate positive change. Every store of Starbucks Corporation is a part of the society and the company take responsibility to become good neighbour. They are also committed to provide high-quality, responsibly produced and ethically purchased products. Moreover, the company minimize their environmental footprint as well as inspire other to practice the same (Starbucks, 2015). In the same way, Unilever has also adopted the corporate social responsibility approach to remain sustainable for a long time. The sustainability strategies of Unilever led to success and are also regarded as the main driver of modernization and innovation. The company believes that innovation is the main reason for their growth, and through the cutting-edge technology they are continuously improving their brands, enhancing the nutritional properties, smell, taste and functionality. They invest approx €1 billion each year in the area of research and growth (Unileverme, 2015a). The unrivalled international reach of the company allows them to reach consumers in an efficient way in the local markets, ascertaining that they understand the diverse priorities and needs of their customers (Unileverme, 2015a). Social media is also used to improve CSR and is proved to be very helpful for Starbucks Corporation as it helped the company to promote brands, market products and connect to the latest customers. It also learnt that whistleblowing is inter-linked with corporate social responsibility and sustainability. All the three concepts are related to practicing ethics inside the organisations. Whistleblowing help to evade wrongful act and save the organisation from involving in illegal charges. It is evident from the past that the companies who have not practiced ethics and were involved in wrongful acts to show more profits and revenues in the balance sheet, have actually undergone bankruptcy and did not sustain for a long time (Bris, 2010). Successful disclosure of illegal acts shows that the employees have the authority to change immoral behaviour inside the company and also generate positive atmosphere in the working environment which is related to improving satisfaction of employees. It also helps the company to sustain by maintaining goodwill and by avoidance of the damage claims. Whistleblowing increases security or safety of the societal members. For example, in the Firestone case, if the whistleblower was prepared to disclose the matter previously about the substandard tires, it would not have caused hundreds of wounds and over 41 deaths (Vandekerckhove, 2006). Moreover, whistleblowing assist to promote ethics in the society. He serves as a role model of the community which encourage ethical deeds adapted by all the people in the community. Therefore, by applying ethics in the business practice, the company can remain sustainable for a longer period of time. Our research also focuses on the fact that whistleblowers may also have to face some problems for exposing the illegal confidential information of the company (Lewis, 2010). Therefore, our suggestion is that the companies should set up ethical policy which should be straight forward and clearly defined reporting procedure. This will improve the internal communications as well as encourage the internal disclosure. It will facilitate the supervisor to take instant corrective measures before the matter spread outside or grow larger. Businesses which adopt ethical practice and remain ecological in nature by reducing environmental footprint achieve their sustainability. 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