Starbucks is a very well-known American company that has the vision to become “a premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining the uncompromising principles” (Gregory). The company’s mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time” (Starbuck website). In order be able to follow this mission, Starbucks relies on the following values: creating “a culture of warmth”, looking for the new ways to grow the company, be transparent and act with dignity, and be accountable (Starbucks website).
The company depends on its suppliers that are located mainly in the developing countries (See Appendix 1). So the issue of how ethical is Starbucks in terms of the relations with the suppliers is of great importance. The company states that it is committed to ethical sourcing. The company introduced the CAFÉ Practices program in collaboration with Conservation International and SCS Global Services in order to assure the high quality of the beans, accountability, social responsibility and low environmental footprint (Craves). Almost all suppliers follow these principles (Starbucks Global Responsibility Report). The CAFÉ Practices program makes suppliers correspond to a set of criteria and receive a “verified” or “strategic” status. Besides the CAFÉ Practices program, Starbucks communicates with the farmers on a permanent basis and offers different kinds of technical and financial assistance in order to improve their capacities (Starbucks Global Responsibility Report).
In conclusion, Starbucks Global Responsibility Report shows that company is interested in the strong corporate social responsibility practices. However, there is still a lot to be done in the poor countries where the coffee suppliers are located. One area in which the company could extend its activities is providing the loans to the local farmers so that they could invest the money into the infrastructure and improvement of the working conditions. The company is going to spend $30 million within the Global Farmer Program by 2020, but these loans should be long-term in order to have a larger effect and prevent the negative influence on the climate change (Giammona).
Works Cited
Giamonna, C. Starbucks More Than Doubles Size of Coffee-Farmer Loan Program.
Bloomberg. 22 June 2015. Web. 10 April 2016.
Craves, J. Starbucks Claims 99% ‘Ethically Sourced’ Coffee, But What Does That Even
Mean? Daily Coffee News. 1 May 2015. Web. 10 April 2016.
Our Company. Starbucks corporate web-site. 22 June 2015. Web. 10 April 2016.
Gregory, L. Starbucks Coffee’s Vision Statement & Mission Statement. Panmore Institute. 10
September 2015. Web. 10 April 2016.
Global Responsibility Report 2014. Starbucks. 2014. Web. 10 April 2016.
Appendix 1
