Today, business is not only accountable to stockholders but to stakeholders as well. In seeking profit, companies are under increasing pressure to adopt sustainable practices which strike a balance between what has come to be referred to as Triple Bottom Line (TBL). This TBL is, fundamentally, made up of People, Planet and Environment. By properly addressing all TBL components, companies can be said be socially responsible in a sense beyond a conventional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In recent years, a fundamental change has occurred – probably largely because of globalization – in how companies conduct business. If anything, CSR appears to have been crafted – only initially – as part of corporate strategy to mitigate brand reputation risks posed by more vocal, local groups highlighting malpractices of cross-border companies.
In response, a growing body of CSR has accumulated in recent years in order to address evolving debates on CSR. The increased awareness of CSR in business strategy is now well established in business ethics literature (McWilliams, 2015). This growing CSR awareness has been particularly notable in addressing profit practices of multinational companies operating in ways not particularly considering for broader interests of society at large (Cadbury, 2006). Probably, emphasis in critiques about corporate practices is laid on neoliberal practices of open market economy pioneered by Milton Friedman (Cadbury).
In critiquing practices by profit-seeking cross-border corporations, existing body of literature raises issues well beyond immediate business contexts multinationals operate in developed countries. By re-focusing attention on practices as outsourcing jobs from developed countries to developing ones, discussions on CSR assume a new growing significance. Specifically, local development priorities are usually ignored by cross-border companies given more "loose" political, economic and legal frameworks in developing countries (Kapelus, 2002). This particular case of development re-prioritization highlights in less flattering lights how cross-border companies appear to set profit above all priorities even when a CSR strategy is adopted and implemented at home.
Probably, Starbucks has managed to a great extent to adopt a sustainable CSR strategy. In developing coffee-supplying partnerships with local producers, Starbucks has, in fact, managed to add value to People by creating market (and jobs) for local communities, to Planet by ensuring growing practices are aligned to specific environmentally-friendly practices and to Profit by diversifying her supplier portfolio and hence driving costs of coffee products down and hence profitability.
References
Cadbury, A. (2006). Corporate social responsibility. Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences, 1(1), 5-21. Taylor & Francis Online. doi: 10.1080/17450140600679883
Kapelus, P. (2002). Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility and the "Community": The Case of Rio Tinto, Richards Bay Minerals and the Mbonambi. Journal of Business Ethics, 39(3), 275-296. Springer Link. doi: 10.1023/A:1016570929359
McWilliams, A. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility [Abstract]. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management. Wiley Online Library. doi: 10.1002/9781118785317.weom120001
