Starbucks, Well Known for Its Coffee, but Far More Than Coffee

Assignment

Jiabei Yu

Starbucks, well known for its coffee, but far more than coffee. Actually, as a public company, Starbucks has always tried to strike a balance between profits and social conscience. Thus, Starbucks endeavors to shoulder social responsibilities in a great diversity of ways. In brief, they can be divided into three parts: ethical sourcing, environment and community programs.

Firstly, Starbucks have been pioneering a new approach named ethical souring, which means it devotes itself to investing in coffee farmers and their communities over the past 15 years. The foundation of their approach is Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices. Concerning about environment factors and living conditions of the farmers, the C.A.F.E.is an effective way that ensures coffee suppliers can not only make a living but also provide high-quality, ethically sourced coffee by using environmentally responsible growing methods to customers. To support farmers, Starbucks invest in farmers loans to help them strengthen their business and improve living standard. As for community grants, in Tanzania, they cooperated with Heifer International to offer help to smallholder coffee farmers by introducing dairy cattle, gaining access to cleaner water and some other ways. Specifically, in 2014, Starbucks pushed out a limited-time offering coffee, which is more disease resistant and has better quality.

Secondly, the company is environmentally aware of the importance of protecting our mother earth, so it is an advocator for green retails. Starbucks opened the first LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified store in 2005 in Hillsboro, Oregon, and now they have more than 650 LEED-certified stores in 19 countries. In 2008, Starbucks set a goal to reduce 25% water use and made a great achievements over these years. Besides, as one of the top purchasers of renewable energy in the U.S, Starbucks bought more than half billion kilowatt hours wind energy over the past years. It is worth noting that the company offers discount to customers who use reusable cups or their tumblers for approximately 30 years.

Last but not least, Starbucks aims to create a new pathway to opportunities and employment in communities by making quite a few programs. Take the Opportunity for Youth for example, it is a life-changing program especially for youngsters who have sad back storied and are in need of mentally and materially support. So Starbucks will care about their health, help them get into workforce and continue to study in the college. In addition, the company pushed out Starbucks College Achievement Plan in order to offer formal education online to those all part- and full-time Starbucks partners who can’t pay for their college through Arizona State University. Moreover, some other programs such as Customer Service Retail Excellence Training Program, which trains students with customer service skills and helps them become more decent and polite.