Bus in Its Social Setting
Why Starbucks has been so concerned with social responsibility
Starbucks has been with a strong concern on social responsibility because of the following reasons; firstly, it is the fear of the negative impact to the company if it is not socially responsible. This has made it to get engaged in responsible business practices since the start of the operations. Due to their significant growth in the past two decades, Starbucks have spent a substantial amount of time defending their image incessantly. According to the ranking of Starbucks, the company serves over 60 million customers per week and has estimated revenues of about $ 16.4 billion in a year (Ferrell & John, 2016). With this level of growth, the company is much concerned with social responsibility in order to maintain its position in the world market. Starbucks provides a variety of products to their customers and it is known of introducing new products in the market for example Verismo 580 brewer in 2012 which allows customers to brew a cup while at home (Ferrell & John, 2016). The company is putting all these efforts in order to remain competitive by serving many customers.
Whether Starbucks is unique in providing benefits to the employees
I can strongly agree that Starbucks is generally unique in providing benefits to the workers. Howard Schultz as the director of Starbucks always considered good working environment as the first priority. He strongly believes companies should start by valuing their workers. When forming the company, he decided to include many opportunities that his father did not have (Ferrell & John, 2016). One of the opportunities includes health care programs within the industry. To maintain a strong business, Howard developed a shared vision amongst employees and a favorable environment that allows active contribution of all members. He admits personal interaction in his company centers as a way of recognizing vitality of his workers. In 2008, the company closed 10% of its stores so as to continue providing its employees with health insurance and this shows how the company values its workers. Additionally, as a way to improve the health of its employees, the company established a program for its employees known as “thrive wellness” (Ferrell & John, 2016). The program is aimed to assist employees in incorporating wellness. The resources offered include weight loss, smoking cessation, and other forms of exercise. Above all, the company provides education program that allows its employees to continue with education in order to achieve what they desire. The company does this in order to alleviate the rising education costs. All these advantages explain how Starbucks treats its employees uniquely.
Whether Starbucks has rapidly grown because of its ethical and social responsibility or because it offers products wanted by the customers
Generally, Starbucks’ growth is significantly rapid and this is not only because of the products and the environment it offers to the customers but also due to its ethical and social responsible activities. Starbucks does its business in an ethical manner through community, environment, sourcing, wellness and diversity. Some of the ethical practices include provision of health benefits to all its employees and this helps them towards the mission of the company. The company also launched a planet website to update customers with all initiatives within the company. The website gives the opportunity customers to learn things such as the nutrition data being offered and other concerns that may develop related to the products (Ferrell & John, 2016).
References
Ferrell. O. C, & John. F. (2016). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases.
