Business 101 Business And Enterprise Assessment Answers

Firstly, please choose a well known company to do. I would choose Starbucks coffee as it has lots of information that I could research from.  Please make sure you’re aware of. I’ll also put down someone’s worked example for you so that would be easier. But instead of doing Starbucks coffee she did on Microsoft one.

 

Research Essay

Over the years, corporate social responsibility has gone through numerous changes and slowly have become an integral part of every organisation so that they can contribute to the betterment of the society. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the commitment of a business towards their stakeholders and shareholders which have been a proposition for an argument for a long time. There have been various debates which question the role that the stakeholders and shareholders play in the organisation. Starbucks as a company fulfil their corporate social responsibility and sustainability and engages with their shareholders and stakeholders to make sure that they are successful in their business (Starbucks.in, 2018). This essay will divulge into the concepts of CSR and sustainability of Starbucks. Moreover, it will also critically analyse the roles of the shareholder theory and the stakeholder theory and how they are affecting Starbucks.

According to Clapp and Rowlands (2014), corporate social responsibility is defined as the responsibility of the organisations towards the people and the society around them. Organizations these days have incorporated CSR into their corporate strategy and introduces various schemes through which they can plan their contribution to the community. Starbucks is a coffee company which is placed internationally, with stores which are situated in around 60 countries. A few years back, the company went through a hard time because of which they suffered a substantial financial setback and needed restructuring internally. The CEO of Starbucks wanted to change this situation and decided to aim their investing in the people of the company. This is when they started taking initiatives regarding the CSR activities of the company. Starbucks began their CSR initiative by targeting three aspects which are the community, environment and ethical resourcing (Starbucks.co.nz, 2018). To benefit the community, they started various community stores which they partnered with different local non-profit organisations. These stores were developed with the aim to offer services to the people in the community that they were set in and satisfy their needs. In turn, the company donated a certain amount to their partner of non-profit for every transaction that was made. They also started the Starbucks Foundation to help in strengthening their community. Apart from these, several other initiatives were taken by the company to serve the community. For the environment, they developed several stores which are LEED certified and are aimed at conserving energy and water and other environmental effects to help reduce the harm that is being done to nature. For ethical sourcing, they have to ensure that their products are developed and purchased ethically and that they only buy from those manufacturers or farms who produce them by maintaining to a particular ethical treatment standard.

Sustainability is defined as the ability that the organisation has to maintain and avoid the wastage of resources and to manage the risks that are faced by the organisation regarding the environment, economy and society. As stated by Colicchia et al. (2013) first and foremost, Starbucks is committed to reducing the impact that they have on the environment and incorporating them into every aspect of their business. For this, they have taken various initiatives and brought about solutions which would help them to sustain the environment. They have developed stores which have been developed to the standards of LEED and have always adhered to the environmental goals to design, build or maintain their various stores. They use recyclable and reusable cups and packaging so that the waste that occurs is reduced. They have also contributed to energy and water conservation by using new technologies that would enable the lesser use of both these natural resources. Secondly, the company focuses towards economic sustainability by ensuring that the farmers and the people who are associated with the company are paid fairly and within the given time (Germani et al., 2014). They are focused on the internal occurring of their organisation as well and make sure that no person who works under them is left unsatisfied or unhappy in any way. Anisul Huq, Stevenson and Zorzini (2014) states that thirdly, Starbucks fulfils their social sustainability by being attentive to the social problems that arise with time. They have a zero tolerance policy which does not allow child labour to be associated with the organisation. The primary focus always stays on the farmers who supply the materials of the company and the company makes sure that those farmers are being treated properly. They also ensure that their actions are in alignment with the laws and regulations both nationally and internationally.

According to Bridoux and Stoelhorst (2014), the stakeholder theory states that the focus if an organisation should be to create value for not just the shareholders but also for the stakeholders as well. It indicates that for an organisation, it is mandatory to take care of their suppliers, employees, customers, community and shareholders. Whereas, the shareholder theory states that that the responsibility of the company is towards their shareholders and satisfy their interests and to increase the profits of the company (Strand & Freeman, 2015). As it can be deduced from the above discussion, that Starbucks is heavily aligned towards the stakeholder’s theory. This can be said because the focus of Starbucks is not just to increase the profits of the company. They have developed their company and their actions in such a way that they can fulfil the needs and demands of their customers, suppliers, employees, community as well as their shareholders. They aim to look after every person who contributes to the betterment of their company and is an integral part. This would ensure that they could run their business smoothly without creating any dissatisfaction for anyone. The opinions of the stakeholders of Starbucks is an essential part for them.

Hence, it can be concluded that Starbucks follows the approach of stakeholder theory for their operations. They have also been very active in fulfilling their corporate social responsibility and also ensures a positive impact on the sustainability of the economy, society and environment through their operations. They focus on their farmers and the people of their company which would help them to maintain their business also and adequately give profits. As a business which focuses on their stakeholders and their sustainability, they would be able to create a positive impact in the market and maintain their image.

References:

Anisul Huq, F., Stevenson, M., & Zorzini, M. (2014). Social sustainability in developing country suppliers: An exploratory study in the ready made garments industry of Bangladesh. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 34(5), 610-638.

Bridoux, F., & Stoelhorst, J. W. (2014). Microfoundations for stakeholder theory: Managing stakeholders with heterogeneous motives. Strategic Management Journal, 35(1), 107-125.

Clapp, J., & Rowlands, I. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Essential concepts of global environmental governance, 42.

Colicchia, C., Marchet, G., Melacini, M., & Perotti, S. (2013). Building environmental sustainability: empirical evidence from Logistics Service Providers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 59, 197-209. 

Germani, A., Vitiello, V., Giusti, A. M., Pinto, A., Donini, L. M., & del Balzo, V. (2014). Environmental and economic sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet. International journal of food sciences and nutrition, 65(8), 1008-1012. 

Starbucks.co.nz. (2018). Starbucks: The Best Coffee Makers and Cold Brew Coffee. Retrieved from https://www.starbucks.co.nz/  

Starbucks.in. (2018). Responsibility | Starbucks Mission Statement. Retrieved from https://www.starbucks.in/responsibility

Strand, R., & Freeman, R. E. (2015). Scandinavian cooperative advantage: The theory and practice of stakeholder engagement in Scandinavia. Journal of business ethics, 127(1), 65-85.