Engaging in CSR Activities for Starbucks Research Paper

Engaging in CSR Activities for Starbucks - Research Paper Example The company is headquartered in Seattle and has more than twenty thousand stores in different locations of the world. The coffee chain along with the main product coffee which comes in various forms also serves snacks and pastries. The stores sell packaged food as well as other merchandise that are used as materials for the promotion of the brand like coffee mugs (Pendergrast 133). Though mostly based in the US, Starbucks has ventured into the other countries as well like Japan, Canada, South Korea, Thailand, Mexico, Germany , China and many other countries. The company over the years of its existence has taken part into various CSR activities which has brought the brand into the limelight. These activities have varied across the various social issues including environmental protection, caring for the coffee producers, practicing fair trade as well as selling products for the sake of collecting money for children in need (Warner 1). Issue Identification The company as a part of its e nvironmental sustainability measures started the use of the paper cups which were claimed to be made of the recycled paper. Thus the food and the beverages were coming in contact with this recycled paper cups. These recycled materials were being used not only in the cups but also in the in the cardboard carriers and the napkins. The company claimed that it would have a direct impact on the environment and would be able to save almost 5 million pounds of tree fiber every year (Tice 1). This was a positive step on part of the company from the sustainability point of view. However, the company came across a lot of controversy since the cups are made of materials that have been used before by other customers (Taylor 49). Thus there were hygiene and safety issues relating to the use of such used materials. It was claimed by a set of people that Starbucks had not taken the permission of Food and Drug Administration before taking such a step that could harm the health of the consumers. Thu s the question that came up was how much Starbucks was being able to deliver the social responsibility goals that it had set and what were the consequences of the steps taken. Issue significance The issue is important from various respects because the health of the customers of Starbucks were at stake. First of all, the cost that was incurred by the company in the process of recycling was pushed to the customers who were buying the coffee. If it was a case of CSR then the recycling cost should have been borne by Starbucks. But the activist groups were of the opinion that the company evaded such costs. Secondly, the material that was used by one individual was given to another person (Bryant 173). This could lead to various health problems that would not comply with the hygiene standards. Thirdly, the company had not taken the approval of the FDA which was mandatory on part of the company. Finally, the customers’ opinions were not considered while taking this decision of imple menting the use of cups made of recycled paper (Locke and Latham 73). Thus from the economic, legal, social, moral and ethical point of view the step was not appropriate. Identifying the stakeholders In order to identify the stakeholders and their relative interest and power in the issue a stakeholder map has been drawn and their relative importance has been plotted as below.