Assessment of Starbucks Csr Report

Unit 6: Final Project

Colleen McNutt

GB590: Corporate Social Responsibility

Sandra C. Taylor, MS MBA, PhD

November 23, 2010

ASSESSMENT OF STARBUCKS CSR REPORT

This report was written to evaluate how well Starbucks has addressed current issues concerning its stakeholders. Research was conducted to determine the most important topics relating to social, environmental, and economic issues in the retail coffee industry. It was found that fair-trade, environmental conservation and community involvement were the top issues. These issues were identified in Starbucks and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.’s corporate social responsibility reports and Bridgehead Coffee’s website. Many of these issues appeared on NGOs websites such as Coffee Research Organization, Coffee & the Conservation/Coffee Habitat, and Common Code for the Coffee Community.

Retail Coffee Industry: Bridgehead Coffee

Bridgehead coffee reports on its website that it is part of an international movement of fair trade distributors and small-scale producers committed to offering consumers superior quality products. It supports educating consumers about the unequal wealth distribution that pervades the global trading system, and encourages alternative trading practices that promote social, economic and environmental justice (Bridgehead, 2010).

Since 1981, Bridgehead has followed international fair trade principles and has selected partners that are committed to them. The company supports organic agriculture, which earns important premium prices for farmers that ensure sustainable farming communities and coffee grown under shade trees. Shade tree coffee farming preserves the diversity of many plants and birds. Bridgehead coffee is grown without chemicals that are harmful to farmers and to the environment (Bridgehead, 2010).

Bridgehead committed to supporting small-scale coffee and tea growers in diverse global communities, but it also enjoy supporting many local community...