Corporation Social Responsibility

I choose to write about Starbucks case study on issues of fair trade effects, not only because it is interesting to me, but also, because it is one of the major CSR problems for companies around the world, specifically those in developed countries doing business with people in the developing countries. Recent statistics showed that, coffee is the US's largest food import and second most important commodity only after oil. According to the International Coffee Organization in global exchange report, the US imported 2.72 billion pounds of coffee mostly from developing countries, from September 2001 to September 2002. Fair trade is gradually becoming an important topic in global business market because, in many developing countries, prices for some commodities are so low that workers are unable to earn enough to live off of. In today’s business world where globalization is reaching every corner of the globe, company’s executives must be well knowledgeable of CSR practices relating to areas such as fair trade, human rights, environmental protection, sustainability, health and safety.

I selected this particular case study because of the burden farmers from developing countries have been going through over the years, selling coffee to developed countries even below their production costs, and the immediate CSR actions Starbucks took right after the company signed the Fair Trade agreement. Another reason why I select this topic is that, I wanted to know why most of these thirds world countries possess reasonable amounts of natural resources and other commodities, but still, their citizens are living in chronic poverty. But, before any details, what is fair trade? According to Merriam Webster, fair trade is “a movement whose goal is to help producers in developing countries to get a fair price for their products so as to reduce poverty, provide for the ethical treatment of workers and farmers, and promote environmentally sustainable practices”. . In the year 2000, a...