Starbucks shows in every way throughout its corporate structure and its advertisements, both nationally and internationally, that is undergoing an extensive period of growth and that it is NOT undergoing a crisis, nor needing to change its management for fixing a crisis. Rather, it communicates that it is confident to have and implement that it needs to make advanced growth in the international market.
Home, School or Business
One of the successful leveraging tools Starbucks offers is the choice of Starbucks delivered to your home or your office. Furthermore, it also has a program for Universities and other public institutions, where Starbucks doesn't have property, to offer Starbucks for its customers and these are called licensed stores (licensed stores).
A Card Just For You
Starbucks offers its customers the choice of creating its own card, which it can use to add bucks to and use in all of its stores. It is the choice of a custom made card: you simply choose a card, select the theme and order the card in three easy steps (Customized Starbucks). This is a great way for Starbucks to communicate the Starbucks Experience, since it allows the customer to have a huge variety with very little effort on their part. The card is easily added to, much like any credit card that is used for debit transactions and withdrawals. Secondly, it also makes the experience fun and easy to do.
Criticisms
Some of the major criticisms that have been launched against Starbucks are "cultural imperialism," "labor disputes," "coffee bean market," "anti-competitive tactics." (Wikipedia Starbucks). At a location in Beijing, the site of the former Imperial Palace became a Starbucks store; it was forced to close because of the great controversy that was created by its presence "on Chinese culture." These are some of the issues the likes of Mr. Coles need to deal with on a daily basis. Another criticism launched at Starbucks was its anti-competitive tactics; that is, when it comes into an area it tends to buy out all of its major competitors and makes the smaller companies fear its power as a large corporation. When it first opened in the UK it purchased its entire rival, Seattle Coffee, and turned them into Starbucks stores. Leveraging itself with the prime land that was purchased to still open more stores. Lastly, another criticism against Starbucks is their relationship with the Free Trade Coffee (FTC).
It has purchased in the area of over three hundred million pounds of coffee in 2006 with about 6% being FTC traded. The company TransFair is the only certified company that trades Fair Trade Coffee and encourages the impact Starbucks has made on the market. Criticizers feel that the less fortunate and less powerful companies that make their livelihood thru coffee cannot afford the FTC since the contract costs around 20K per license (Wikipedia Starbucks).
A recent criticism arose against Starbucks in regard to a deal with Ethiopian Coffee Makers. There are three brands of Ethiopian Coffee, which are widely profitable for Ethiopia, but Starbucks has decided not to trade these particular coffees for many reasons. The Ethiopian government is criticizing it by not supporting the income that would result from the sale of these specialty brands. Starbucks prefers to deal with smaller Ethiopian Coffee farmers for social responsibility issues (Phoenix Starbucks).
Chris Grimshaw of Corporate Watch says that Starbucks creates “the illusion of ethics” (Starbucks OCA). Some have even recommended that shops who have 100% FTC are more highly recommended over Starbucks which acts like a superstore and runs smaller stores out of business, which “can never be 100 per cent ethical” (Starbucks OCA). The spokespersons for the Organic Consumers Association said that in a recent report by Global Marketing it found that Starbucks customers found the company as “arrogant, intrusive and self-centered” (Starbucks OCA). The reporter further commented that it is “no surprise then that Starbucks has invested significantly in CSR-Community Social Responsibility (Starbucks OCA).
We can see that despite the new strategies of Mr. Coles and others to leverage and make great strides in the international market, building more stores and furthering its global purchase of land; Starbucks has to deal with much controversy, not only with the past but also wherever it goes. These controversies and criticisms seem to be an ever-present issue that Starbucks has to deal with as it seeks to expand itself more and more.
Socrates and KLD
It seems that Starbucks seeks to create a better image of it and to grow in the global market and put more money into Communal Social Responsibility-it was one of the 100 top ethically run companies in America last year (Socrates KLD). The list of 100 corporations is rated according to several factors those same indicators, which Starbucks puts in its yearly reports: Environment, Social, Governance and the Controversial (Socrates KLD). This means that Starbucks is very earnest about the image it is producing in the places where it goes and the markets it does business in. Starbucks has committed to give an account of all critical areas and their improvement year by year. This is one of the strategies it seeks to improve its image to both shareholders and those others who witness its business practices and growth (BHRRC Corporate).
