1. Why do you think Starbucks has been so concerned with social responsibility in overall corporate strategy? Starbucks achieved social responsibility by taking steps to follow guidelines, minimize its environmental “footprint”, and became involved with the community. This is important to the company because ethical companies do better in the long run. Customers feel good about bringing business to social responsible companies and employees feel good about working there and in turn employees provide better customer service. 2. Is Starbucks unique being to provide a high level of benefits to its employees?
Starbucks is unique in being able to provide a high level of benefits to its employees. Many businesses do not provide employees with many benefits. Starbucks understands how important its employees are and that they are the face of the company. Happy employees create good customer service experiences and repeat business. It seems like a lot of businesses overlook their internal customers too often. 3. Do you think that Starbucks has grown rapidly because of its ethical and socially responsible activities or because it provides products and an environment that customer want?
Starbucks rapid growth is due to both its ethical and socially responsible activities and it providing products and an environment that customers want. A company needs to worry about its business in the long run and the short run. Its ethical and socially responsible activities create a positive image in the public eye. Customers want to support businesses like this and employees want to work for a company that makes them feel like they are a part of something bigger. This helps the company in the long run. Coca- cola Questions: 1. What role does corporate reputation play within organizational performance and social responsibility?
Develop a list of factor or characteristics that different stakeholders may use in assessing corporate reputation. Are these factors consistent a cross stakeholders? Why or why not? Having a good reputation is the most important factor for any business. A corporation can spend many decades building a good reputation with the use of quality ethical practices. The problem is the reputation can be tarnished quickly by a few lapses in ethical judgment. It is the responsibility of the leaders of an organization to be socially responsible in order to keep the reputation clean and untarnished.
Being socially responsible means the company must make a conscious effort to be environmentally friendly, honest, financially responsible, and avoid sexual and racial issues. If there are any violations involving these topics, it can have an adverse effect on the stakeholders of the company. Investors are more likely to invest in a company with a solid reputation and one that is socially responsible. Some factors that stakeholders may use to assess corporate reputation are: Employee retention- if there is a lot of employee turnover, the company may be unstable.
Product quality- if the product or service provided by a company is strong, the company is probably strong as well. Customer satisfaction- a happy customer will be a customer for life. Ethical leadership- if the leader is ethical, the rest of the company probably is. Environmentally responsible- a company must be concerned about the future of the planet and how they are going to impact it. I believe all of these factors are extremely important to all stakeholders. These are the issues that are talked about in the news and written about companies online.
No stakeholder wants to go down with a company like Enron or Arthur Andersen. 2. Assume you have just become CEO at Cola-Cola. Outline the strategic steps you would to take to remedy the concerns emanating from the company’s board of directors, consumers, employees, business partners, governments, and the media. What elements of social responsibility would you draw from in responding to these stakeholders issues? 3. What do you think of Coca-Cola’s environmental initiatives? Are they just window dressing, or does the companies seem to be sincere in its efforts?
