Introduction

Business Ethics for Starbucks

Introduction

Business ethics can be defined as the standards for morally right & wrong. These ethical standards guide a business to conduct the business ethically & legally. In the present time, each and every business organization is required to run their business operations ethically and legally. This is the main reason that today’s each company has their ethical programs, policies and strategies. Companies are developing a range of ethical norms and standards in order to avoid negative implications. The organizations are paying too much attention on developing formal ethical programs, creating ethical workplace with honesty and integrity. Today, ethical companies are maximizing their productivity, business reputation and revenues in the market. In this research paper, ethical standards, norms, polices, programs and strategies of Starbucks will be outlined and explained to understand the ethical principles and concepts.

Business Ethics in Starbucks

Starbucks is an American multinational and world’s biggest coffeehouse chain. The company has its headquartered in headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company has more than 34000 coffee shops in 83 nations of the global world. The company had started its business operations on March 30, 1971; 50 years ago. The main products provided by the company are Coffee beverages, Smoothies, Tea Baked goods, Sandwiches etc. Along with this, it should also be noted down that, the company is growing at the rapid rate because of its ethical and customer oriented policies and standards. In the industry, the company is leading in term of total revenue, market share, profit level and profit (Starbucks, Australia. 2019).

Starbucks is considered an ethical company as it believes that running business ethically and motivating to do the right things are vital to company’s success. The company had developed specific standards for business conduct. For instance, the company is proves training to its employees about how to deal with customers ethically. The company is follow ethical guidelines and standards in hiring of employees. It don’t hire employees based on age, sex, religion etc. hence, there is no discrimination in the hiring process of the company. The company is fostering an ethical culture. It is fully dedicated to ethical leadership and running its business with integrity.

The company and its employees are committed to ethical decisions at work. The company had developed a strong ethical policy that advice and enable leaders to drive ethical business practices. As a leading ethical company, the company has highest standards of ethical behavior and conduct. The standards of business conduct allow employees of company to make ethical and sound decision in day to day life. All the employees of the company have to take ethical standards seriously (Jun, Ma, & Lee, 2019).

As per the Standard of Business Conduct of Starbucks, the company considers its employees partners like suppliers, communities, and customers. The company fosters relationships with stakeholders via ethical norms and standards. The company is also committed to deal with the customer ethically and honesty. For example, the company is providing its product with highest quality. The partners and employees are treated with respect and dignity.

Ethics in the Supply Chain

Starbucks is one of the companies that mainly focus on ethical supply chain. For instance, it has developed a number of ethical policies, strategies, and norms in order to deal with suppliers ethically. For example, all the suppliers are treated fairly and equally by the company. It has several programs to motivate its suppliers to do business ethically and legally. For instance, special training and development programs are run by the company to educate the suppliers.

Along with this, it is also train its suppliers about how to supply goods ethically. At the same time, several CSR programs have been developed to protect the rights of farmers. In addition to this, as a environmental and social responsible company, the company has developed polices to protect the natural environment (Ratih, & Rahanatha, 2020).

Ethical Customer Service at Starbucks

The Company is investing on developing strong relationships with the customers. For instance, customers are retained by the company ethically. In order to develop long term relationships with the customers, they are treated with integrity, and fairness. The company is more ethical for its customer and due to this is customer centric company and pays attention on customer relationship and customer services. The company invested millions of dollars to train its employees in the areas of customer relationship so that customer can be treated ethically and legally. It charge very less cost for its premium brands. On the other hand, all the issues of customer are resolved very immediately. Personalized treatment is also given to customers by considering ethical norms and values (Taecharungroj, 2017).

Ethical Human Resource Management:

HRM is one of the major areas of any business that impact the efficiency and productivity level of a company. As an ethical company, Starbucks is very careful about is HRM strategies such as: tanning, hiring, retention etc. The company is believes in winning the trust of employees by dealing them ethically and legally. The company has designed several policies for performance maximization and higher motivation of employees. To maximize the organizational & productivity, the company deals with employees ethically. For instance, equal employment opportunities, flexible working environment are provided to motivate the employees.

The company is managing its HR very smartly, ethically and strategically. It is offering greet work culture and environment to its employees. It is paying too much attention on creating a culture of inclusion, trust and security. In this area, the company has received several honors including Military Friendly Spouse employer, most appreciated companies, best ethical company etc. For instance, the company is providing a range of benefits to its employees including bonus, benefits, health coverage, retirement savings, stocks and perks.

These are helping in motivating the employees. On the other hand, a culture of trust is build based on ethical principles and standards that empower employees to attain their goals ethically. Moreover, special ethical and compliance training is also given to employees to make them more ethical. For example, employees are also trained to make sound ethical decision based on moral standards and principles (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel & Roy, 2014).

Conclusion

On the basis of above analysis and discussion, it can be concluded that, Starbucks is one of the leading company that have a range of ethical policies, norms and standards. These helped the company in becoming world’s most ethical company. Along with this, it is also analyzed that, the company has strong ethical policy and compliance program that helping the company in attaining goals and objectives ethically. On the other hand, it is also suggested to the company that it should develop more strict ethical policy in order to deal with issues of ethical in the future. Finally, it can be concluded that, for the overall success, growth and productivity, the company should have sound ethical policy and strategy

Reference

Jun, Y., Ma, Y., & Lee, H. (2019). Empirical Study of Space Localization Approach on Brand Attitude: The Case of Starbucks in South Korea. Archives of Design Research, 32(4), 27-36.

Ratih, P. A. R., & Rahanatha, G. B. (2020). The Role of Lifestyle in Moderating the Influence of Sales Promotion and Store Atmosphere on Impulse Buying At Starbucks. American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR), 4(2), 19-26.

Samovar, L., Porter, R., McDaniel, E. & Roy, C. (2014). Intercultural Communication: A Reader (14th ed.). USA: Cengage Learning.

Starbucks, Australia. (2019). About us. Retrieved from: https://www.starbucks.com.au/Home.php

Taecharungroj, V. (2017). Starbucks’ marketing communications strategy on Twitter. Journal of Marketing Communications, 23(6), 552-571