Environment & Ethics at Starbucks
Environment & Ethics at “Starbucks”
Environmental and ethical considerations influencing and complicating the marketing of “Starbucks” coffee
This essay deals with environmental and ethical considerations influencing and complicating the marketing of Starbucks coffee. The structure of the essay is such that it will try and incorporate these two concepts and apply them to the company-case of Starbucks. In the duration of the essay explanations will be provided to what is meant by ethics and environmental considerations.
Analysis will be conducted on ethical and environmental circumstances involved in the marketing of Starbucks in an objective way as possible, presenting both sides of the argument, to minimize bias.
In recent years the field of business ethics has become a widely debated topic as a result of numerous scandals and loss of confidence in businesses (Ferrel et al, 2000). Notable scandals across the world include the energy giant Enron, whose questionable accounting practices lead to the company filing for bankruptcy at the end of 2001 (TIME, 2002), and Italian based dairy and food corporation Parmalat SpA which was officially declared insolvent in 2003 and charged on accounts of financial fraud and money laundering (Gumbel, 2004). Nike is yet another famous long-standing example of a company accused of poor business ethics. Ever since the 1980’s Nike has been accused of a range of non-ethical business practices such as operating sweatshops in low-cost countries and using child labour at some of its production sites (Azam, 1999). On the environmental side car manufacturers have been accused of poor environmental considerations with the high amount of pollution produced by their vehicles (NSCA, 2007). Many other scandals and controversies involving ethics in accounting, human resource management, sales, marketing, production, and intellectual property have occurred and continue to take place; stressing the importance of tackling this issue
Environmental and ethical considerations influencing and complicating the marketing of “Starbucks” coffee
This essay deals with environmental and ethical considerations influencing and complicating the marketing of Starbucks coffee. The structure of the essay is such that it will try and incorporate these two concepts and apply them to the company-case of Starbucks. In the duration of the essay explanations will be provided to what is meant by ethics and environmental considerations.
Analysis will be conducted on ethical and environmental circumstances involved in the marketing of Starbucks in an objective way as possible, presenting both sides of the argument, to minimize bias.
In recent years the field of business ethics has become a widely debated topic as a result of numerous scandals and loss of confidence in businesses (Ferrel et al, 2000). Notable scandals across the world include the energy giant Enron, whose questionable accounting practices lead to the company filing for bankruptcy at the end of 2001 (TIME, 2002), and Italian based dairy and food corporation Parmalat SpA which was officially declared insolvent in 2003 and charged on accounts of financial fraud and money laundering (Gumbel, 2004). Nike is yet another famous long-standing example of a company accused of poor business ethics. Ever since the 1980’s Nike has been accused of a range of non-ethical business practices such as operating sweatshops in low-cost countries and using child labour at some of its production sites (Azam, 1999). On the environmental side car manufacturers have been accused of poor environmental considerations with the high amount of pollution produced by their vehicles (NSCA, 2007). Many other scandals and controversies involving ethics in accounting, human resource management, sales, marketing, production, and intellectual property have occurred and continue to take place; stressing the importance of tackling this issue
Bibliography: AZAM, F., 1999, Nike shoes and child labour in Pakistan, American University, Available at: http://www.american.edu/TED/nike.htm [Accessed: 28/12/06] BEAUCHAMP, T.L., BOWIE, N.E., 2000, Ethical Theory and Business, 6th Ed., New Jersey: Prentice Hall Business Ethics Magazine, 2007, 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2005, Available at: http://www.business-ethics.com/whats_new/100best-2005.html [Accessed: 06/01/07] CASCIO, J., 2005, Starbucks & Nike, Doing the Right Thing, WorldChanging, Available at: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives//002534.html [Accessed: 03/01/07] DE PELSMACKER, P., JANSSENS, W., 2006, Fair-trade beliefs, attitudes and buying behaviour of Belgian consumers, International Journal of Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Marketing, Vol FERREL, O.C., FRAEDRICH, J., FERREL, L., 2000, Business Ethics – Ethical Decision Making and Cases, 4th Ed, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., p. 5 FISHER, C., LOVELL, A., 2003, Business Ethics and Values, Essex: Pearson Education Limited GUMBEL, P., 2004, How it all went sour, TIME Magazine, Available at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901041129-785318,00.html [Accessed: 27/06/06] [Accessed: 07/01/07] National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection, 2007, Cutting Car Pollution, Available at: http://www.nsca.org.uk/pages/environment_facts/cutting_car_pollution.cfm [Accessed: 04/01/07] NICHOLLS, A., 2004, Fair trade new product development, Services Industries Journal, Vol UNEP, 2007, Environment for development, United Nations Environment Programme, Available at: http://www.unep.org/themes/climatechange/ [Accesed: 12/01/06] VELASQUEZ, M.G., 2002, Business Ethics – Concepts and Cases, 5th Ed., New Jersey: Prentice Hall World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2007, About the WBCSD, Available at: http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?MenuID=1 [Accessed: 03/01/07]