IMRD on Starbucks and Corporate Social Responsibility

IMRD on Starbucks Social Responsibility
Name: Class: Ling 200
Instructor
Date: 3/13/2015
IMRD on Starbucks and Corporate Social Responsibility
Introduction:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a term that might be very vague to people who are not familiar with it. It means that a company should be responsible for its actions and how they affect their surroundings (Rowenna, 2008). It calls for any organization to practice ethical business practices by operating within the guidelines provided by the law. CSR entails activities such as giving back to the community, environment protection and safeguarding employee welfare among others. Even though the primary reason for doing business is to maximize profits, organizations have the mandate to operate morally, which is the reason to uphold CSR. There are many ways for a company to be socially responsible, but some might choose to let go of the ethical side and just focus on the media. That is why it is important that is a corporation is truly being socially responsible within the guidelines of the law. For instance, we have Starbucks. Starbucks is an American corporation that owns multiple coffee shops around the globe and has a huge customer base. We are doing a research trying to investigate if Starbucks has an active role being a socially responsible company or not. To facilitate acquiring the information needed for the research we created a questionnaire with 10 questions. Those questions cover the subjects that we have in question like if the customers cared or even knew if Starbucks is socially responsible or they prefer going there because of the service or some other factor. This questionnaire will answer if people necessarily care what Starbucks is doing or not, in terms of CSR, answering the questions of whether the firm is socially responsible or not. It will further reveal the public perceptions of their actions and if that is changing consumer spending habits.
Methods:
The method that was used to acquire information for this paper was a 10 points questionnaire. It helped in obtaining the peoples opinion about Starbucks, and clarified the reasons that made them prefer it to other coffee shops. The questions allowed us to collect types of information like: gender, age, and more demographic to specify the type of customer. Then the questions start to ask about Starbucks role in being socially responsible to see if people have any sense of knowledge about that. Then we ask for people’s opinion about the social activities that Starbucks is doing to be socially responsible. And in order the questions will start to reveal if Starbucks is truly and successfully promoting their public image as a socially responsible corporation or the opposite of that. We will also be able to know if people cared about the recycling done by Starbucks. And if those customers prefer using the disposable cups that the chain coffee shops offer or prefer to use a coffee mug. So in order to collect the information, we were divided into groups of 4 to 5 people in class, and we went out on campus and off campus and gave questionnaires to different people with different demographics to be able to collect the most accurate amount of information. We will also be using research from academic articles, and credible online website in order to prove if Starbucks is a socially responsible company or not.
Results:
The questionnaire results present information about what people think of Starbucks’ role in being a corporate that is socially responsible. In conducting the questionnaire survey, we managed to get answers from 30 participants that were from campus and outside of campus, from both genders, with 57% of them being female and 43% being male. Out of those surveyed, 77% were between the ages of 18 to 25 years, while the other 23% were between the ages of 26 to 40 years. The participants were mostly Starbucks customers, with only 3% of them having never visited the company’s premises. The chart below represents the percentage of surveyed participants who go to Starbucks every day, Less than once a month, 1 to 3 times a month, 4 to 6 times a month, over 7 times a month, and those who never go at all, with the majority indicating they visit Starbucks 1 to 3 times a month.
How often do you go to Starbucks?
From the questionnaire results, it became obvious that half of the participants have heard of the term corporate social responsibility (CSR) at some point and have little knowledge about it, while the other half has never heard the term. When we asked them if they would purchase food and beverages from companies who claim to be socially responsible corporations, 27% confirmed that they always do that, while 20% said, sometimes they consider the issue of CSR as a reason for purchasing. 23% of the participants said not, while 30% confirmed that they never think about the issue of CSR as a reason for purchasing foods and beverage from certain companies. The chart below summarizes the percentage of people who always, sometimes, not really and never think about the issue of CSR when purchasing food and beverages from companies.
I tend to purchase food and beverages from companies who claim to be socially responsible corporations

A majority of those surveyed confirmed that the main reason why they shop at Starbucks is because of the company’s high quality products, convenience, with a few people saying that the brand image of the company and the prestige that comes with it is what attracts them. However, none of the participants choose corporate social responsibility as a reason that makes them shop at Starbucks.
In trying to identify if the people knew about Starbucks’ social responsibility, we found out that only a few people knew about the existing social responsibility campaigns of the company. Among those people above the age of 25 years, three out of seven acknowledged to be aware of the company’s CSR campaigns while the rest said they did not have any idea about the issue. Among the males between the age of 18 and 25, only one was aware of the company’s existing CSR campaigns, two said they did not know of any, while the other six people said they did not have any idea about the issue at hand. Among the females between the ages of 18 and 25 years, five of them acknowledged to be aware of the existing Starbucks’ CSR campaigns, three of them declining to know, while the other six said that they had no idea. When people were asked if Starbucks care about the environment, a majority said they had no idea, though a considerable number especially those above the age of 25 years, believe that the company does care about the environment in some way. In contrast, most the participants think that Starbucks recycles their wastes. Fro...