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Global Strategic Alliance of Starbucks Corporation

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Starbucks global social responsibility issues for alliance making
- Identify issues of CSR
- Analyze each issue and describe the impact on stakeholders
- Describe ways in which Starbucks can be socially responsible
Discussion and directions for future research
- Critical success factors for global alliance making while being socially responsible

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//This paper deals with the global strategic alliances and corporate social responsibility of Starbucks. The different issues related to corporate social responsibility along with their impact on the stakeholders will also be discussed in the paper. It also discusses different ways in which the company can become socially responsible. In this part of the paper we will be highlighting the profile of the Starbucks along with the issues related to making alliance.//

Starbucks Corporation was established in 1971 in Seattle. The company has 18000 stores in different countries across the world. The company offers products like coffee, beverages, fresh food, etc. to its customers. The organization believes in providing the best quality coffee to its customers by setting the standards for manufacturing of coffee at the farm by the farmers. It has also build and maintained a strong relationship with its suppliers and developed the perception of comfortable and homely environment at Starbucks space in the minds of the customer (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2012)

Strategic alliance refers to the situation in which two firms agree to pursue activities jointly and pool their resources to achieve some specific goals for a certain period of time. After the accomplishment of the goal, they can separate their processes from each other. There are different types of strategic alliances such as equity strategic alliance, non equity strategic alliance and global strategic alliance. Global strategic alliance is formed when companies are ready share resources across the national boundaries or with the firms of other industries in order to fulfil the goals of the business (Glover, & Wasserman, 2003).

Starbucks have partnered with different organizations in order to grow and expand its market in different countries. Starbucks partnered with PepsiCo, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, etc. These strategic alliances provide Starbucks many economic benefits. It helps the company to spread awareness among customers about different products and expansion in product portfolio. This strategy also facilitates to serve products of the company to different market segments and increase the satisfaction level of the customers. This results in an increase in the retail sales and overall profits of the company (Larson, 2009). The company through strategic alliances provides space, comfort, and relaxation to its customers. Strategic alliance with Apple helps the company to provide a diversified portfolio of products to its customers and known as the powerful music retailer in the market (Beatweek, 2008).

Different issues may arise related to global alliance as human nature differs from person to person due to the difference in culture, shared resources, and lack of understanding the objectives of the partners. The other issue may be related to the selection of the appropriate partner. Communication gap between the partners may also create problems. When the partners do not share the relevant and material information with one another, it hinders the growth and development of the associated companies (Bamford, Casseres, & Forbes LLC, 2003).

The issues that may occur in the alliance can be due to the lack of cooperation between the partners. This may arise due to the lack of trust, integrity and absence of strong relations between the partners. There is no existence of any such issues in the Starbucks although some small issues faced by the Starbucks, but it does not faces any major issue during the formation of strategic alliances and implemented the alliances successfully due to the presence of understanding and existence of strong relationships with its partners. If any issue arises in the Starbucks in the future, then the company can overcome such issues by implementing proper strategies (Bamford, Casseres, & Forbes LLC, 2003).

// In the following section we will be discussing about the corporate social responsibility. After understanding the meaning of the corporate social responsibility we will be discussing about different issues related to corporate social responsibility in Starbucks.//

Corporate social responsibility refers to conduct the business by emphasizing on the ethical practices and provide positive reaction to the social priorities. The business is said to be socially responsible when it fulfills the needs and demands of different stakeholders of the company. The business is responsible to evaluate the effects of the business activities on the surrounding environment i.e. affect on the natural environment, as well as the impact on the society (Paetzold, 2010).

The wastes and use of toxic substances by the companies in different business processes has a negative impact on the environment. This results in degradation of natural resources in the form of air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, etc. These business activities also hamper the health of the people in the society as different diseases are caused due to inhaling polluted air and contaminated water. The corporate social responsibility facilitates improving and achieving the vision and mission of the company (Paetzold, 2010).

Starbucks faces various issues related to corporate social responsibility. Starbucks do not provide coffee and other drinking products in recyclable cups. Recycle bins are also not installed in some of its stores. Huge amount of green house emission takes place in the environment from different resources. There is a release of 81% of toxic gases from the electricity and 18% from coffee roasting. The other issue is consumption of renewable resources by the companies for production purposes that leads to scarcity of the resources in the society due to which there is a disturbance in ecological balance on the earth. Use of pesticides, insecticides and other toxic substances and fertilizers by the farmers hampers the environment in a significant manner (Allison, 2008).

The company uses non-biodegradable materials such as plastic, etc. which causes many problems as if the plastic is burnt; there is a release of harmful gases in the environment. This results ...

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