Ethics

An Ethical Issue Starbucks has faced.

Starbucks had the problem of racial bias and discrimination as the last ethical issue it has ever faced in the past. In 2018, Starbucks made news when two black men were arrested in one of its stores in Philadelphia while a business meeting was yet to start. The event occurred, and it fueled fury and claims about racial profiling, hence, there were protests and calls for boycotting the company. Starbucks apologized in a public announcement, closed its stores for a day racist-bias training and enacted several policies meant to prevent such incidents next time.

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How Starbucks was (or could be) impacted by the ethical issue.

What Starbucks may face next is relating ethically to worker’s treatment and fair trade. Being a multinational coffee chain, Starbucks, uses labor from different regions of the world with varying labor levels. This may raise concerns on fair wages, working conditions and responsible environmental practices across the supply chain. Moreover the moral problems connected with the farming of coffee workers, especially within the developing countries, may emerge for the coffee producer organizations to maintain that the farmers are getting fair wage for their work. To solve the problems mentioned above Starbucks should participate in the implementation of supply chain traceability and integrity systems, work closely with suppliers who comply with international guidelines, and champion for fair labor standards and environmental conservation in the coffee industry. These preventive actions will show that the company is a socially responsible organization that follows the ethical principles in doing business.

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How were Stakeholders affected by this ethical issue regarding Starbucks?

Stakeholders of Starbucks were affected negatively by this incident. Due to the negative posts being made on social media, Starbucks lost a great deal of customers and therefor this lead to significant money loss. However since Starbucks was quick to respond to the incident stakeholders did not choose to leave the company.

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How Starbucks reacted to this ethical issue (or could have reacted).

Starbucks was quick to respond after the incident. The Incident took place on April 12th, 2015 and by April 15th, 2015 Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson had released a Statement on behalf of Starbucks regarding the incident. This statement came in the form of a video and was an apology on behalf of Starbucks. This however did not stop the boycotts that were happening to Starbucks Internationally, so Starbucks took it a step further and announced that they would be closing 8,000+ stores for the day. This was so that Starbucks employees could undergo a full in depth training day on racial bias training. This Training occurred on May 29, 2018, so two years after the incident.