Alex Joaquin Duk
President
4252 Bonita Road
Bonita, Ca 91902
Executive Report Prepared for:
Howard Schultz CEO Starbucks
PO Box 34067
Seattle, Washington 98124-1067
I Key Lessons Learned from Starbucks and Conservation International Case
II Recommendations to fortify company business strategy and CSR notion
III Suggestions to assure organizational learning
IV How New Wave Consulting can help Starbucks create a strong brand entailing the three P’s: People, Profits, Planet
In reading the case, “Starbucks and Conservation International”, we have learned that in initiating corporate social responsibility into a company’s mission, one must not jeopardize quality and customer perception as a byproduct of giving in to social demands. Your partnership with Conservation International and the Chiapas project was a great example of how two perceived different organizations can find fundamental communalities in ethical standards and do great things for a community, landscape and profits. Although your company has always viewed the environment and the producers of coffee as important stakeholders in your companies mission, it wasn’t until your partnership with Conservation International that your focus went from cash and kind donations to a more hands on approach to making a difference in the lives, society and environment of the coffee growers. The Chiapas project had very notable success, especially in increasing profits of small farmers, usually faced by extreme poverty at times when they need capital to harvest their coffee beans. This was also a great example of letting a NPO take the reigns of your CSR initiatives and even help you in your quality control standards. Some of the farmers doubled their sales, and their average incomes jumped by 40 percent. At the same time, U.S. consumers enthusiastically embraced a new Starbucks brand: Shade Grown Mexico (www.conservation.org/discover/partnership/corporate/Pages/starbucks). We also