Today Starbucks is more than a coffee chain and Conservation International is hardly a household name. Through its efforts, Starbucks has transformed into a location where friends to catch up, colleagues can have impromptu meetings, and others simply get their coffee fix for the day. Thinking back to Starbuck’s humble beginnings, they only sold roasted coffee blends, tea, and spices. Howard Shutlz had the vision to transform Starbucks into more than just a coffee house –a destination where espresso, food, and merchandise would be sold sold as well. It wasn’t until he was able to buy out Starbucks and take over the Starbucks brand that his vision was able to become a reality. Over the next ten years Shultz initiated an aggressive expansion program where Starbucks boasted “more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. alone, not to mention over 1,500 stores internationally” (Austin & Revis, 2004). With such an assertive move in the market, Shultz had to consider environmental ramifications that his business had as well in order to please environmentalists who had been keeping a watchful eye on it throughout this expansion phase. The cold hard truth is that advocates are going to target the biggest and most visible company that they think has an impact on whatever issue they are most concerned with. That is where Conservational International came into the picture. Conservational International is a non-profit organization that aims to protect the environment. They strove to help protect the planet in the biggest way possible. The following sections describe the positive relationship that Starbucks and Conservational International were able to create from a new farming pilot-program in central Mexico. II. Situation Analysis of the World Coffee Market
Starbucks Social Responsibility Starbucks didn’t mess around when it came to their commitment