Starbucks Thesis

Corporate Social Responsibility & Starbucks

BAMMC – BA Thesis
May, 2012

Corporate Social Responsibility – A case study of Starbucks’ CSR communication through its corporate website

Bachelor Thesis in Marketing and Management
Communication
Sanne

Sanne Bruhn-Hansen
CPR: XXXXXX-XXXX

Supervisor: Tomasz A. Fediuk
No. of characters:
Thesis: 54,329
Abstract: 3,492
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Sanne Bruhn-Hansen
Supervisor: Tomasz A. Fediuk

Corporate Social Responsibility & Starbucks

BAMMC – BA Thesis
May, 2012

Abstract
Organizations today are experiencing increased pressure from their surrounding environments to act as good social citizens while still being profitable. Acting social and ethical responsible has become an expectation rather than a differentiation strategy to obtain organizational legitimacy.
Therefore, this thesis examines how the very successful global coffee company, Starbucks, communicates its CSR initiatives through its corporate website. The aim is to investigate what is communicated, what different online communication channels are utilized, as well as how the communication is framed to target different stakeholder groups.
In the first part of the report, after stressing the relevance of engaging in CSR activities and the importance of effective CSR communication, Schwartz & Carroll’s (2003) Three Domain Approach for CSR motives is briefly introduced. This gives an overview of why companies engage in CSR initiatives and what outcomes are expected.
Then, the thesis proceeds to the overall theoretical framework, comprised of a comprehensive communication framework model for effective CSR communication. This includes message content, message channels, as well as contingency factors, which entails company- and stakeholder-specific factors. Incorporated in this framework are aspects of Hallahan’s (1999) theory of framing, as well as Preble’s (2005) stakeholder approach. By integrating these theories into the

References: Carroll, A.B. (1991). The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders Dawkins, J. (2004). Corporate Responsibility: the communication challenge. Journal of Communication Challenge, 9, 108-119 Du, Shuili, C.B. Bhattacharya and Sankar Sen (2010). Maximizing Business Returns to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Role of CSR Communication Isaksson, M. and Jørgensen, P.E. (2010). Communicating Corporate Ethos on the Web: The Self-Presentation of PR Agencies BAMMC – BA Thesis May, 2012 Waddock, S. (2008). Building a New Institutional Infrastructure for Corporate Responsibility. CSR Europe (2009). Trends and Best Practice in Online CSR/Sustainability Reporting. Starbucks (2012). Corporate Webiste (front page). Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.starbucks.com/ Starbucks (2012). Company-information (website subpage). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement Starbucks Community (2012) (website subpage). Retrieved April 18, 2012, from http://community.starbucks.com/index.jspa Starbucks CSR Report (2011). Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://assets.starbucks.com/assets/goals-progress-report-2011.pdf Starbucks Responsibility (2012). Being a responsible company (website subpage). Retrieved April 13, 2012, from http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility Starbucks Responsibility (2012) Environmental Stewardship (web subpage). Retrieved April 18, 2012, from http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/environment BAMMC – BA Thesis May, 2012