UNIVERSITY EL BOSQUE

STARBUCKS REPORT
LEADING IN GREEN RETAIL!

COURSE NAME: MANAGEMENT

TEACHERS NAME: JUAN CARLOS GUEVARA

GROUP MEMBERS:

Linda Seplveda
Nicols Snchez
Karla Vsquez
Mara Paula Giraldo

BOGOT
2015

Abstract:

Introduction:

The Starbucks story began in 1971. Back then they

were a roaster and retailer of whole bean and ground
coffee, tea and spices with a single store in Seattles
Pike Place Market. Today, they have the privileged to
connect with millions of customers every day with
their products and more than 22,000 retail stores in 67
countries.
For Starbucks, the environment is one of the most
important things, they believed in the importance of building a great, enduring company
that strikes a balance between profitability and a social conscience. But, the principal
objective of this report is to make a comparison between what they say and think and the
reality or the fact of how those things come true.
What they openly explain to the people and massive media is that: As a
company that

relies on agricultural products, Starbucks has long been aware that the

planet is our most important business partner. We are committed to addressing climate
change by minimizing our environmental footprint and creating meaningful and sustained
change. This work includes our approach to green retail: building more energy efficient
stores and facilities; conserving energy and water; investing in renewable energy; and
exploring new solutions for recycling and making our cups sustainable.(Starbucks, 2015)1
1 Taken from: http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/starbucks-companyprofile

One of the things, they had mentioned is to explore new solutions for recycling and making
their cups sustainable, lets investigate about that. Providing front-of-store recycling is an
important part of Starbucks effort to develop comprehensive recycling solutions. In 2014
they added customer-facing recycling to more than 760 stores, bringing our total to 3,849,
or 47% of our company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada.(Starbucks, 2015)
Searching in their Starbucks Global Responsibility Report 2014 says that: Reusable cups
are an important component of Starbucks overall waste reduction strategy. For 30 years,
weve rewarded customers with a discount when they bring in a personal tumbler. It is our
goal to serve 5% of the beverages made in stores in tumblers and mugs brought in by our
customers, and in 2014 our customers did that 47.6 million times, up from 46.9 million in
2013.
We have found that bringing a mug or tumbler to a Starbucks store requires a change in
personal behavior, and have seen only gradual improvements in tumbler use year-over-year.

Materials and Methods:

Search in the Internet the Starbucks Global Responsibility Report 2014, analyze
their politics of green treatment. In this part we choose one of their environmental
goals called Raising Awareness of Reusable Cups. Then we made a comparison
between National and International politics in their both web pages.
We went to the Starbucks store in Colombia, to prove that what we have
investigated was been fulfilled by the store.

Results:
In order to prove that what they say in both web pages (USA and
Colombia) is true, we went to two Starbucks service points (Starbucks at
WTC Colombia and Starbucks at Torre 95). The atmosphere in each of

them doesnt change much, both have good customer service and are
nice places to enjoy their products. Regardless, we asked in both of them
to use our personal cup to be filled with their coffee and they told us that
the policy stablished about bringing personal cups or mugs is still not
being applied in Colombia so the discount would not take place until
they are authorized to do so.
One of the members of the group got the chance to prove this policy at
Starbucks in El Salvador in January this year and they do not apply it the
same way as told in the United States and Canada, the difference is that
you just buy a cup from them, you can bring it anytime you want and
they give you the discount every time you use it. It may be possible that
this policy will be available when the company reaches even better
popularity levels since its still a very new company in Colombia.

Conclusions:

Starbucks entered Colombian territory in 2014 and has had a very successful market since
then. Nevertheless, the policy they are claiming to have in Colombia about the discount
over personal mugs and cups is not being applied as in other countries and also as told in
their webpage.

Still, here in Colombia the cups they use to serve the different beverages they offer are
recyclable and in some way maintain their social responsibility.

References:

Starbucks Company Profile; Taken from:

http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/starbucks-companyprofile

Company Information; Taken from:

http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information
Starbucks Global Responsibility Report 2014; Taken from:
http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility
Starbucks Colombia; Taken from:
http://www.starbucks.com.co/