HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY

STARBUCKS' CSR: SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH

CSR ACTIVITIES.

Group Members :
Hồ Thị Kim Chi 2054012040
Nguyễn Hoàng Lan 2054012151
Nguyễn Trần Quỳnh Như 2054012229
Phan Minh Việt 2054012373
Nguyễn Triệu Vỹ 2054012391
Course : Corporate Social Responsibility (QT628 – IB201C)
Lecturer : Hoàng Thu Thảo

Ho Chi Minh, 2023

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 I. INTRODUCTION
A few decades ago, industrial practitioners, environmental policymakers, academics and
businessmen did not pay attention to the environment because they believed that goods
manufactured in their organizations did not have much influence on the environment. The
environmental decline/degradation has become a worldwide problem. However, these days,
industrial practitioners, environmental policymakers, businessmen and scholars agree that the
causes of environmental degradation/decline include climate change, air emissions, rising water
and air pollution, resource depletion, and usage of dangerous materials. Ma et al. (2020) stated
that the year 2018 is regarded as the hottest year ever because of the above-mentioned issues
related to the environment. Stakeholders exert heavy pressure on organizations to minimize the
environmental influence arising from their production activities (Yu et al., 2017). Due to various
environmental issues that have been reported, firms must concentrate on environmental and
nature conservation tasks. Paying attention to ‘green’ issues has been a key motive for industrial
practitioners and scholars in the last few decades (Melay et al., 2017; Vallaster et al., 2019).
(Kraus, Rehman, & García, 2020)

At the global level, several thousand leading scientists in the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have clearly confirmed that human activities
that emit greenhouse gases are leading to potentially catastrophic global warming. Similarly, the
recent Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, commissioned by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
and written by foremost ecologists, has chronicled the steady decline of ecosystem services,
which support all life on the planet. They have urged early action to reverse this alarming trend.
Yet, the alleviation of poverty among billions (who eke out their existence on less than one
dollar a day) will require continued economic growth in those areas. Maintaining this balance
among economic, social and environmental needs is the essence of sustainable development.
(Mohan Munasinghe, 2019)

From the above information, we see that businesses and companies today must be
responsible for the environment, and the environment is also one of the important aspects of CSR

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– Corporate Social Responsibility, in which sustainable development is considered one of the
indispensable goals for businesses. In Vietnam, the environmental activities of businesses and
companies have been increasingly valued and developed, in which Starbucks can be considered
as one of the organizations with outstanding activities in environmental protection. Through the
activities that have been done, we can see that Starbucks wants to direct its business to
sustainable development.

Starbucks is a globally renowned beverage brand, founded in 1971. Beginning with a roaster
and retailer of whole bean and ground coffee, tea and spices with a single store in Seattle's Pike
Place Market. With the mission: "To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup
and one neighborhood at a time". Starbucks is now expanding with more than 28,000 stores in 76
markets. Starbucks’s stores are a neighborhood gathering place for meeting friends and family.
Our customers enjoy quality service, an inviting atmosphere and an exceptional beverage.
(Starbucks Company Profile). In Vietnam, Starbucks opened its first store at New World Hotel,
District 1, Ho Chi Ming City in 2013, Up to now, the Starbucks’s store system in Vietnam has 87
stores concentrated in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. (Bình, 2023). It can be
seen that Starbucks has become more and more familiar with our lives, becoming one of the daily
drinks, accompanying us in life as indispensable friends.

Along with that development and attachment, Starbucks has also proven and demonstrated
its responsibility to society today. This report was written for the purpose of presenting
Starbucks' CSR activities in the environmental sector. From there, we will analyze to be able to
clarify the effects of the above CSR activities on the effective operation of Starbucks.

II. CSR ACTIVITIES OF STARBUCKS

Working for the community in businesses is a sustainable thing. However, for Starbucks,
community activities in different countries are important because Starbucks believes that each
store is part of the community and Starbucks wants to connect with its customers, as well as the
social community about business responsibility.

Over the years, partners, customers, employees, etc. have all contributed over 3 million to
conduct social community activities. Starbucks commits that in the countries where Starbucks
develops, it will contribute to activities on the environment, people, planet, ... not only for the
profit of the company.

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 1. Starbucks brings clean water to disadvantaged communities in Vietnam

This program is part of Project 24 project of the non-profit organization Planet Water
Foundation, funded by the Starbucks Foundation and Starbucks Vietnam. This project built
AquaTower water filtration systems to support schools and children in areas with limited access
to clean water as well as with education on safe and hygienic practices. (Mai, 2022)

On November 26, 2021, the first water filter tower was installed at Phuc Tien Primary &
Secondary School, Quang Tien Commune, Hoa Binh City with the participation of Starbucks

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associates and partners. And on January 5, 2022, the second AquaTower water purification tower
was installed in Lam Dong province. (H.D, 2022)

2. Starbucks Vietnam raises funds for ethnic Thai children in Hoa Binh

Starbucks Vietnam announced a partnership with social enterprise Tohe to launch new
products designed and manufactured by Tohe.

In this collaboration with Tohe, Starbucks Vietnam introduces new product designs
including drawstring bags and canvas wallets that will be available at Starbucks through summer
promotions.

The fabric wallet design is the creative work of Ha Dinh Chi, also known by the familiar
name "Nem". Nem was diagnosed with autism and Noonan syndrome. Drawing is my way of
expressing my imagination and telling my own stories. In 2014, Tohe and Nem's family launched
the "Tòhe and Nem" collection.

Starting from Summer 3 (end of July 2019), fabric wallet designs will be officially sold at
Starbucks stores in Vietnam. Each wallet sold will contribute 5,000 VND to Tohe fund to
implement the project of building a playground for Thai children in Na Hi village, Bao La
commune, Mai Chau province, Hoa Binh province. Starbucks Vietnam is committed to finance
the entire construction cost of this playground in Hoa Binh province. (Quỳnh Chi, 2019)

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 3. Building a Community Playground at K7 K8 Thanh Cong, Hanoi

(Xây dựng Sân chơi K7 - K8 Thành Công, Hà Nội)

 Starbucks has partnered with HealthBridge Canada Non-governmental Organization and

Think Playgrounds social enterprise to promptly complete the construction and hand over the
community playground to K7 K8 Thanh Cong residential area.

“We see the lack of playgrounds for children as one of the current problems in big cities like
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. In residential areas like K7 K8, children and the elderly need suitable
spaces to play and socialize. We are very honored to be able to contribute our small part to better
improve these issues,” said General Director of StarbucksVietnam. (Chi, 2019)

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 4. Starbucks Vietnam and Asia Foundation launch a project to support vocational
training for disadvantaged youth

On December 5, 2016, in Hanoi, Starbucks Vietnam and the Asia Foundation, a non-profit
international development organization, announced a one-year program on free vocational
training in the food and beverage industry refreshments for young people in difficult
circumstances in Vietnam. (Lan, 2016)

5. Focus on sustainable human resource development

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 With a sustainable perspective to reach out, identifying people as the biggest asset of the
business, besides innovating the management model and improving the capacity of the
organization, Starbucks Vietnam focuses on the human factor, spreading the value of the brand to
employees. True to the general view of the Starbucks brand in the world, human resources are not
a commodity, Starbucks Vietnam becomes the ideal working environment for the young
generation.

Last November, within the framework of the Vietnam HR Awards, Starbucks Vietnam was
honored in two categories: Excellent Enterprise 2022 Table B – Organizational Capacity
Development Strategy Category and Excellent Enterprise 2022 Table B – Category Strategy for
innovation of human resource management model. This is the first year that Starbucks Vietnam
has joined more than 200 businesses to compete for prestigious and prestigious awards. (Dương,
2022)

6. Policy "green campaign"

“You always get 10,000 VND off per drink when you bring your glass/jar to Starbucks”. This
policy was first shared by Starbucks fanpage in a post in July 2014 and is still maintained until
now in Vietnam and even other Starbucks branches around the world. According to the
explanation on the fanpage, the policy applies to any type of glass or cup that customers bring,
not just products from Starbucks. (Thọ, 2019)

III.

BUSINESS BENEFITS OF CSR ACTIVITIES

3.1 Theory

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 Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Thus the goals of economic and social development must be defined in terms of
sustainability in all countries — developed or developing, market-oriented or centrally planned.
Interpretations will vary, but must share certain general features and must flow from a consensus
on the basic concept of sustainable development and on a broad strategic framework for
achieving it.

Development involves a progressive transformation of economy and society. A development

path that is sustainable in a physical sense could theoretically be pursued even in a rigid social
and political setting. But physical sustainability cannot be secured unless development policies
pay attention to such considerations as changes in access to resources and in the distribution of
costs and benefits. Even the narrow notion of physical sustainability implies a concern for social
equity between generations, a concern that must logically be extended to equity within each
generation. (Sustainability Plan for La Trobe University 2013-2017, n.d.)

3.2 Benefit

Sustainable development (SD) envisions business and their projects to deliver benefits to a
broad group of stakeholders. Yet, projects are challenged to realize benefits to meet individual
organization business objectives and value concerns. Given the benefits focus of SD, benefits
realization helps to understand how SD can be integrated in the management of projects, linking
it to strategy. (Keeys & Huemann, 2017)

3.2.1 Benefits of CSR on human activities

- Employee benefits, right from its mission, Starbucks has determined "Inspire and nurture
the human spirit - one cup each and neighborliness at a time". Therefore, Starbucks Vietnam is
constantly innovating its management model, building a friendly and approachable management
style so that employees have the opportunity to communicate and have wide relationships. Each
employee at Starbucks Vietnam has their own name, instead of calling each other by "colleague"
or rank. They value the cohesion and relationship between employees, employees and
customers… Starbucks Vietnam brings many benefits to its employees such as:
+ Organized activities for employees to serve community activities together: Planting trees,
picking up trash, etc. to increase solidarity for employees and businesses.
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 + Ensure employees' financial security and health. During the epidemic, Starbucks Vietnam
carried out activities to engage employees such as: Organizing vaccinations, supporting disease
costs, etc.

+ During the development period in Vietnam, Starbucks has carried out many useful
activities for people and society such as:

 Bringing clean water to disadvantaged areas of Vietnam, the project was

implemented in 2 years for children in Hung Yen, Binh Phuoc, Lam Dong, etc., bringing
clean water for them. In addition, it helps them practice safety and hygiene measures.
“Two years of the pandemic forced our project to be delayed several times. However,
this year we are happy that we were still able to proceed with the installation of the
planned water tower project in the North in Hoa Binh, Phu Tho and Lam Dong provinces
- a very special area for Starbucks, where we buy high quality Arabica coffee,” shared
Ms. Patricia Marques, General Director of Starbucks Vietnam.
 Raise funds to support Thai ethnic children in Hoa Binh province. Starbucks
cooperates with Tohe Village to launch products to raise funds. In the new years, a variety
of seasonal gift products have been designed and produced by Tohe specifically for
Starbucks Vietnam. Not only fabric products, which are Tohe’s strength, many other rich
materials have been used and loved by customers. Unique luggage tags, interactive
calendars with a coffee theme, happy menus or bags with fashionable colors for summer...
have become popular accessories throughout the chain of stores.
"We are very grateful to have Starbucks' companion in this meaningful activity. Not
only fulfilling our mission, spreading the innocent spirit from the rich world of child
artists like Nem, but also we I also have the opportunity to help ethnic minority children
with difficult conditions have space to play and study," said Tohe co-founder Pham Thi
Ngan.
Besides, just in time for Starbucks to complete before International Children's Day,
the K7 K8 Thanh Cong Community Playground, Hanoi is the result of 50 Starbucks
associates in Hanoi and the social enterprise Think About the Playground in the City.
(Think Playgrounds), a HealthBridge Canada Non-governmental Organization dedicated
to children and the community at K7 K8 Thanh Cong.

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  Starbucks Vietnam and the Asia Foundation launch a project to support vocational
training for disadvantaged youth. The Starbucks Vocational Program will assist 50 young
people between the ages of 18 and 24, from families affected by or affected by violence,
victims of human trafficking, poor households, or disadvantaged backgrounds. Other
difficulties, access to vocational training and life skills necessary to be successful in the
retail sector.
In this program, young people will learn vocational skills and necessary skills, including
customer service skills, personal finance management, English and internships. Starbucks
partners and employees will actively participate in the program by holding seminars and
giving students hands-on experience in the store. After completing the course, students
will be supported within 6 months to help them find a stable job.

Through social activities that are useful to everyone, Starbucks Vietnam has brought more
sympathy and support from the Vietnamese people because of the strong spirit of Starbucks
Vietnam's humanitarian community activities.
3.2.2 Benefits of CSR in terms of activities towards the environment .

- Recycling in the shop

Most Starbucks store waste is cardboard boxes, milk jugs, syrup bottles and coffee grounds
scattered behind dispensers or in warehouses. Many Starbucks stores recycle these items.

The success of a recycling operation depends on Starbucks' ability to provide commercial

recycling at its location. Furthermore, different commercial recycling machines accept different
types of materials, so Starbucks cannot offer a uniform program across stores. And for stores
located in common spaces like malls, it's often the owner who controls garbage collection and
recycling. (Starbucks, n.d.)

- Bring a pitcher/cup to Starbucks to get a discount of 10,000 VND: The meaningful message
behind the "green" campaign of the world's largest coffee chain

 With this special policy, Starbucks believes that customers not only help
Starbucks reduce labor, but more importantly, help limit littering, contributing to
environmental protection. The campaign runs throughout for customers when having their
own cup to hold water will reduce waste and plastic cups at Starbucks coffee chains.

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  In addition, from January 1, 2019, Starbucks stores will also begin to replace
single-use plastic products with biodegradable plastics such as straws, stoppers, sets knife,
spoon, paten,…

Planetary protection activities are well done by Starbucks in limiting and building a business
with environmental consciousness globally. Protecting the environment as well as protecting
Starbucks itself can ensure the source of fresh ingredients, helping Starbucks provide quality
products to consumers.

3.2.3 Benefits of CSR in terms of profit-oriented activities

- The fact that Starbucks Vietnam cooperates with Tohe village to launch bags, notebooks,
calendars, etc. to raise funds for charity, besides Starbucks also earns profits from the above
products. Starbucks also takes advantage of fundraising to increase awareness of its brand and
products to consumers who have the spirit of contributing to socially beneficial activities through
charity funds to support local businesses. you difficult.

- The campaign to bring a bottle or cup to buy water and get a discount of 10 thousand when
coming to Starbucks Vietnam, besides the spirit of supporting to reduce plastic waste, it is also an
advantage of Starbucks Vietnam when Starbucks Vietnam also sells products pitchers, mugs, etc.
It is easier to promote their products to customers, although before that, Starbucks' mugs were
always famous among consumers.

From helping the needy, those campaigns also help Starbucks have stable income sources to
maintain and develop. In the coming future, Starbucks will certainly also establish more effective
and successful campaigns.

IV. CONCLUSION

The development of the company is always proportional to the influence on society,

especially Vietnam. Deeply aware of its impact on society as well as the challenges that the
whole society is facing, Starbucks defines the business principle as harmoniously linking
business goals with social responsibility, towards sustainable development.

Starbucks has run its business by driving Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a tool
that covers the company in every sector of their business. Starbucks is really concerned about
affecting the environment. By utilizing innovative technologies to improve the effectiveness in its

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processes, they reduce costs and at the same time they are preserving the environment. In terms
of social strategies, Starbucks has splendid strategies to cooperate with its partners and
stakeholders. Starbucks has created a lot of activities to encourage communities and to create
long term relationships with them, which reflects on their brand. In terms of economics,
Starbucks is not only thinking about its benefits but also for all parties related with their business,
by following the laws of each country. Starbucks has managed to create fair trade with its
suppliers, customers, and even for their competitors. Especially, the company focuses on their
suppliers (coffee farmers) and partners (employees) which they have run business as sustainable
together.

The activities Starbucks has implemented such as Starbucks bringing clean water to
disadvantaged communities in Vietnam; Fundraiser for ethnic Thai children in Hoa Binh;
Building a Community Playground at K7 K8 Thanh Cong collective area, Hanoi; Starbucks
Vietnam and Asia Foundation launch vocational support project for disadvantaged youth,... help
improve the living standards of the community, bring living environment amenities to people in
disadvantaged areas, raise consumers' sense of responsibility to preserve and protect the
environment. The above projects and activities of Starbucks Vietnam demonstrate the humanity
and spirit for a more sustainable future for the young generation.

Therefore, we can see that Starbucks not only meets the requirements of business ethics, but
also focuses on social activities such as environmental protection. This brand has the following
statements about its environmental mission:

 Strive to buy, sell, and use environmentally friendly products.

 Realizing financial responsibility is essential for an environmental future

 Make environmental responsibility a company value.

 Encourage all associates to participate in the mission of protecting the environment

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 Starbucks are looking forward to continuing their journey in close collaboration with their
partners in Vietnam and across the globe to bring their modest share and achieve progress
towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

V. REFERENCES

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Their vision for the future is to
Starbucks's aspiration is tobecome
be resource positive — giving
people-positive — investing in
back more than they take from the
humanity and the well-being of And they know they can’t do
planet.
everyone they connect with, from It takes all of us. Profit
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bring individual cups will receive an
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