For Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, caramel macchiatos and pumpkin spice lattes are as integral to the coffee-chain’s brand as its college tuition reimbursement and veterans hiring programs.
Now Schultz is once again flexing Starbucks’ “conscious capitalism” muscles with a plan to hire 10,000 refugees at its restaurants worldwide, he said in a letter to employees on Jan. 29 that’s posted on Starbucks’s website.
The move is a swift, direct response to Donald Trump’s executive order to effectively ban people from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S., including refugees fleeing wars.
As Schultz sees it, Starbucks’ new pledge is designed to ring an alarm bell with a vigor that the moment calls for.
Starbucks is hashing together a plan to hire 10,000 of the world’s 65 million refugees over the next five years in the 75 countries where it operates stores, starting with the U.S. market.
Under Schultz’s direction, Starbucks has long viewed business and what’s been called ethical retailing, or conscious capitalism, as related paths. And Schultz has carved a distinct niche as a social-activist CEO, of sorts.
He has repeatedly pointed to his upbringing in a low-income family in the Bayview Housing projects in Brooklyn New York as informing his philanthropic outlook.
It’s one that’s reflected in Starbucks’ policies, such as its pioneering move in 1988 to offer health insurance for part time workers, to backing causes from high unemployment to countering racism.
Schultz will step down as CEO in April, handing the position over to president Kevin Johnson, and will become executive vice chairman of Starbucks leading the retailer’s growth formats and social impact initiatives.
As consumers are increasingly voting with their dollars, it appears Starbucks, as well as retailers such as IKEA, Whole Foods and The Container Store, were on to something before the notion of socially conscious retailing moved from the margins into the mainstream.
Today, retailers are paying closer attention to their social/philanthropic strategies in part as Millennials, which have eclipsed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest buying group, have shown an inclination to favor brands that align with their beliefs — and shun ones that don’t.
The National Retail Federation’s Big Show this month devoted a keynote session to the topic, entitled, “Winning Today’s Socially Aware Customer.”
The session description read: “With trust and reputation in mind, customers – particularly from the Millennial Generation – are looking for more compelling reasons to shop than purely buying a product out of necessity or aspiration.”
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/barbarathau/2017/01/30/starbucks-to-hire-10000-refugees-in-latest-expression-of-conscious-capitalism/#2fc0dd4c622c
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