Drawing from Rene’s post, many business are now focusing on being socially responsible. Likewise, the value of being socially responsible is gradually diminishing as more and more companies are using it differentiate themselves. However, big companies such as Starbucks are more successful in doing so since they are seen as trendsetters and have more financial backup to actually implement fair trade.
They will have the ability to mark up their price based on the justification of using fair trade and people won’t have any problems with that. As a multinational company, their public image will also improve across the globe with this step. Consumers and potential employees who are socially concious will most likely choose Starbucks over other coffee shops because they feel as if the company holds the same value as they do.
Hence, I agree that by implementing fair trade, Starbucks will only become more profitable. Not only will it help Starbucks’ marketing department, but it will also help their human resource department as more people are willing to genuinely seek a company who shares the same value. In this case, that value would be helping producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions and promote sustainability.