Page 133 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 4

and Conservation International, Starbucks staff members
developed socially responsible coffee-buying guidelines called
C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices. These guide-
lines are designed to help our coffee buyers work with coffee
farmers to ensure high-quality product and promote equitable
relationships with farmers, workers, and communities, as
well as protect the environment.”
Whereas many corporate executives dread dealing with
complaints, Starbucks management actually invites dissenters
in for problem-solving discussions. Because Starbucks lead-
ership is sensitive to issues of globalization, and given that its
customers feel strongly about the company’s being a good
steward of human and environmental resources, Starbucks
executives sought to create a program that rewarded best
practices for coffee growers in the third world, where most
118 of its coffee is purchased.
To put it simply, you can’t argue with the results of this
engaging approach. C.A.F.E. Practices offer higher coffee con-
tracts when producers demonstrate improvement and excel-
lence on 26 separate criteria involving the environment,
coffee quality, and social living standards. These improve-
ments are verified by independent evaluators. Rather than
rolling out the program in a haphazard way, Starbucks
piloted it for two years, making constant improvements.
(More details on the C.A.F.E. Practices program can easily be
found at the Starbucks Web site, www.starbucks.com.) Above
all, lives have been greatly improved through the willingness
of Starbucks leadership to welcome critics into the develop-
ment of real-world solutions.
Starbucks executives clearly do not suffer from an “ostrich
syndrome,” burying their heads in the sand when faced with