Page 172 - The Starbucks Experience

Leave Your Mark

given permission by a broad universe of people to conduct
business robustly, as long as those people feel that the lead-
ers do what they say they will do. Starbucks management has
been successful in evoking trust from stakeholders by caring
for employees, delivering to customers, providing a quality
product, enriching investors, and improving communities in
a way that helps the environment.
Given these broadly defined accomplishments and ongo-
ing objectives, people who have an interest in Starbucks
measure the company’s performance relative to its own pri-
orities via a concept referred to as the “triple bottom line.”
This measurement requires Starbucks leadership to report not
just financial results, but also its social impact and environ-
mental performance. These findings are published in an
annual, independently audited Corporate Social Respon-
sibility (CSR) report, which is easily accessible in its en- 157
tirety directly from the company or on its Web site, and in
an abbreviated version in Starbucks stores.
By taking a strong stand on social issues and holding itself pub-
licly accountable for delivering on its commitments, Starbucks
has attracted the interest of many different constituencies, not
least of which are top job applicants. Sheeba Oriko, one such
candidate, became a Starbucks partner in the IT department.
Sheeba states, “Prior to working for Starbucks, I’d worked
with many different global companies. Each was very success-
ful, but I’d never heard of a company having a social con-
science. That intrigued me. I dug a little bit further and found
out that Starbucks was committed not only to social respon-
sibility, but to setting the direction for and leading the corpo-
rate social responsibility movement. It took me about a year
and a half of networking to get a position at Starbucks. Dur-
ing that time, I kept researching the company and meeting Star-