Human rights groups are the latest voices accusing Starbucks of its indecency and for abusing its market power, a style widely seen as dictating a remotely controlled colonial market system. Despite consumers' repeated calls for Starbucks to honor its promises to coffee growers, the company refused to budge from its position of blocking Ethiopia’s plan to trademark its gourmet coffees in the US markets.
The dispute over Ethiopia’s coffee names unmasked the disingenuous business ethics deeply rooted in the corporate world. Starbucks prides itself as a leader of “Corporate Social Responsibility” in the industry. After CEO Jim Donald’s visit to Ethiopia, the company said that it "is committed to working with the Ethiopian government to find a solution that supports the Ethiopian coffee farmer." In reality, this commitment is translated into the company’s denying of poor coffee farmers’ of a rare opportunity that could change their lives.
Ethiopia, paradoxically stereo-typed as a land of poverty and desperation despite the fact that it grows the highest quality and more quantity of coffees than any other country in the continent, captures only 6-10 percent of the retail price of its finest coffees which Starbucks sells for as high as $26/lp.
The Progress Report quoted Eric Holt-Gimenez, executive director of the anti-hunger group Food First, as saying, "Starbucks likes to paint itself as a socially conscious vanguard within the corporate world because they carry some fair trade coffee on their shelf, but when you look at the numbers and you look at what Starbucks does it's not fair at all."
Click here to read more from The Progress Report.
The dispute over Ethiopia’s coffee names unmasked the disingenuous business ethics deeply rooted in the corporate world. Starbucks prides itself as a leader of “Corporate Social Responsibility” in the industry. After CEO Jim Donald’s visit to Ethiopia, the company said that it "is committed to working with the Ethiopian government to find a solution that supports the Ethiopian coffee farmer." In reality, this commitment is translated into the company’s denying of poor coffee farmers’ of a rare opportunity that could change their lives.
Ethiopia, paradoxically stereo-typed as a land of poverty and desperation despite the fact that it grows the highest quality and more quantity of coffees than any other country in the continent, captures only 6-10 percent of the retail price of its finest coffees which Starbucks sells for as high as $26/lp.
The Progress Report quoted Eric Holt-Gimenez, executive director of the anti-hunger group Food First, as saying, "Starbucks likes to paint itself as a socially conscious vanguard within the corporate world because they carry some fair trade coffee on their shelf, but when you look at the numbers and you look at what Starbucks does it's not fair at all."
Click here to read more from The Progress Report.
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