Costa Coffee Ethis Essay

3501 Words15 Pages
“What is the business case for Costa Coffee creating its own foundation and joining the Rainforest Alliance and very visibly publicising both?” Your answer should cover areas such as the potential CSR offers as a driver to continue expanding and prospering (increased sales; increased bottom line profit; increased customer loyalty and footfall). The purpose of this assignment is to determine the business case for Costa Coffee creating its own foundation and joining the Rainforest Alliance and publishing both. The essay will examine the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to be able to increase economic and employee performance, as well as the reasoning for the Costa Foundation, as well as Whitbread CSR activities, and evaluate whether Costa Coffee has a business case for its CSR initiatives. Milton Freidman’s views on CSR are he argues that the social responsibility of a business is to increase its profits which is the only responsibility to society it has (Freidman, 1970). The CEO of Cypress Semi Conductors, Tim Rodgers, also has the same view as Freidman on CSR (Rodgers, 2010). Rodgers (2010) argues that if organisations become more socially responsible, this will reduce companies’ profits and shareholders will feel the impact by reducing profits. John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods, has the opposite opinion to Freidman and Rodgers’ views on CSR, as Mackey believes that the main reason of a business is to create value for its stakeholders i.e. customers, suppliers, employees, and the community it is in (Reason, 2005). In contrast again Freidman continues to argue that the social responsibility of a business is to make money and not to serve other social ends (Beesley and Evans, 1978). With there being very different views on if CSR has a positive or negative impact on a business, it is necessary to understand the definition of CSR.

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