Evaluating Corporate Social Responsibility - Corporate Social Responsibility 1

STARBUCKS

https://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/global-report

https://globalassets.starbucks.com/assets/0110125A401A46B7BEFAD86DD6BC884B.pdf

https://globalassets.starbucks.com/assets/38b8ab8576d24aa78170e46fd2a51acc.pdf

For your evaluation of the company's report, we are going to focus on four main areas: purpose of reporting, metrics and performance, future commitments and progress, and legitimacy.

Metrics and perfomance

What is the company measuring in their report and how well are they performing on these measurements?

• Does the business/corporation focus more on qualitative or quantitative reporting?

Qualitative data is descriptive and conceptual whereas quantitative data can be counted, measured, and expressed using numbers.

• Is the focus on presenting stories and anecdotes?

• Is the data manipulated or cherry-picked?

Cherry-picking occurs if only certain data is selected and presented with the goal of making the company look better. For instance, a company may indicate that its carbon footprint has been reduced by 25%. Without the use of a benchmark such as sales or number of employees, this percentage drop is meaningless. Omitting this information leaves open the possibility that the company got smaller by 30%.

• Are historical performance levels presented in the report?

• Does the report discuss the practices of their supply chain?

A supply chain is made up of all the companies that are involved in producing a product or providing a service including suppliers, transporters, warehousers, retailers and customers.

• Are Scope 1, Scope 2, and/or Scope 3 emissions reported?
• Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from company-owned and controlled resources (e.g., company facilities, company vehicles, etc.).
• Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heat, and steam.
• Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company's supply chain (e.g., purchased goods and services, business travel, waste generation, employee commuting, etc.).

What does the company plan to accomplish in future years? How will they measure success?

• Is a specific action plan provided for any numerical targets presented? For example, if a company says their goal is to reduce their carbon footprint by 30%, do they discuss the steps they will take to accomplish this?
• Does the report summarize if the company accomplished targets they had set in the past? If they struggled to meet their targets, do they explain what they intend to do to differently?
• Do the targets that the company has set demonstrate an interest in pursuing radical change towards sustainability?

Does the report seem legitimate?

• Was the report audited by an external, objective organization? (Keep in mind that while an external audit does verify the accuracy of the report, it does not evaluate the performance of the company along non-financial measures nor does it evaluate the types of measures used.)

• Were measures performed according to established standards?

Consider an oil and gas company's efforts to report on their community commitment. There are a number of social impact indicators out there that the company could rely on; however many companies use their own made up measures such as the number of patients served at a hospital they support. This does not actually indicate a positive impact on the community; an increase in patients could be due to a number of other factors, such as the absence of education and preventative measures.

• Is there any raw data provided?

• Were external stakeholders involved in the creation of the report?

External stakeholders are those who do not directly work with a company but are affected somehow by the actions and outcomes of the business. Suppliers, creditors, and public groups are all considered external stakeholders

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Based on an evaluation of Starbucks environmental social and governance reporting Metrics and perfor... View the full answer