Thursday, December 1, 2016
Madilyn Weems - Starbucks CEO Schultz Stepping Down
http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/01/investing/starbucks-howard-schultz-resigns/index.html
In this article the author discusses how the most iconic entrepreneur and business man, Howard Schultz, is to step down from his CEO position. He will not be completely gone, and will become chairman, but it's time for someone new to come in and make it fresh. Schultz had already left before in early 2000, but the company seemed to lose it's way, so he came back to get the company back up in profits. Because of him, Starbucks is valued at $84 billion and it has more than 24,000 retail stores in 70 countries. The great man who paved the way for Starbucks has also been upfront about many social issues such as supporting raising the minimum wage, and he offered his employees free college and pushed Starbucks to open a store in Ferguson following the city's violent protest. The man showed humility when he was asked if he was worried the company would fail again and he said, "The difference between then and now couldn't be greater."Schultz said the Starbucks team didn't have the "capabilities and experience" to navigate the Great Recession, and he praised Johnson's skills and said the company should get ready to gain more. Starbucks has become a leading figure in many lives today, and often puts a smile on a face in the morning who's preparing for the long school day or work hours. More than often people don't recognize Starbucks as a powerful influence but it definitely is, and Starbucks can relate to Apple and other large companies that have the potential to become a monopoly. We will always love our treasured Starbucks and the holiday drinks, and forever miss good old Schultz, who helped make it so known.
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Starbucks, while a successful consumer business model, pioneering minimum wage standards in the states and north america, is exploiting coffee farmers in the developing world and often using child labor to produce their coffee, which is what allows them to pay baristas more than minimum wage. What looks good on the outside has a background of exploitation and undervaluing for those who are just as important to their system, but who are systematically disenfranchised which can lead to their being willing to work for less than the cost of living. Just because they will work for less than they need to live doesn't make it right. I think that Schultz is a good businessman, but he doesn't realize that in this world of new politics ETHICS ARE IMPORTANT, more important than they were 20 years ago, because in the evolving and more connected world, ethics problems can and will kill a business.
ReplyDeleteStarbucks is definitely incredibly powerful! So many people "rely" on it and it's incredible how many people believe they need it to even start their day. Starbucks and other well known coffee houses definitely have influence.
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