Starbuck Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Starbuck Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Starbuck Corporation is an international coffee company with its headquarter in Seattle, Washington. Currently, the company has over 20,000 stores in more than 60 countries global wide. However, a majority of its stores are located in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and the large part of Asia among other parts of the world. The company offers the wide range of food services ranging from beverages (hot and cold), pastries, whole bean coffee, full-leaf tea and micro-ground instant coffee among others. Other stores also provide take away food like sandwiches and items like tumblers and mugs among others. Other than meals, Starbuck offers beers and wines although this restricted to stores located in favorite locations. The company growth has some negative business ethics implications on its own workers and even those in other companies. Such include illegal outsourcing, poor salary schemes and even negative environmental and soci al impact on the neighboring community. Despite the challenges faced by Starbuck, the company has adopted some of the best business or corporation to enable it to realize its goals and objectives. For instance, the company has a good number of stores in low economical countries to target the low earners who cannot afford services from more advanced coffee and fast food companies. The company also initiates numerous community projects to boost its relations with the locals, and this has positive impacts on its general income. Starbuck is well known for leasing with both national and international organizations as away from attracting more customers, hence increased income. The company involves the locals in major decision making and this makes them feel appreciated. For instance, the company asks the locals about their opinions with regard to environmental and social impacts before major constructions are conducted. The locals’ opinions are incorporated in the environmental ma nagement plan to help mitigate the negative impacts of such new projects.

The Wife of Bath’s Faithfulness Essay Example for Free

The Wife of Bath’s Faithfulness Essay In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer reveals the characteristics of the Wife of Bath through her tale and background. Chaucer portrays the Wife of Bath as a woman of faith through her religious actions and beliefs despite her human faults. Chaucer states in the General Prologue that â€Å"not a dame dared stir/ [t]owards the altar steps in front of her,† meaning that no one stepped in front of her to receive communion (GP ll. 459-460). If one did go ahead of her, â€Å"so wrath was she/ [a]s to be quite put out of charity† (GP ll. 461-462). Chaucer depicts the Wife of Bath as eager to receive the Sunday communion. By displaying her eagerness to receive communion, Chaucer explains that she has compassion for the Church. Furthermore, the Wife of Bath displays her respect for the church by dressing in her best outfits such as â€Å"hose [that] were of the finest scarlet red† (GP l. 466). Also, Chaucer states that the Wife of Bath â€Å"had five husbands, [but she had them] all at the church door† (GP l. 470). In the eyes of the church getting married at the church door is a sign of her faith. In her tale, the Wife of Bath expresses a dislike for the â€Å"holy friars,† whom she describes as having â€Å"seem[ed] to have purged the air† (W l. 10). Purging the air in this case refers to the friars raping the fairies. The Wife of Bath conveys loyalty to the church by expressing concern that the â€Å"holy friars† would commit the terrible sin of rape, considering their position in the church. Also in her story, she tells of a knight who raped a maiden (W l. 34). The king was to â€Å"condemn [] the knight to lose his head/ [b]y course of law,† but the queen begged the king to let her impose the sentence (W ll. 37-38). As a result, the king gave her the authority to decide the fate of the knight. The queen summoned the knight to ask him the question, â€Å"what is the thing that women most desire?† (W l. 51). If he answered the question correctly within a year and a day, then he could keep his life (W l. 50). With the help of the Wife of Bath, the knight returned with the right answer and his life was saved (W l. 191), and then kept his pledge to marry her (W 1. 201). She makes the pledge to the knight to be a faithful and fair wife (W 1. 387). The Wife of Bath reveals her own faithfulness through the knight’s integrity to return to the queen with an answer. Through her tale and her own actions, the Wife of Bath presents herself as a woman of faith.

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unsubstantiated cases. The National Crime Survey shows that in â€Å"1987 children in the twelve to fifteen age group suffered a rate of victimization, exceeded only by that of people aged sixteen to twenty-four† ( Whitcomb 431). Another form of child abuse is incest. Incest can be described as sexual acts between two people who are so closely related that the law forbids them to marry. In a great majority of incest cases, the victim is a female. Her assailant is usually a male adult, uncle, cousin, or brother. Some studies have shown that â€Å"40 percent of all women who use drugs have incest in their past† (Giovannoni 4 ). Abuse does not just mean that the child is likely to become an abusive parent. There is another great danger. Studies show that â€Å"abused children have a habit of getting into trouble with the law† (Conte 42). There are no statutes that clearly distinct between what is and what is not considered to be child abuse and neglect. Therefore, police and other public officials must take each case separately into consideration. Some people believe it is better for an abused child to be placed in foster care. Yet, foster care, in some cases, may be more harmful to the child’s health. Despite a â€Å"department policy that says children should not be put in homes with more than six children, sixteen percent are†(Giovannoni 25). One fourth of all abused children in foster care return to their parents. It has been estimated that some ten thousand children are severely battered every year, fifty to seventy-five thousand are sexually abused, one hundred thousand are emotionally neglected, and another one hundred thousand are physically, morally, or educationally neglected. It only takes a quick scan of the headlines to see that sex offenders come in a variety of shapes and sizes – principals, teachers, coaches, doctors, lawyers, scout leaders, ministers, priests, neighbors, relatives – the butcher, and the banker. Every child is vulnerable to abuse. Today’s parents must face the possibility that someone may hurt or take advantage of their child. Research indicates that as many as â€Å"one out of every four children will be the victim of some type of abuse† (Daro 87). In order to highlight the problems of determining what is abuse and neglect here is an example of some cases. â€Å"A three year old in Tennessee was forced by her stepfather to walk for three days and three nights, until she died of exhaustion.

Analyzing Competition Essay

As 2001 comes to a close, Sa Sa contemplates what else can be done to improve profitability and keep on growing. 1. What were the reasons for Sa Sa’s early success? SA SA was creating value for its customers by providing them with quality products at a fair price. Sa Sa was first of its kind to pioneer the concept of discount store for the cosmetics (create and control). It . did is fast in the initial stages of the business (compete) by making the stores bigger and better from 40 sqft in 1978 to 750 sqft in 1985 to 10 stores in mid 1990s. Sa Sa was able to provide value to its customer by keeping the purchase prices low by using â€Å"parallel importation† and passed saving to the customers. One of the other important factor was Sa Sa listened to its customer demand (which products to stock). Sa Sa allowed the customer to touch and feel the cosmetics products that drove the demand. We also see Sa Sa’s strategy to deter the new entrants by holding onto old location. They controlled the inventory depending on the sales rate and the shelf life of the products. Sa Sa uniquely combined the combined the cosmetics product knowledge to advice the customer and provided the products at lower cost in comfortable environment, thus creating value for the customer for the first time that no one has done before. This is Resource Based View, outcome of which gave Sa Sa a competitive advantage. Sa Sa developed the Core competency: Rare: Sa Sa’s core compentancy was rare until it disclosed it in IPO Valuable –yes customers found it valuable and made Sa Sa an household name. The sales people were one of the best trained in the industry but were poached by the competition. In early days the Sa Sa operated as a family-run culture, help retain them but afte the IPO, when Sa Sa changed strategy to be creating value for the Shareholdershard to imitate: it was not hard to imitate as evidenced by the whole slew of competitier copied once known. non-substitutable-yes, there were various product segments/tiers; Sa Sa focusedtop brand names Core Products Business Units End products Porters 5 forces: Industry Rivalry: Concentration: Diversity of the Competitors Product Differentiation Excess Capacity Exit Barriers Cost Conditions Supplier Power Threat Of Entry Buyer Power Threat of substitute What changes have occurred in the stores since Sa Sa’s early success? (Not including the strategic issues outlined in Figure A. ) Sa Sa was able to offer the cosmetics at a cheaper prices than competitors combined with the sales team able to help the customers with personal needs and using customer insights to buy/stock the inventories, Sa Sa had built unique value for the customers. Since the IPO, many new competitors (bonjour and rainbow) have entered the market. They are able to copy the core competency that was first developed by Sa Sa. Additionally very well known drugstores (Watson’s and Manning’s), have started offering the cosmetics! Both have used the existing infrastructure and corporate capital resource to position themselves as significant players with 13% annual growth rate. Many departmental stores have tried to differentiate themselves by providing all products from a brand and by offering free beauty advice in the stores. Some have tried to target the Who are Sa Sa’s key competitors? What implications does your assessment have for the decisions that Simon Kwok is facing about the future of Sa Sa? What were the key success factors behind Sa Sa’s story? What do you see as the major challenges and structural threats faced by Sa Sa? Market research. Review the market research data contained in the case. What are the key insights that you can learn from the findings? Assess the strategic initiatives that Sa Sa undertook recently. What are the positives & negatives. How is Sa Sa perceived by consumers? What should Sa Sa do next? Whom to target? How should the company position itself against the likes of Bonjour? Other strategic moves?

The English Language and Its Impact on Identities of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates

The English Language And Its Impact On Identities Of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates By Lee, Su Kim, Lee, King Siong, Wong, Fook Fei and Azizah Ya’acob Lee Su Kim is an associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, UKM. Lee King Siong, a senior lecturer with the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Wong Fook Fei is a senior lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.Azizah Yaacob is a lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Article Summary In this paper, the author explored an investigation in selected private and public universities to find out the impact of english on the identities of young Malaysian undergraduates in selected private and public universities in Malaysia. The author wanted to explore on a larger scale the role of English in the identity c onstruction of a younger Malaysian cohort from both public and private universities.The researcher chose from both public and private universities consists of 20 Malaysian undergraduates, in their early 20's till mid 20's . They were from different races(Malay Chinese, Indian s and Singhalese), different family backgrounds, different learning experiences and different everyday experiences when using english. Out of the 20 undergraduates, seven were Malays, eight were Chinese, four were Indians and one was Singhalese. There were four males and sixteen females. Twelve undergraduates were from public universities and eight were from the private universities. re from different families, races, backgrounds, and experiences were involved in the study. Based on the analysis of the data, it suggests that for a significant number of the respondents, English can quite easily be considered the dominant language in all domains. In most cases, English has empowered its users as it has opened up their world and in some cases has improved their self-esteem, improved their social status, and made them appear more knowledgeable. Critical reflection The organization of the article was easy to understand as it follows step by step.For instance. At the beginning of the paper, the author gave us a brief and simple abstract, it helped us to get the gist of the study. This article falls under the linguistic category of language and identity. Basically, this article discusses about the impact of English on the identities of young Malaysian undergraduates in selected private and public universities in Malaysia. The author focuses on how different multilingual and the impact of english language in constructing their identity and everyday negotiation.The article firstly explained the concept of identity especially in a multilingual society. The author stated that identity construction is an on-going process and is influenced by many factors. In Malaysia context, where its is a multiling ual country, involves the formation of bicultural identities, where the self defined by local meanings and more traditional practices is maintained alongside a self defined by global culture (Arnett, 2002). As such, a learner must not dispute its ‘imposed identity but to preserve its ethnic identity.Next, the author introduces the concept of othering The concept of â€Å"othering† refers to the practice of comparing ourselves to others and at the same time distancing ourselves from them (Palfreyman, 2005) The article is written based on a study done by one of the authors, related to the impact of English on the identities of young Malaysians. This study is conducted based on the three research objectives which are mainly to identify the impact of English language on the identities of youngMalaysians as bilingual and multilingual speakers, to seek the empowerment of english language in globalized world and to address any threats of english language to their cultural iden tities. The article is guided based on these four important research questions: In what ways does English affect the identities of young adults in Malaysia as bilingual/multilingual speakers? 2. How does English empower young Malaysians in this globalized world? 3. Is English viewed as a threat to their cultural identity?In what ways does English affect or marginalize local languages and local identities? The authors state that the study is done a qualitative method. Data was obtained from interviews with from mature undergraduates from the second or final year because the author believe that these students were able to give more mature reflections on the issue. The interviews were semi-structured and Carspecken’s (1996) critical ethnography interviewing techniques were applied. The data were taped ad the collected data were transcribed.The finding of this research proves 3 dominant themes that emerges form the analysis of the case studies, which are Multilingualism with Engl ish emerging as the dominant language, how English is viewed as a pragmatic language and a language of empowerment and the varying degrees of ‘Othering’. For the first dominant themes, half of the respondents reported that they are far more comfortable in using English than any other language in their daily lives. This dominant themes are substantiate with a few reasons. Firstly is he use of english language as the main language at home regardless whether they are Malay, Chinese and Malay.Secondly, most of the respondents have at least a parents who are english educated and they have been using the english language since an early age and their parents have been encourage them to use english when they were young. Thirdly, most of the respondents went to a school where they mixed around with other children from english speaking homes. Lastly, the english-speaking social environment gives them ample opportunities to use english to socialize with their friends who are also english speaking. The second dominant themes the author suggested is english is viewed as a pragmatic language and a language of empowerment.Some of the respondents stated that speaking english is viewed as intellectually superior and more knowledgeable. Some Malay respondents too agree that speaking english elevated their status in the eyes of some people. Speaking english too is seen as an ego-boosting for some of the respondents. When some of the respondents regard speaking english a a mechanism for them that opens up a window to another world and enables them to share differences in world views, another group of respondents feels that english has a modernizing influence and it helps them to develop a sense of confidence in themselves.Additionally, the last dominant themes from the finding is the varying degrees of othering and this depends on ones fluency in the other languages. Some Chinese respondents who are not fluent in english will try to improve themselves in their langua ge to make sure they are accepted and to close any barrier between the mandarin speaking and the English speaking. Others, feels that as compared to Malay-centric, Tamil-centric and Mandarin-centric, there are difference in thinking, attitude and behaviors between the english ones.For instance, the english speaking are more vocal and more optimistic whereas the Mandarin speaking are more cautious. From the findings too, the data suggested that the respondents experienced a mild ways instances of orthering. They are often perceived as trying to show off, proud and others. It appears that the multilingual speakers are the one being orthered by those who do not have the same spoken proficiency in english. Referring to the second research question, the authors would like to identify how english language empowers young Malaysian is the globalized world.From the findings, it is proven that english empowers young Malaysian socially. They use english everyday in their daily lives their self -esteem and how they are perceived in the society are the factors that encourage them to use english in their lives. Although some may perceived them differently, in this globalized world, english is seen as a tool that empowers every aspect in their lives. This article states that English evidently a plays a dominance factor in their identity negotiations. Majority of the respondents admitted english as the dominant language in their daily lives.Though some of the respondents are bilingual or multilingual, english is not use just for communication purposes instead it has become their first language. The respondents to acknowledged that being competent in english give them a positive position socially. They are aware that proficiency in english is valued bot academically and socially. People around them perceived them differently and they receive better respect. As a result the respondents are more confident in perceiving themselves.Not only that, it is found that the respondents be lieved the knowledge of english played a part in making them more â€Å"open-minded† taking on more neutral views towards values that are perceived to be markers of cultural identity. Additionally, some respondents english is a tool that allows them to communicate more directly. In other words the knowledge of english contributed towards a more reflective and critical outlook towards the culture of the respondents. This article also suggests that there are differences in those who are proficient in english and those who are proficient in the ethnic language.Those who are less competent in english are perceived as â€Å"more closed up† and ethnocentric and those who are more proficient in the ethnic language thought them to be â€Å"arrogant†, â€Å"showing off†, and â€Å"mat salleh celup †. these are similar in Lee Su Kim study where both Malay and non Malay respondents who are more proficient in english are perceived as â€Å"boastful † an d â€Å"Westernized† by their peers who are more proficient in the ethnic language. Moreover, there were some similarities between this article and Lee Su Kim (2000 study.However there are some differences especially in the attitude towards english. In this study, the theme that features more prominently is the subjects’ awareness of the pragmatism and social advantage in being well-versed in English, along with the indication that a significant number of subjects amongst the 20 interviewed were found to be multilingual with English featuring as a dominant language. although orthering between english speaking and native speaking are evident, it doesn’t seem to factor as prominently as the resentments that were reported by the subjects in Lee Su Kim’s (2003) study.This may be due to the attitude towards english as english is pertinent international language of the world and they are accepting the language as a relevant too in their lives rather than a seco nd or foreign language. To conclude, the author agrees and found that to some of the respondents, english seem to be a dominant language in all domains. English too has empowered them in improving their self-confident, social status and made them appear more knowledgeable. That is why some respondents may prefer to use english in their daily lives than their own language.Not only that, as english is seen as a prominent language in the world nowadays, thus, this act as a factor for suing english more in their daily lives. Besides that english too does affect their social status in the society. People who use english is regard as someone who are knowledge and some may been intimidated by the english speaking people. In the beginning of the article, the authors mentioned that there is little research on how the use of english affects the identity of Malaysian speakers. it is hoped that i n future, more research will be done in finding the impact of english to the Malaysian society.The authors suggests a similar study on the impact of English on identity could be beneficially carried out in other areas of Malaysia, particularly East Malaysia for its rich and highly unique sociocultural composition. the author also suggests A study on the impact and roles of the English language in other traditionally ‘non-native speaker’ or ‘outer circle’ countries would also prove beneficial in contributing to the body of knowledge towards understanding the implications of the spread of English as the language of the world today.In my point of view, I found that this article is easy to read because the choices of word that the authors use are simple and understandable. Besides that, I think that the discussion of the findings also proven that english has becoming a dominant language in young Malaysian today. I especially like the discussion past as it discusses the findings and relate them to the reality of english in young Malaysian today. Based on what i have read, i found that some of the respondents' experiences re similar to mine. I believe that when using english, it helps to build my self-esteem and confidence socially. I too believe that when using english, I am being perceived differently by other people. Hence, I strongly believe that using english in my daily lives to makes me appear more knowledgeable and people do look highly on me. And because English has become global today, to have a competent knowledge of the language is seen as a useful key for opening many doors.I found that i learned a lot from this article, firstly is that it is such an eye opener for me as how young Malaysian and the society perceived one that is fluent in english. I take it as a motivation for me to improve myself to be better speaker of english and also to be a better language teacher for my students to make sure they too will be able to be a proficient speaker of english. However i believe that no matter how fluent one in english an how imp ortant english is in the society today and to the future society, it should not shape ones identity.