The announcement follows uproar over the arrest of
two black men who were waiting for a friend at a Philadelphia Starbucks last
week. The store manager called the police. The racial bias training will be
provided on May 29 to about 175,000 workers. Starbucks says the training will
be developed with guidance from experts including former Attorney General Eric
Holder. Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education
Fund, and Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, will also
help design the program, as will executives from the Equal Justice Initiative
and Demos, the progressive think tank. The experts will also review the
effectiveness of the training, Starbucks said. The two men entered the
Starbucks on Thursday and asked to use to the bathroom. An employee told them
it was only for paying customers. When they then sat in the store without
ordering anything, the manager called police, and the men were arrested for
trespassing. No charges were filed. The company says the manager who called the
police is no longer working at that store. Starbucks would not comment on other
reports that she has left the company by mutual agreement.
13 comments:
It's unfortunate that this had to happen for a racial bias program to be implemented, but I think that Starbucks is being very proactive on their part to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. Companies that do not already have some sort of training in place, might want to follow Starbucks lead and implement a program.
I agree. I think this also speaks to how important corporate social responsibility/footprint is becoming that Starbucks will forgo an entire day of revenue from 8,000 to accomplish this and win back their customer's faith.
I agree as well. I think this kind of response is probably more likely to occur in Starbucks as opposed to any other service business, just because so much of Starbucks' brand is focused on community building (like their rewards program). I'm glad they will review the effectiveness of the training as well, because I think this kind of training is easily implemented and then forgotten. Hopefully it does raise awareness of racial bias both inside the business but in the community watching the scandal as well.
I think Starbucks has built a great brand recognition all over the world, I agree with their attempts and glad to see that they want to increase workers efficiency to help them accomplishing corporation vision and mission statement. The closing decision shows the determination of the company in focusing long-term corporation value instead of profit.
I think the incident that happened at the Starbucks was very unfortunate, but the company is taking great steps to combat the issue. Unfortunately, 8,000 stores will be closed on my birthday (May 29th), so I can't get my coffee, but I know it is for the right reason, which will help the company and society in the long run.
The commitment that Starbucks' management has made to correcting this issue is superb. They take their community image and customers very seriously, so I commend them for that. However, I think it is hard to implement this kind of stuff as part of training or whatever, but it's reassuring that one of the top companies in the world is committed to fixing it ASAP.
I believe that this is a smart decision for Starbucks. When talking about Starbucks, usually people are thinking about its high quality coffee and nice environment. That is the brand image. If people started to see Starbucks as a brand with a negative image, they would rather choose other substitutes. Training employees could prevent the similar event in the future and I believe the scandal is a good lesson for not only Starbucks and also for all the service related companies.
Even though this incident should never have happened, I think Starbucks is setting a good example of how to make up for it, in the corporate world. It goes to show that Starbucks values its customer satisfaction more than just earning profit- a counter argument to Friedman's view of a firms goal to only make profit. Starbucks has shown that it cares about its stakeholders as well as shareholders. Moreover, I feel like other companies should follow suit and have this racial-bias training before an incident like this should repeat.
I agree that in light of this unfortunate incident, Starbucks is managing the situation very well. They clearly value the opinion of their customers and want to maintain positive brand recognition. They will certainly bounce back from the closure of these stores and implement a closer watch on racial-bias training.
Starbucks is a well known brand and want to keep a good brand image and brand loyalty from their customers.I agree that this is a great move for Starbucks and this shows that Starbucks cares and value their customers.
I think social responsibility is an important component of any corporation and often the most neglected one too. Starbucks is setting a good example for other firms by implementing racial bias training program.
I think this is a smart decision to cover themselves. However, I think that closing the individual store in which the incident occurred would be more cost effective and efficient while still letting the public know the company will not stand for this kind of behavior.
I was mad hype when I first heard about this. Good for Starbucks and hopefully this act sets a precedent for future staff to customer relations across the industry. Shame on stakeholders who were upset with this call due to financial losses. In the long run, pertaining to profitability, it was probably best for the company to do this anyway.
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