Corporate social responsibility affect consumer purchase--美国Essay代写范文

美国Economics Essay代写范文:“Corporate social responsibility affect consumer purchase”，这篇论文主要研究的是星巴克的成功是人们有目共睹的，星巴克在成功之后投入了大量的资金用于承担企业的社会责任，星巴克这种承担企业社会责任的策略是否能够影响到消费者的购买选择，这种做法能否给星巴克带来一定的经济利益呢？人们对于企业承担社会责任的这种行为是否感兴趣呢？

Starbucks has invested such huge sums of money in fulfilling CSR, whether Starbucks’ CSR strategies can effectively influence consumers' purchase choices to bring economic benefits to Starbucks is a valuable research topic. This report was through a survey on 22 consumers to understand what they reacted to Starbucks’ CSR strategies. The main findings showed that more than 60 percent of respondents said that the CSR strategies had little influence on their choice of purchasing products. More than 60 percent of respondents were only little interested in Starbucks’ currently CSR strategies, and they knew little about Starbucks’ actions of CSR. These results to a certain extent explained why Starbucks’ currently CSR strategies failed to affect most consumers’ choice of purchasing products, it also showed that Starbucks has problems in promotion, execution and communication of its CSR strategies.

1.0  INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

With the introduction and spread of stakeholder theory, the theory of sustainable development, more and more companies start to focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Kim, 2014). CSR refers to the responsibility that a company must bear on employees, consumers, communities and the environment at the time when it creates profits and undertakes the legal liability for shareholders, CSR requires that an enterprise must go beyond the traditional concept of taking corporate profit as the only goal, emphasizing the focus on human values in production process, as well as the focus on the environment, consumers and contribution to a society (Yu and Choi, 2014; Abaeian, Yeoh and Khong, 2014 ). Starbucks, as one of the world's best-known coffee chains also attach great importance to CSR. In 2014, Starbucks has successfully implemented a number of global CSR projects, including the current " environmental impact minimization project ", which is still underway. According to Starbucks’s Global Corporate Responsibility Report in 2014, in 2014, the company opened its No. 500 store certified by the US Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Meanwhile, in 2014, among the newly opened Starbucks stores, 98% of them were built according to LEED standards. Globally, the proportion is 64% (Starbucks, 2015). It is worth noting that Starbucks has invested such huge sums of money in fulfilling CSR, then whether Starbucks’ CSR strategies can effectively influence consumers' purchase choices to bring economic benefits to Starbucks is a valuable research topic.

1.2 Aim

The research aim of this study was to discuss what consumers respond to Starbucks’ CSR strategies and what improvements that CSR strategies should make in its future CSR strategies.

2.0  LITERATURE REVIEW

CSR refers to that a company should not only be responsible for its stockholders, but also be responsible for the workers, consumers, as well as the environment (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). The focus is the protection of the legitimate interests of workers. Oliver Sheldon was the first person who combined CSR with the responsibilities that enterprises had to bear within and out of the industry, CSR was believed to include ethical elements (Tilt, 2009).

Starbucks was founded in Seattle in 1971 and it is now the largest American coffee company. It mainly deals with business of making coffee, tea, as well as cake. According to the data from Starbucks, Starbucks has developed rapidly and it has more than 20,000 stores in the world. The name of Starbuck came from what White Whale believe that the target market of this company is certain urban white colour workers who advocate knowledge, enjoy life and respect human nature (Madison, 2011). For Starbucks, assuming CSR is doing business through the ways which are helpful for a society, the environment, as well as the economy. For example, Starbucks has a good relationship with the Salvation Army. Starbucks often offers a two-hour free delivery service on holidays, as a return, people will donate for the Salvation Army. CSR has great significance for the development of a company and it will contribute to dealing with the social problems arising from the company itself (Crowther, 2000).

Starbucks takes being responsible for its consumers as its operating guideline, as its official website shows that Starbucks promises to provide consumers with high quality products and services ethically and responsibly (Global Responsibility Report Goals & Progress 2014, 2014). Besides this, Starbucks attaches great importance to consumer experience by gradually resolving the typical American culture to bring consumers a warm vision, a free hearing and a fragrant smell (Roark, 2014). Jesper Kunde explains in the success of Starbucks as the transforming from product to service, then to experience (Kunde, 1900). Thus Starbucks successfully built a Coffee Religion characterized by Starbucks experience. Scholars comment that project leaders should read what customers suggest publicly every month, that is why Starbucks can improve its customer relationships (Schofield, 2008).

The above literatures show how Starbucks commit to consumers by offering consumers best products and services, as well as contributing to a society. However, most researches focused on what the company did in bearing CSR and less were concerned about what customers react to the CSR strategies.

2.1 Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to focus this study:

1)  Do the actions of Starbucks’ CSR influence consumers’ choice of purchasing products?

2)   Are consumers interested in Starbucks’ CSR? Do customers know the actions of Starbucks’ CSR?

3) How do consumers evaluate Starbucks’ products?

3.0  METHODOLOGY

3.1 Sample

The questionnaires were distributed in the Starbucks store near to XJTLU. Objects of the investigation were consumers of Starbucks. The objects were selected by random sampling, 25 respondents were involved in this investigation, of which 22 copies of questionnaires were available, the effective rate was 88%. Among the 22 respondents, 8 were male, accounting for 36.36% of the total, 14 were female, accounting for 63.64% of the total; 14 of them were less than 20 years old or 20-year-old, accounting for 63.64% of the total, 8 respondents were over the age of 20, accounting for 36.36%.

3.2 Materials

The questionnaire contained 10 questions, which were used to investigate the personal information of the respondents and what they responded to Starbucks’ CSR strategies. Only an answer to a question was allowed. The questionnaires were distributed and taken back through an on-site manner. The questionnaires were paper questionnaires, the respondents were asked to use a pen or pencil to fill in the questionnaires. Questionnaire answers were recorded by using Excel software for statistics and analysis

3.3 Procedure

Using questionnaires help researchers to collect enough data in a short time, in this study, it was beneficial to understand the views and recommendations of many consumers about Starbucks’ CSR strategies for saving time, effort and money; meanwhile, results of questionnaire were easy for analysis by using quantitative tools (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2007). Each respondent was informed about the purpose and the use of the questionnaire before they accepted the investigation, and they were promised that any personal information involved would not be disclosed. Each of them were given a gift for encouraging them to fill in the questionnaire carefully, and they were told about how to fill out the questionnaire correctly. In filling out the questionnaire, no pressure was suffered to keep the respondents to bring forward answers according to their true wishes. All the answers were recorded through Excel software for easily recording and analyzing.

4.0  RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The aim of this study was to investigate what consumers react to Starbucks’ CSR strategies. The main questions included whether consumers understood the CSR strategies; the views of consumers on Starbucks’ implementation of the CSR strategies; evaluation and recommendations of consumers about Starbucks’ CSR strategies, and so on. Specific results of this questionnaire were recorded in the Excel sheet.

4.1 Research Question 1

Do the actions of Starbucks’ CSR influence consumers’ choice of purchasing products?

Enterprises implement CSR strategies usually for two motives, one is altruistic motive, hoping to safeguard the interests of corporate stakeholders by conducting CSR policies, so as to achieve long-term sustainable development of enterprises. The other is a self-serving motive, namely, by using CSR strategies, companies hope to improve corporate brand image and expand business visibility, thereby affecting consumers’ choice of purchasing products to increase revenue (Kim, 2014; Abaeian, Yeoh and Khong, 2014). However, the investigation results showed that only eight respondents, accounting for 36.36% of the total indicated that Starbucks’ CSR strategies strongly influenced their choice of purchasing products. 16 respondents (accounting for 63.64 percent) believed that the CSR strategies had little influence on their choice of purchasing products. No respondent thought that Starbucks’ CSR strategies did not affect their choice of purchasing products. Therefore, from the perspective of a self-serving motive, Starbucks’ CSR strategies did not achieve the intended purpose, since it did not affect most consumers’ choice of purchasing products.

Figure 1: Influence of Starbucks’ CSR strategies on consumers’ choice of purchasing products

4.2 Research Question 2

Are consumers interested in Starbucks’ CSR? Do customers know the actions of Starbucks’ CSR?

When they were asked about whether they were interested in Starbucks’ CSR strategies, 4 respondents (accounting for 18.18% of the total) said that they were very interested, there were 14 respondents (accounting for 63.64%) expressed that they are little interested, there were four represent (accounting for 18.18%) chose “not interested”. When they were asked about if they knew the actions of Starbucks' CSR. There were 21 respondents (accounting for 95.45%) chose “no”, only a respondent (accounting for 4.54%) said “yes”. Results of the question indicated that most of the respondents were not interested in Starbucks' current CSR strategies, neither did they Starbucks’ actions of CSR. These results to a certain extent explains why Starbucks' current CSR strategies failed to affect the majority of consumers’ choice of purchasing products, which also proved that Starbucks has problems in its current CSR strategies in promotion, execution and communication.

Figure 2: The number of consumers who were interested in Starbucks’ CSR strategies

Figure 3: The number of consumers who understood Starbucks’ CSR strategies

4.3 Research Question 3

How do consumers evaluate Starbucks’ products?

When consumers were asked about how they evaluated Starbucks’ product, six respondents (accounting for 27.27%) said that the products were perfect; 16 respondents (accounting for 72.73%) expressed that the products needed to be further improved; no respondent thought that the products were bad. The results showed that the majority of respondents were not satisfied with the products and Starbucks needed to further improve consumer satisfaction. Martínez and Bosque (2013) note that in implementation of CSR strategies, enterprises should put protecting the interests of consumers in an important position, even if their abilities are limited, they should also attach importance to the commitment to fulfill the social responsibility for consumers to ensure product and service quality. Considering from Starbucks’ CSR strategies, it mainly included its performance on environmental protection, employee benefits, achieving sustainable development, but it failed to take safeguarding consumers’ interests as an important part of its CSR, the quality of its products did not satisfy consumers, naturally, customer satisfaction for its CSR strategies was not high. The findings of this problem to some extent also explained why Starbucks’ CSR strategies failed to effectively affect consumers' choices of purchasing products. Therefore, in the future, Starbucks must pay attention to fulfill the company's responsibility for consumers to strive to provide more high-quality products and services to consumers.

Figure 4: Evaluation of consumers on Starbucks’ products

5.0  CONCLUSION

5.1 Overview

The aim of this study was to discuss what consumers react to Starbucks’ CSR strategies, it took a method of questionnaires to collect data. The main findings showed that more than 60 percent of respondents said that the CSR strategies had little influence on their choice of purchasing products. More than 60 percent of respondents were only little interested in Starbucks’ currently CSR strategies, and they knew little about Starbucks’ actions of CSR. These results to a certain extent explained why Starbucks’ currently CSR strategies failed to affect most consumers’ choice of purchasing products, it also showed that Starbucks has problems in promotion, execution and communication of its CSR strategies. More than 70% consumers were not satisfied with Starbucks’ products, which needed Starbucks to further improve consumer satisfaction on their products.

5.2 Limitations

Limitations of this study included that, first, the sample size was not large enough, it was only 22, but Starbucks has millions of consumers each year, 22 of them might not be able to reflect the views of all consumers, which might make the findings of this investigation unrepresentative. Second, this study used a quantitative research, the quantitative research was not conducive to an in-depth investigation of why Starbucks’ CSR strategies could not effectively influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, combining with qualitative research methods could help  to fill this gap.

5.3 Recommendations

According to the findings of this study, the following recommendations can be put forward for Starbucks’ further CSR strategies. First of all, it should promote the publicity of CSR strategies, so that every consumer can clearly understand the content of its CSR strategies and the positive effect it may bring, which will help to improve consumers’ impression towards their CSR strategies to improve its brand image. Then, Starbucks’ CSR strategies should be able to bring direct benefits to consumers, so as to effectively influence consumers' purchasing decisions. For example, in protecting the environment, at the same time, it should focus on improving the quality of its products and service.

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