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April 13, 2005

11:20 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Cool Intentions?

| posted by Kevin Ohannessian

Reading about Starbucks acquiring environment-friendly water producer Ethos this morning, I immediately felt a host of emotions. The first was disbelief: I can't believe that this corporate behemoth is expanding again. Isn't it enough that there's a Starbucks on every corner, here in Manhattan?

The second feeling was confusion: are they buying them because water is selling well at Starbucks and they want more control of that? Or is it because they want to increase their charity portfolio? And the third was simple distaste: I bet they want to look good to the press and to the public, announcing a donation of a million dollars. Don't they have any decency?

How unfair such gut reactions and nagging questions are. It is unfortunate how muddy the waters have gotten; every move a corporation makes being analyzed to death. Maybe Starbucks wanted more profit on bottled water; maybe they wanted to support charitable actions. Probably, they wanted both at the same time. Perhaps we should all take a step back and try to be objective. It would be a nice change, don't you think?

Tags: Work/Life, culture
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Recent Comments | 3 Total

April 13, 2005 at 2:13pm

Devin Reams
Am I the only one finding the name, Ethos, a bit interesting? ethos: "The code of conduct of a business and the way in which it treats its staff, customers, environment and legal responsibilities."
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April 13, 2005 at 2:17pm

Jason Northington
Objectivity? Is there such a thing? Maybe on a personal level there can be some amount of objectivity, but in the case of Starbucks, and every other conglomerate out there, how can there be? Decisions may be made at a board room table yet the decision made may be the product of people with differing intentions, yet the decision is the same. So no, I'm not sure objectivity regarding corporate actions and the meaning influencing their decisions is possible without obtaining a frontal lobe biopsy on every contributing member. Now that may not be a bad idea! Wal-Mart anyone?
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April 13, 2005 at 9:35pm

Jon
You know, every time I want to jump on the Starbucks conglomerate chagrin bandwagon - I stop, and say "Hell, they should open MORE stores." and I'll tell you why. Name one other international company that grants benefits to Part Time employees.
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