With what is going on today in the business world we should reflect on what Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said at the company's March 20, 2013 Shareholder Meeting in Seattle, Washington.
If it is hard to hear, here is what he said.
Not every decision is an economic decision. Despite the fact that you recite statistics that are narrow in time, we did provide a 38% shareho
lder return over the last year. I don’t know how many things you invest in, but I would suspect not many things, companies, products, investments have returned 38% over the last 12 months. Having said that, it is not an economic decision to me. The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people. We employ over 200,000 people in this company, and we want to embrace diversity — of all kinds. If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38% you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much. – QPolitical.com
What made Schultz proclaim this during the Shareholder Meeting? It was in response to Starbucks very public support of same-sex marriage. The discussion was initiated by the company's founder of Corporate Morality Action Center, Tom Stobhar. He mentioned shareholder earnings had been effected over the last year since Starbucks had backed the same-sex marriage fight. Boycotts had occurred as well as websites like Dumpstarbucks.com had been formed. Some shareholders appear to taking Schultz’s advice and have sold their shares. Dumpstarbucks.com states:
“Starbucks is using its resources to invalidate traditional marriage in the US and redefine the institution of marriage despite the strongly held views of so many of its customers, including me. Therefore, I will no longer purchase anything from Starbucks until you change your corporate values to be more reflective of my own.” – QPolitical.com
As we can see, Starbucks is still doing great 2 years later and popping up on more street corners than we knew existed. They have not gone out of business and I have not heard of any protests against the company based on their same-sex marriage stance.
Salesforce was great with their action of pulling as far away from Indiana as possible, but we need more companies to be proactive like the coffee giant. Starbucks was one of the over 300 U.S. corporations that signed a recent Supreme Court brief in an effort to overturn the nation’s Defense of Marriage Act. We thank you.
Do you think more companies should be as out and open as Starbucks?
What should companies like Apple and Starbucks do in response to the passage of the RFRA Law in Indiana?
I will be going out of my way
I will be going out of my way, getting out of my car, and payingg probably an extra dollar JUST to support Starbucks. Bravo to them for doing what is right.
Chow down at Chick-Fil-A!
Chow down at Chick-Fil-A!
Funny, who was calling for a
Funny, who was calling for a boycott of starbucks a few years ago when they refused to ban guns?
NOW their good again.
Music comes to mind…
Should I stay or should I go?
Thanks for the information. I
Thanks for the information. I've always enjoyed Starbucks but will go even more.
I’m thinking starbucks
I'm thinking starbucks deserve an extra coffee sale or two from me now 🙂
Thank you for posting. I
Thank you for posting. I never knew. Now I'm going to make it a point to buy from Starbucks.
Well done ‘Starbucks’ for
Well done 'Starbucks' for your stance on same sex marriage. Now if you would just pay your taxes in the UK, instead of aggressively avoiding them I will drink your coffee again. Cheers
Starbucks 4ever!:)
Starbucks 4ever!:)
More reason for me to LOVE
More reason for me to LOVE Starbucks even more!!!!
I will goto Starbucks now as
I will goto Starbucks now as well thanks for this
They should pull out of
They should pull out of Indiana, I know that's a great thing to do, but they should do it!!!
So they should fire all their
So they should fire all their employees in Indiana?
so be all tolorant and shit..
so be all tolorant and shit…but only when its MY way. put all those poor randoms out of a job for FUCKING DARING to LIVE in a state they were probably born in because somebody else made a law I don't like.
hmmm…sounds like the antigaymarrage tantrums you're applauding for starbucks telling to stuff it.
AWESOME! Thank you!
AWESOME! Thank you!
i would be happy to buy some
i would be happy to buy some of those "unwanted" shares from those silly shareholders that didn´t agree with gay marriage. 38% return is higher than having my money in the bank, which means more extra-hot coffee late for me!
Pull out of Indiana, and let
Pull out of Indiana, and let them see how much it will hurt the state with discrimination act.
Or hurt the thousands of
Or hurt the thousands of people they employ in Indiana. Ya, let's take jobs from working class people. That'll stick it to the politicians.
Nice Speech. Not many CEO
Nice Speech. Not many CEO have the guts to tell the shareholders that they cant bully him.
I need a Starbucks coffee!
I don’t see anyone bullying
I don't see anyone bullying anyone. The person who decided not to buy coffee at Starbucks anymore politely informed the company of his reason; you are perfectly welcome to disagree with him. The Starbucks executive was equally polite as he stated his position. The article implied that he used vulgar imagery, but that is not the case at all. I think both were surprisingly restrained and decent in their expressions.
Let them Eat Chick-Fil-A!
Let them Eat Chick-Fil-A!
I did not go to starbucks but
I did not go to starbucks but im gonna start now thank you for this