Starbucks has been a mainstay in business school literature as a role model for innovation, branding, vertical integration, and corporate social responsibility. The impact of Starbucks is well-known - the company repositioned coffee into a mainstream drink that people consume these days for taste and aesthetics as much as function. Thanks to efforts from its CEO, Howard Schultz, Starbucks has carefully crafted a uniquely respected and celebrated image in academia, business, political, and investment circles. Starbucks is not some basic coffee retailer, but instead a forward-thinking, fast-growing, innovative, socially responsible company that always does the right thing for customers, employees, investors, farmers, and environment.

This makes it especially ironic that Starbucks, the poster child of corporate social responsibility and model employer, is now waging such a high-profile, visible, ugly war with its baristas across the United States - using every trick in and outside the book to crush unions and squash any labor progression efforts before it can form.

While union efforts are also happening at Apple, REI, Walmart, Target, and Amazon, none of these corporations have followed the scorched-earth approach of Starbucks. For a company that makes billions every year selling syrup and microwavables, surely the profits must be high. Can Starbucks really not afford to pay a few more bucks to its retail workers? In this episode, we’ll dive into the business of Starbucks, strip away the corporate marketing, and uncover why the company’s image as a dominant, fast-growing, business depends on successfully crushing unions.

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0:00 Nurturing Human Spirit
9:03 The Legend of Howard Schultz
16:43 Dwindling Growth Narratives
22:51 Investors Optics Against Unions Economics