Corporate Irresponsibility

The “free market” in coffee forces small farmers in the twenty four countries that supply Starbucks to compete in a self destructive “race to the bottom.” The law of supply and demand applies in the coffee market: as coffee supplies rise, the price of coffee drops. Starbucks takes advantage of this “free market” to divide and conquer the millions of coffee farmers. It shops among producers, paying what it calls “premium prices” for “high quality coffee,” picking and choosing supplies in relatively short-term contracts. The prices Starbucks pays are market prices that include standard increments over commodity market prices, for the quality and source of the coffee. Starbucks offers prices based on the current market. Starbucks has taken unfair advantage of producers ever since the end of the coffee quotas in 1989, by paying the low prices set in this free market for its coffee. The premium prices it pays are prices in the commodity markets, marked up for quality. Several years ago, Starbucks’ “premium prices” were at or less than the farmers’ cost of production, while coffee farmers were starving all over the world. Then and now, the company’s “premium prices” are unfairly low for farmers, who cannot provide for their families on their coffee income.

The Marketing Environment

BMW has been trying to outsell Mercedes-Benz in the last years and most of their efforts eventually paid off.

In the last 10 years, BMW has managed to sell twice as many cars as they used to, being the best premium car seller on the market. Everyone agrees that they’ve made a huge progress, but the recession couldn’t be anticipated by anyone.

BMW had a great marketing strategy, but it can fail in times like these. Many BMW owners bought their cars trough leasing and now they can’t afford making payments. This is a huge problem from BMW and many other car producers all over the world. Even so, the company is still producing new models and they have a few methods of getting pass the recession.

The evident market recovery since the beginning of the year continued to gain pace during the second quarter of 2010. BMW performed exceedingly well on the international markets with a range of new and attractive models. BMW net income in the second quarter increased almost  to about $1.1 billion. For the first half, BMW earnings were about $1.5 billion, versus a loss of about $41 million in the recession.

Country of Origin

Shirt - China

Sweater - China

Pants - China

Underwear - Thailand

Socks - No Label

Sneakers - Vietnam

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Scientists are working with governments and businesses to find ways of reducing the demand for energy and increasing the use of renewable sources of 'clean energy', which does not contain carbon dioxide. BMW has developed CleanEnergy in order to meet the long-term objective of reducing emissions from its cars. BMW was the first car maker in the world to focus on the development of its cars with the use of hydrogen as a source of energy. Hydrogen's potential to replace fossil fuels as a means of powering cars has long been recognized, but it was only with the arrival of the BMW Hydrogen 7 in 2006 that this potential became a viable reality. BMW Group is continually promoting the introduction of hydrogen as a source of energy, establishing partnerships with other companies and encouraging decision-makers and the energy industry to implement changes.

Strategic Planning

BMW's strategic plan includes global sales increases, substantial spending cuts, aggressive financial targets, U.S. production increases, more alliances, and the possible establishment of a fourth brand. The automakers are determined to:

A) increase worldwide sales to 1.8 million cars and SUVs by 2012 and more than 2 million by 2020

B) cut spending by $8.5 billion (U.S.) by 2012

C)improve profitability to compete better with Mercedes-Benz

D)increase U.S. production by 71 percent to 240,000 vehicles by 2012

E)buy more U.S. parts

F)increase Mini production to 260,000 vehicles per year

G)increase China's sales to 44,000 vehicles a year from 30,000

H)maintain its status as an independent company while looking for more strategic alliances where there are “synergies and efficiencies”

I) possibly establish a fourth brand.

Brief History and Mission Statement

BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works. It is a German automobile manufacturing company founded by Franz Josef Popp in 1916. The BMW logo is portrayed as an aircraft propeller to signify the white blades cutting through a blue sky. After WWI, BMW was forced to stop making engines because of the Versailles Armistice Treaty. After that BMW began making motorcycles in 1923 and then automobiles in 1928. The first motorcyle, the R32 twin was launched in 1923 and the first car, the Austin Seven later on in 1928. The BMW headquarters is in Munich, Germany.

The BMW Group is the world's leading provider of premium products and services for indivisual mobility. The BMW Group wants to become the most successful manufacturer in the car industry. Their vision is uniqueness through diversity, ladership, and taking risks.