Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Coffee Industry: An Examination of Indicators Disclosed

Abstract

Corporations operating in the coffee industry are no strangers to the challenges of sustainable business. Unstable downward price pressure encourages coffee producers to engage in environmentally detrimental practices, whilst the social fabric of coffee producing communities has been disrupted and livelihoods have suffered. Sustainability indicators are used by corporations to disclose and measure Corporate Social Performance (CSP) in an attempt to address sustainability challenges. Indicators must be practical and appropriate as they create values that inform social and political policy-making. As the selection of indicators is discretionary, there is a chance that they may not suitably represent sustainability challenges, rather what the corporation perceives to be of salience. There is a need therefore to identify the indicators used and examine their suitability for representing the sustainability challenges faced by the industry by drawing on themes identified in a literature review. By conducting a latitudinal (cross-sectional) content analysis of the latest available sustainability report and/or webpages of ten British Coffee Association corporate members (Bewley’s, Cafedirect Plc, Caffe Nero, Costa Ltd, Finlay Beverages Ltd, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lavazza Coffee UK Ltd, Matthew Algie, Nestle UK & Ireland and Taylors of Harrogate), a total of 94 (44 environmental, 30 social and 20 economic) indicators are identified. It is found that for the most part the indicators used suit the sustainability challenges identified in the literature review. Several observations are drawn: the variety of indicators disclosed highlights the discretionary nature of sustainability reporting as well as crucial differences in organisation characteristics (degree of vertical integration). While the extant literature focusses on sustainability challenges related to coffee production, indicators are used to disclose performance throughout the global value chain, demonstrating that companies account for sustainability from bean to cup. Single-use indicators denote unique sustainability challenges that corporations lend salience to, suggesting that indicators may be tailored to territorial realities. Comments are made towards the degree of standardisation found between indicators with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), where the cases following GRI guidelines tended to be those disclosing the greatest quantity of indicators. Despite operating in the context of neoliberal globalisation where corporations are increasingly expected to assume the responsibility of tackling sustainability challenges, this study underlines the voluntary nature of sustainability indicator selection, finding substantial similarities as well as differences in the quality and quantity of indicators disclosed.