ard for the efforts of thousands of Starbucks employees who have supported AIDS causes by fund raising and volunteerism and for marketing the Red Ribbon Sampler, a product designed to raise money for AIDS service providers.Starbucks Memorial Fund In 1997 three Starbucks employees were murdered in a Washington D.C. store. Starbucks responded by creating the Starbucks Memorial Fund. All proceeds from that store are now donated to D.C. charities that promote violence prevention and victim assistance. In June of 1999 $75,000 was given to eight organizations.EmployeesStarbucks calls its employees partners. It offers stock option programs. It encourages its employees to be actively involved it the community by giving financial support and product donations to organizations where its employees donate their time.Legal DisputesThere have been a few unsatisfied customers with Starbucks, as is generally the case with any large consumer focused company. A few of the disgruntled customers established a web site, www.starbucked.com, to allow other customers to vent their frustrations. Introduction to HumanaHumana is the third largest managed healthcare company in the United States. The relative size of the organization coupled with inherent conflicts of interest has led Humana, among other HMO’s, to become involved in decisions of questionable ethical substance. Humana espouses the vision, “To improve the health of our members, and provide value to our customers, partners and shareholders.” An underlying question is how well are they pursuing their vision? This group believes that Humana is an example of a company with ethical integrity problems.HMO’sNo discussion of one HMO could possibly be complete without looking at the industry as a whole. There is a fine line that HMO’s tread when determining what is in the patient’s best interest. Some would argue that bureaucracy in managed care programs, despite b...
