1. Introduction This Essay deals with the concept of business ethics of an organization. Coca Cola has been taken as an example to clarify these concepts further and to describe how an organization can be caught up in an ethical dilemma and what steps Coca Cola took to minimize the ethical dilemma to ensure its survival. The Ethical issue concerning Coca Cola happened in India in the year 2003. The problematic situation happened in Kerela where the population near the Coca Cola plant complained regarding the passage of sludge as fertilizer, causing health and environmental damage. The most important issue concerning the Indian population is the depletion of water resources caused by the Coca Cola bottling operations which have dramatically …show more content…
In this dilemma they acted egoistic. The Egoism is an ethical theory of Adam Smith. He describes Egoism as the act to considering only at the individual interest of the company and their consumers neither intends to promote the public interest. The aim is to maxim the self-interest. This was the case at Coca Cola, because they considered only their interest no matter if they are reducing the availability of water in Kerela, if they are damaging the healthcare status of the Indian population or if their products were full of pesticides. This dilemma happened on the organisational and systemic level. The organisational level deals with the aspects to take responsibility of the impact of their actions, the way that an organisation treats others and the principles that guide organisational behaviour. The systematic level takes consideration of the economy, laws and cultures, they are dealing with the companies’ behaviour and what is acceptable for the society and aiming for a system that serves everyone´s best interest. After viewing the situation it will be recognised that Coca Cola´s behaviour was unacceptable for the society, because they set their interest over the interest of the population in Kerela. They damaged the healthcare state of the people who lived next to the plant as of their customers, because they did not controlled their products very …show more content…
In order to gain trust among the local society, they improved their business and decided to implement some different ethical theories one of these theories that they focused on was the Utilitarianism. The contributors for the Utilitarianism theory were Jeremy Bentham and John Mill. Utilitarianism means that everybody´s and well-being of an enterprise have an equal way. The way to act Utilitarianism refers to the greatest good for the greatest number as a consequence of a single action. The right act is defined as the one which brings about the best results. So to act in this way Coca Cola focused on reducing the water usage. Now in the year 2015 they use 34 % less water compared to the year 2007 through the practice of rainwater. Another aspect how they transact the theory is that they stabled a charity project in collaboration with the government to provide medical access to poor people. But this was not the only thing that they changed. Kant who was a contributor of the theory of duties said that if you want to act morally correct a company or a person should always act in such a way that you would be prepared for it to become a general rule and that everyone else do the same in the same situation. Under considering this statement C.C implement various quality checks for their ingredients and for the process for making soft drinks. Nowadays the water that they are using is
The corporate world has an unfavorable view of itself by being selfish, evil, and against the average American. Companies market themselves and their products in certain ways that makes them and their products appealing to everyone and if not everyone then a certain group of people. Every company has a mission to follow and values to go by, but some companies lack ethics and morals. In this paper I am going to talk about one company that engages in ethical behavior and another that doesn’t.
What really upsets me is that in Africa, Coke is cheaper than water. Even if the water isn’t clean, and every day, the prices keep increasing. Keeping this in mind, many people aren’t able to afford water. Accordingly, to live with no illnesses, you have to be worth more, you must have more. Otherwise, Coke is always an option. They are encouraging death, Coca-Cola is just water and a lot of sugar. Why don’t these companies and government understand? Water should be a human right. It was provided by nature, we have no right to privatize nature, we don't own it, and we shouldn't. Due to this, some of the quality of life indicators are getting affected. As an example child mortality rates, and life
From time to time, corporate executives encounter ethical dilemmas that seem rather challenging. In this text, I concern myself with an ethical dilemma faced by the top leadership of Nutritional Foods Inc. In so doing, I will amongst other things explain (in detail) the actions I would take were I to find myself in a similar scenario. I will also explain not only the reasoning behind my actions, but also the results I would be expecting.
Ethics are values and principles that individuals use to govern his decisions and activities. Ethics are about moral judgment of an individual about right and wrong. In an organization, code of ethics refers to set of guiding principles and organizations use these principles in their policies, programs, and decisions for business. Within organizations, decisions are taken by groups or individuals and these decisions are influenced by the culture of the company. Decision making and relevance of ethics may also differ for nonprofit and for profit organizations. In contemporary business environment, organizations must have a clear ethical policy and implement it in proper manner. There are many social, legal and economic outcomes that company has to face in case of any ethical dilemma, so there must be a smart strategy to deal with ethical dilemmas. In this paper, we will address the ethics for nonprofit and profits organizations, ethical dilemmas being faced or faced by each of these companies and the outcomes of these ethical dilemmas. Critique of actions of each of these companies will be provided from the point of view of applicable philosophical theories of organizational ethics.
If you had an opportunity to solve world hunger you would do it, right? Well a company named Monsanto has set a goal to achieve the mighty task. They look to achieve this goal by creating special seeds that are resistant to pesticides, also which use less water and energy to produce. There are also said to be some big disadvantages to using Monsanto’s methods to producing their seeds that have not yet been researched deeply enough. This raises many questions to people around the world. Many countries who will not even accept seeds from the company over fear of the crops they produce will cause health and environmental detriments. So my question is, can Monsanto solve some of the world’s problems or should we be looking at other better
I think if Coca-Cola would have responded this way they wouldn’t have lost as many sales as they did. Coca-Cola also said that if you target a MNC you are going to get more publicity and more attention from other consumers. Coca-Cola just should have ensured everyone that they were going to test the water and fix the product immediately so they would not lose any sales. Pesticides may be in everything in India, but this is not something a MNC should be bringing up. The only business of matter is that their company is being targeted and they need to fix the problem as soon as they could.
Coca–Cola a leading manufacturer, distributor and marketer of soft drink products. Coca–Cola was not always the sugary syrup soft drink most people know today. As a matter of fact, before 1886 Coca-Cola was made with alcohol and cocaine. Concocted by Dr. John Pemberton a pharmacist in Atlanta Georgia Coca-Cola was originally named Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. Dr. Pemberton marketed the drink as a cure all for mental and physical disorders and was sold from a soda fountain at his local drug store. A step ahead of prohibition, Dr. Pemberton replace the wine in his formula with a sugary syrup. The cocaine portion of Coca-Cola was removed before 1914 when cocaine was deemed illegal in the United States of America. Coca-Cola as we know today still contains coca but the narcotic portion of cocaine, it is removed. Today, Coca-Cola has expanded to over 200+ countries. From concerts to sport venues to local restaurants you are more than likely to come across a Coca-Cola product, Coca-Cola has had such an impact on society that it is given credit for how we portray Santa Clause today. Other credits should also be given to Coca-Cola like an increase in diabetes and other diseases.
Coca-cola boasts of being the world’s largest beverage company serving approximately one billion customers daily. The most dominant products distributed by Coca-cola are Coke, Fanta, Sprite and Diet Coke. This strategy is aimed at ensuring that every customer gets satisfied whenever they use a Coca-cola brand. Coca-cola has large distributions across the globe making it the largest distributor in the world. The late Roberto Goizueta termed Coca-cola to be an American company with large international business and a sizeable American business (Ferrell, 2008). This has helped a lot with brand selling as it is the most recognized brand in the whole world. “Coca-Cola has the most valuable brand name in the world and, as one of the most visible companies worldwide, has a tremendous opportunity to excel in all dimensions of business performance” (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2008). Coca-cola, however, has not been smoothly running over the decades in operation. It has on numerous occasions been criticized for overlooking some ethical standards that it should have rather upheld. This essay aims at looking into some of the issues facing Coca-cola, the most significant of them, how they were resolved and how Coca-cola should have solved them.
Because it enter in the market at the wrong time, obliging it to a hard competition with Pepsi. Another reason is that it has to sell almost the 50% of their equity to expand itself and other bureaucratically aspects like deny of the upcoming Indian shareholders voting rights.
Pepsi is a world famous carbonated soft drink made by American company PepsiCo. Its distinctive blue packaging makes a huge contrast with its long-time rival’s signature red packing, Coca-Cola. First introduced as 'Brad's Drink' in North Carolina, USA at 1893 before renaming to Pepsi at 1898, Pepsi has always trying to be the dominant brand in soft-drink market while completing with Coca-Cola, known as the Cola War, where the two brands used a series of television advertisements and marketing campaigns trying to get more influence in the soft-drink market among the consumers. Pepsi launched its new commercial advertisement ‘Live For Now Moments Anthem’ in April 2017, as a part of its previously launched Pepsi's first global campaign ‘Live For Now’ in April 2012. The protest-themed advertisement, however, not only was nowhere near Pepsi’s original expectation, but it causes a huge ethical issue, backlash and controversy that made Pepsi took down the advertisement and issue an apology in less than a few days.
The crisis that happened at Coca Cola was a very crucial incident. It affected issues such as brand and reputation, and the company has to take action so as not to ruin its image. Coca Cola is a company with a very strong brand name all over the world. An attack like this of the NGO can lead any company to problems. Although the Center for Science and Environment attacked the safety of Coca Cola India 's products, Coke was well within the Indian government 's legal limits for pesticide residue in beverages. The fact is that the country 's standards are weak, so the problem of Sanjiv Gupta and his team is how to rebuild trust. Furtherore, Gupta tries to find ways on how he could contribute on the creation of higher standards for food and
5. What risk is there to Coca-Cola in using its NGO partners as a key means to reach out to local communities?
“A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same, and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."(Andy Warhol, 1975) Regardless of its corporate reputation, the organizational performance and its social responsibility of Coca-Cola makes it loved around the world. Ever since its creation in 1886 Coca-Cola has been a household brand known globally for generations of families. I have to mention, of all the cases researched this is my least favorite not only because of my childhood love for the product because the ethical issues in one way or another always manage to resolve themselves not before further tainting the reputation Coke worked so hard to obtain. Most times, whether an organization is innocent of an unethical act, it becomes secondary to the suspicion of the original act. Almost as if the court of public opinion has the power to ruin the reputation of an organization based on an unfounded accusation. In spite of my loyalty after having ready the case, I do believe Coca-Cola to be flawed. The contamination scare in Belgium is a great example of a public relations nightmare. The slightest hint of impurity should have pushed Coca Cola into crisis management mode but they were slow to react, citing it a minor issue (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, (2011). It was not until local officials
Coca-Cola is a big recognized brand that produces many products than just soda drinks. With all the money and brand recognition the company possesses, there are possibilities for the company to past the scandals and keep up in the business market, like we have discovered the company has invested money to cover illicit activities. However, it is very important for the company to act ethically and respond to the scandals that the company has been accused. If Coca-Cola responds morally correct, it will shows the customers that the company cares about social responsibility, but if the company does not act fast and ethically, it exists the possibilities that the company’s sales keep declining.
Who would have known that Coca-Cola debut to the world was all because of a pharmacist? And just a touch of carbonation has truly made it a refreshing and an enjoyable carbonated soft drink. It is within “arms reach of desire” as former CEO Robert Woodruff notes. The Coca-Cola Company ultimately cares about its customers and prides itself into providing good citizenship. One of Coca-Cola’s largest international investors was India, from 1993 up until 2003, Coca-Cola invested more than US$1 billion into the country. In August of 2003, CEO of Coca-Cola India, Sanjiv Gupta came to a standstill where he had to further anticipate his next move for the company. The company faced a crisis where the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) issued a press release affirming that three samples of the 12 cold drink brands sold in and around Delhi containing pesticide residues were of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo brands.