Coca-Cola started its business in 1886 as a local soda producer in Atlanta, Georgia (US) selling about nine beverages per day. By the 1920s, the company had begun expanding internationally, selling its products first in the Caribbean and Canadian markets and then moving in consecutive decades to Asia, Europe, South America and the Soviet Union. In 2007 Coca-Cola launched its sustainability framework Live Positively embedded in the system at all levels, from production and packaging to distribution. The company’s CSR policy Live Positively establishes seven core areas where the company sets itself measurable goals to improve the business’ sustainability practices. The company has adopted international CSR guidelines such as Global Compact and Ruggie’s Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework (Ruggie’s Framework), but these guidelines do not seem to be integrated into the Code of Business. However, these CSR initiatives are included in other activities or policies of the company. Every year Coca-Cola publishes a directors’ report denominated ‘The Coca-Cola Company Annual Report’; the last one was published in March 2011 and comprises the company’s activities uring 2010. In this report there is a small section dedicated to CSR and it includes a brief description of the initiatives in community development and water preservation that the company has developed. Since 2001, Coca-Cola also annually publishes a separate report devoted to CSR called ‘The Coca-Cola Company Sustainability Review’. Several campaigns and demonstrations followed the publication of a report issued by the Indian NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in 2003. The report provided evidence of the presence of pesticides, to a level exceeding European standards,25 in a sample of a dozen Coca-Cola and PepsiCo beverages sold in India. With that evidence at hand, the CSE called on the Indian government to implement legally enforceable water standards. The report gained ample public and media attention, resulting in almost immediate effects on Coca-Cola revenues. However, the Indian government acknowledged the need to adopt appropriate and enforceable standards for carbonated beverages. In 2006, after almost three years of ongoing allegations, the CSE published its second test on CocaCola drinks, also resulting in a high content of pesticide residues (24 times higher than European Union standards). CSE published this test to prove that nothing had changed. Finally, in 2008 an independent study undertaken by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) ended the long-standing allegations by concluding that the water used in Coca-Cola in India is free of pesticides. In addition, Coca-Cola was accused of water pollution by discharging wastewater into fields and rivers surrounding Coca-Cola’s plants in the same community. Groundwater and soil were polluted to an extent that Indian public health authorities saw the need to post signs around wells and hand pumps advising the community that the water was unfit for human consumption. In 2000, the company established its production operations in Plachimada. Local people claimed that they started experiencing water scarcity soon after the operations began. After a long judicial procedure and ongoing demonstrations, the company succeeded in obtaining the licence renewal to resume its operations. In 2008 the company published its first environmental performance report on operations in India, which covered activities from 2004 to 2007.53 It also created the Coca-Cola India By returning to the ecosystem the water used in its operations in India through water harvesting, the company expected that this project could eventually turn the company into a ‘net zero’ user of groundwater by 2009. Questions: Discuss the main ideas of this case in relation with CSR
Coca-Cola started its business in 1886 as a local soda producer in Atlanta, Georgia (US) selling about nine beverages per day. By the 1920s, the company had begun expanding internationally, selling its products first in the Caribbean and Canadian markets and then moving in consecutive decades to Asia, Europe, South America and the Soviet Union.
In 2007 Coca-Cola launched its sustainability framework Live Positively embedded in the system at all levels, from production and packaging to distribution. The company’s CSR policy Live Positively establishes seven core areas where the company sets itself measurable goals to improve the business’ sustainability practices. The company has adopted international CSR guidelines such as Global Compact and Ruggie’s Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework (Ruggie’s Framework), but these guidelines do not seem to be integrated into the Code of Business. However, these CSR initiatives are included in other activities or policies of the company. Every year Coca-Cola publishes a directors’ report denominated ‘The Coca-Cola Company Annual Report’; the last one was published in March 2011 and comprises the company’s activities uring 2010. In this report there is a small section dedicated to CSR and it includes a brief description of the initiatives in community development and water preservation that the company has developed. Since 2001, Coca-Cola also annually publishes a separate report devoted to CSR called ‘The Coca-Cola Company Sustainability Review’. Several campaigns and demonstrations followed the publication of a report issued by the Indian NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in 2003. The report provided evidence of the presence of pesticides, to a level exceeding European standards,25 in a sample of a dozen Coca-Cola and PepsiCo beverages sold in India. With that evidence at hand, the CSE called on the Indian government to implement legally enforceable water standards. The report gained ample public and media attention, resulting in almost immediate effects on Coca-Cola revenues. However, the Indian government acknowledged the need to adopt appropriate and enforceable standards for carbonated beverages. In 2006, after almost three years of ongoing allegations, the CSE published its second test on CocaCola drinks, also resulting in a high content of pesticide residues (24 times higher than European Union standards). CSE published this test to prove that nothing had changed. Finally, in 2008 an independent study undertaken by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) ended the long-standing allegations by concluding that the water used in Coca-Cola in India is free of pesticides. In addition, Coca-Cola was accused of water pollution by discharging wastewater into fields and rivers surrounding Coca-Cola’s plants in the same community. Groundwater and soil were polluted to an extent that Indian public health authorities saw the need to post signs around wells and hand pumps advising the community that the water was unfit for human consumption. In 2000, the company established its production operations in Plachimada. Local people claimed that they started experiencing water scarcity soon after the operations began. After a long judicial procedure and ongoing demonstrations, the company succeeded in obtaining the licence renewal to resume its operations. In 2008 the company published its first environmental performance report on operations in India, which covered activities from 2004 to 2007.53 It also created the Coca-Cola India By returning to the ecosystem the water used in its operations in India through water harvesting, the company expected that this project could eventually turn the company into a ‘net zero’ user of groundwater by 2009.
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Discuss the main ideas of this case in relation with CSR?
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