Coca Cola 's Struggle With Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Firstly, I would like to explain what Corporate Social Responsibility is. “It is a company’s sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and

The purpose of this essay is to research the notion of CSR and uncover its true framework and outline what social responsibility truly means to corporate organisations, and whether it should be seriously considered to be a legitimate addition to the corporate framework of an organisation.

Exchange rate gains or losses are brought to account in determining the net profit or loss in the period in which they arise, as are exchange gains or losses relating to cross currency swap transactions on monetary items. Exchange differences relating to hedges of specific transactions in respect of the cost of inventories or other assets, to the extent that they occur before the date of receipt, are deferred and included in the measurement of the transaction. Exchange differences relating to other hedge transactions are brought to account in determining the net profit or loss in the period in which they arise. Foreign controlled entities are considered self-sustaining. Assets and liabilities are translated by applying the rate ruling at balance date and revenue and expense items are translated at the average rate calculated for the period. Exchange rate differences are taken to the foreign currency translation reserve.

Chapter 5 in the text, Business, Government, and Society by John F. Steiner and George A. Steiner, corporate social responsibility is defined as the corporate duty to create wealth by using means that avoid harm to, protect, or enhance social assets. General Electric in the Jack Welch Era fulfilled its corporate social responsibility but by marginal measures.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to business practices involving initiatives that benefit society (2). CSR may also be referred to as "corporate citizenship" and can involve incurring short-term cost that do not provide an immediate financial benefit to the company, but instead promote positive social and environmental change(1).

Corporate Social Responsibility are actions taken by a corporation that have positive and lasting impact for all stakeholders associated with the organization, seeking to strike a balance between profits and helping to establish lasting investment in the community (Carrol, 2015). In the 1980’s, then President Reagan challenged the business community to take on more responsibility to address social problems (Carrol, 2015). Socially responsible actions can benefit local communities as well as the greater societal good.

Corporate social responsibility is the responsibility a company takes on beyond its own economic benefit. Wikepedia (2006) states that it is "a company 's obligation to be sensitive to the needs of all of the stakeholders in its business operations" (Corporate social responsibility, para. 1). Stakeholders according to Wikepedia (2006) are all entities that might have influence on a company 's decisions. However, it should be pointed out that corporate social responsibility surpasses charitable donations and

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the ethical behaviour of a company towards society it operates in. It is a commitment to the concern to the society’s sustainability & development.

Coca-Cola was invented by John Pemberton the Coca-Cola Company began in 1886. With more than 1.9 billion consumers a day, in more than 200 countries, Coca-Cola is dedicated to being the world’s largest beverage company by maintaining and gaining customers. Customer preference is a core value to coke. Coke has dedicated itself to meet the thirst needs of every customer. They engage with their customers at home, restaurants, sporting events. Almost everywhere customers go, they can find a coke product. They build their top line growth and capital efficiency through investment in FIFA World Cup, “Open Happiness” global campaign, and have many worldwide partners, increasing their business nearly 5% every year by creating a diverse customer base.

Coca Cola is a beverage company, a major consumer of water resources, it uses 2.43 liters of water to produce just 1 liter of beverage which makes it prone to criticism and consumer boycotts so to protects its brand image and defend its vision statement, which said be a responsible citizen, and run its business smoothly it decided to start water program to maintain its operations in Vietnam and build a CSR reputation.

Corporate social responsibility emphasizes the participation of the organization in a larger society and its responsibility to support good causes. It emphasizes corporate citizenship, philanthropy, and community support and recognizes community-based obligations and responsibilities.

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.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) is a term describing a company’s obligation to be accountable to all of its stakeholder in all its operation and activities. Socially responsible companies consider the full scope of their impact on communities and the environment when making decisions, balancing the needs of stakeholder with their need to make profit.

According to Dahlsrud`s model which focuses on the five identified dimensions, which were concluded from the analysis of 37 defintions relating to CSR which are namely, environmental, social, economic, stakeholder and voluntariness. The PDF article titled, “How Corporate Social Responsibility is Defined: an Analysis of 37 Definitions”, Dahlsrud concluded that “the confusion is not so much about how CSR is defined, as about how CSR is socially constructed in a specific context.” (Dahlsrud, 2006) . Thus, Dahslrud suggests CSR is based on the five dimensions in his model which must be applied and carried out by companies for a business to act responsibly and ethically in a social

“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