The Coca Cola Company Struggles With Ethical Crisis

Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.

Ethical leadership is vital for the success of any business; this case study illustrates that the lack of moral values and a healthy ethically incline corporate culture, can lead to scrupulous behavior from the CEO all the way down the company. Scrushy had a demanding and cunning personality, and it was easy for his to influence others in his business to go along with the fraud. Also, having Stanwick and Stanwick, (2013) an active board of directors does have a positive impact on the performance of the firm. Also, good corporate governance supports the ethical requirements established by the stakeholders. A moral leader must cultivate a real ethically driven organization, which has no tolerance for unethical behavior.

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.

When reading the letter from the chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent the content of the letter was optimistic and upbeat. Also, the CEO references to the company as global thirst quenching corporation that do not take the size for granted, this helps the reader understand Coca-Cola modesty. Likewise, the CEO added Targeted disciplined investments for the future of the company that will help the company to expand and grow. Furthermore, increasing revenue, profit and growth by building the brand Coca-Cola. Furthermore, Simplifying and streamlining operations of the company enabling to standardize the operation around the world.

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.

This paper primarily consists of a personal response to a few questions about ethics in business. Describing the meaning of ethics sets the criteria for evaluating if actions are ethical. Looking at current and future career work, the concept of ethics is applied to predict ethical challenges. Based on this coursework, and outside research, resources will be identified that may be beneficial when business ethical challenges arise. The coursework on ethics covered law, conflict of interest, accounting, environment, finance, marketing, management, reputation, and corporate social responsibility. All of these topics are corporate concerns. Some topics may present dilemmas during the course of business. The responses in this paper

In the Hewlett-Packard (HP) video, the chief executive officer (CEO), Mark Hurd was a pertinent asset to the company—until he committed unethical acts. The principles discussed this week will be tied into a summary, as well as expressed through my thoughts to display the practicality of this occurrence. This paper examines Bateman and Snell’s research, along with the video content to propose that the CEO did not demonstrate ethical standards within his position.

“Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism” by Bartow J. Elmore tells a story of how Coca- Cola have changed its industry as well as the globe by utilizing natural resources. To start on his journey about Coca-Cola, Elmore questions the success of the company behind selling Coke, a low-priced mixture of “sugar, water, and caffeine, packed in glass, plastic, or aluminum” (Elmore 8). Elmore discovers that even though advertising plays an essential key in selling products, Coca-Cola is mostly profitable from outsourcing the supply (Elmore 9). Besides explaining his research on the Coca-Cola capitalism, Elmore also emphasizes on the ecological evidences that support it, which make this book an environmental history of Coca-Cola capitalism (Elmore 14).

It is only during moral lapses and corporate scandals that interest groups and the broader public ask themselves the fundamental ethical questions, who are the managers of the organization and were they acting with the ethical guidelines. For a long time, the issue of ethics was largely ignored, with organizations focusing on profit maximization. However, this has changed, and much attention is now focused on ethics management by researchers and leaders. The issue of ethics has arisen at a time when public trust on corporate governance is low, and the legitimacy of leadership is being questioned. Leaders are expected to be the source of moral development and ethical guidance to their employees.

Introduction Letter from the CEO Hierarchy of Company Ethics Principles Our Purpose Our Values Our Principles Our Policies A. Respect of Government and the Law 1. Compliance With Legal Requirements 2. Accuracy of Company Books and Records • Books and Records • Disclosure Controls • Internal Controls 3. Securities Trading 4. Antitrust Policy and Compliance Guidelines 5. Lobbying 6. Political Contributions and Related Policies 7. Transacting International Business B. Respect in the Workplace 1. Behavior in the Workplace 2. Child Labor and Worker Exploitation 3. Wage and Hour Practices 4. Safety, Health and Environmental • Employee

Coca-Cola remains one of the most recognized brand names in the world today, worth more than $73 billion in 2011. However, in the 1990s and 2000s poor decisions, mismanagement, and alleged misconduct cast a shadow over the company. The following incidents exemplify some of the key crisis Coca-Cola has faced in the last several years.

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.

“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.

Important Note: This sample essay mainly illustrates the structure of your assignment on ethical issues of a company selected by you. You may first identify two or three ethical problems and then discuss how to solve them. Remember including relevant citations to support your evidences and viewpoints.