Coca Cola – Ethics & Social Responsibility

1. The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and

manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups,

which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It has developed a three-stage CSR frame work

which is known as “Me, We, World”; wherein it has tried to cover all its stakeholders. The

company has thus made a long term vision of 2020 and plans to reduce the carbon

footprints by two-third. Further, the company also plans to become a zero-waste company.

Me: Enhancing personal well being:

 Offer low or no-calorie beverage options in every market
 Provide transparent nutrition information, featuring
calories on the front of all of our packages
We: Building Stronger communities:
 Enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women
entrepreneurs across the value chain by 2020
 Comply with human rights standards
 Give back to the community – at least 1%
World: Protecting the environment:
 Replenish 100% of water used
 Use environment friendly packaging

As part of its commitment to its customers (critical stakeholders) well being, the company

has been ensuring that the products being sold to the customers are safe and refreshing.

The company has been attempting to provide its customers healthy lifestyle through wide

range of product offerings, transparent labelling process and various physical activities the

company has conducted across the globe.

2. The CSR activities mentioned on their website seems to be very consistent with their

products as well. They have been targeting in replenishing water as they consume a lot of

water for manufacturing of their drinks. As per the Coca-Cola Sustainibility Report (2013-

2014), the company usage of water is around 300 billion liters. The company has

replenished 68% of the water (approximately 108 billion liters) through various projects in
 various countries. The fact that needs to be noted is that, even though Coca-Coal has

replenished huge amount of water, there still remains a large gap between the usage and

replenishment.

3. The information provided on the website surely makes us feel that the company is a

responsible organization towards the society. They have given back to the society a lot and

which is a good thing. The effort undertaken by the company are for sure in the right

direction, however figures such as 68% replenishment are misleading. In reality, 108 billion

liter is a cumulative figure since 2005 and the percentage computed (68% of sales volume) is

based on sales volume of one year (i.e 2013). Nevertheless, the company has been trying to

improve its water usage efficiency over the years. The company used 2.08 liter of water to

produce 1 liter of its product as against 2.26 liter in 2010, thus registering a 8%

improvement.

4. Yes the information has changed the image for the company. Before this all I knew was Coca

Cola is an excellent product but after going through their website I also realized that they

are also very responsible company. They do acknowledge that they have been using a lot of

water and therefore it is their responsibility to replenish it as well.

URL: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/sustainability