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CSR Case Studies: Coca-Cola

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Noah Oanh Pham

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY JOURNAL

tamar barkay

By focusing on the intra-organization dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR), this paper aims to offer an ethnographic analysis of the way Coca-Cola integrates its re-branding and marketing strategies with CSR and the processes through which this strategic agenda is diffused into the company’s national franchise in Israel. The research is based on a combined qualitative methodology of interviews with managers and employees on all levels of the organization; participant observations of formal meetings, company events and informal gatherings; and document evaluation. The paper shows how the CSR program is purposefully and rationally designed to meet the standards of a business case approach to CSR and that, accordingly, company managers integrate it into the activities of departments and divisions such as sales, marketing, and human resources (HR). It further shows that the cause-marketing and product-branding goals underlying the global re-branding strategy of Coca-Cola have been mediated through employee volunteering projects that are based on the recruitment and mobilization of the physical bodies of employees not only as ‘‘bodily-corporate-producers’’, but also as ‘‘bodily-corporate-ambassadors’’. By employing an in-depth ethnographic research design the paper enriches the understanding of the intricate organizational processes involved in the implementation of CSR programs and their effects and delineates the theoretical and empirical contours for future studies on the actual effects of implementation processes of the business case model for CSR.

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As a global company with operations in more than 200 countries and territories, we have a responsibility to help protect local water resources. Our 2030 Water Security Strategy focuses on improving sustainable access to clean water for people and ecosystems where we operate, source beverage ingredients and touch people’s lives – through investments in the world’s most water-stressed regions. 

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Case study: How Coca-Cola is promoting the sustainability of local water sources everywhere it operates

Communities across the world rely on a sufficient quantity of safe, accessible water from sustainable ecosystems for their continued prosperity. For Coca-Cola and its bottling partners, water is equally important. It is the primary ingredient in its products, it enables its manufacturing processes and it is fundamental to the cultivation of the diverse crops Coca-Cola depends upon for its beverage ingredients and, in some cases, even its packaging.

This case study is based on the 2014/2015 Sustainability Report by Coca-Cola published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database  that can be found at this link . Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate that CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly is achieved by identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment and stakeholders and by measuring, managing and changing.

Coca-Cola is a global company, with its products sold in more than 200 countries and territories. Where it can, Coca-Cola utilizes a localized operational approach as much as possible – making its products in the same markets where it sells to its customers. This creates a business imperative that complements Coca-Cola’s ethical drive: Coca-Cola is working to promote the sustainability of local water sources everywhere it operates.     Tweet This! After measuring and setting targets, Coca-Cola took action to safely return to communities and nature an amount of water equivalent to what Coca-Cola uses in its finished beverages and their production, improve water efficiency in manufacturing operations, assess water source risks, recycle and treat water and, also, engage bottling partners, government agencies and surrounding communities in India to help replenish water resources.

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With this case study you will see:

• Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Coca-Cola has identified;
• How Coca-Cola proceeded with stakeholder engagement , and
• What actions were taken by Coca-Cola to promote the sustainability of local water sources everywhere it operates

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What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2014/2015 Sustainability Report Coca-Cola identified a range of material issues, such as active healthy living, packaging, human rights, product and ingredient safety. Among these, working to promote the sustainability of local water sources everywhere it operates stands out as a key material issue for Coca-Cola, given that communities around the world rely on a sufficient quantity of safe, accessible water from sustainable ecosystems for their continued prosperity.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The organization should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups Coca-Cola engages with:

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

Coca-Cola identified the strategic priority areas and issues it reports on through an analysis it conducted in early 2014. Coca-Cola applied the GRI Reporting Principles for Defining Report Content to select these issues. The process was:

• Using recognized sustainability reporting standards and working together with a third-party management consulting firm, Coca-Cola began with a list of 100 environmental, social and governance topics of potential relevance.
• From this list, Coca-Cola identified the most relevant sustainability topics for the Coca-Cola system – reviewing a broad variety of internal and external stakeholder source documents, including interview transcripts, questionnaires and surveys from direct engagement with its stakeholder groups. The questionnaires Coca-Cola used were from prominent ranking organizations including DJSI, CDP and UNGC. Coca-Cola also reviewed documents that revealed the interests of its investors and the issues identified by its industry peers.
• Coca-Cola held sessions to ensure that face-to-face engagement with diverse groups of stakeholders informed its analysis, including through its collaboration with Ceres.
• Coca-Cola aligned topics to its business and a benchmark of industry peers and global trends.
• Coca-Cola engaged executives across The Coca-Cola Company and received feedback from Finance, Legal, Audit, Technical, Chief Sustainability Office and Public Affairs & Communications, who reviewed and vetted both the process and outcomes.

What actions were taken by Coca-Cola to   promote the sustainability of local water sources everywhere it operates ?

In its 2014/2015 Sustainability Report Coca-Cola set the following targets for promoting the sustainability of local water sources everywhere it operates, based on the company’s approach to materiality – on taking action on what matters, where it matters:

• By 2020, safely returning to communities and nature an amount of water equivalent to what Coca-Cola uses in its finished beverages and their production

Between 2005 and the end of 2014, through 209 community water partnership projects in 61 countries, Coca-Cola balanced an estimated 94 percent of the equivalent amount of water used in its finished beverages (based on 2014 sales volume). This totals approximately 153.6 billion liters of water replenished to communities and nature. In addition to improving water quality, quantity and access, Coca-Cola’s projects often provide additional community benefits, such as helping to improve local livelihoods and mitigate the effects of climate change, including biodiversity loss.

• By 2020, improving water efficiency in manufacturing operations by 25 percent compared with a 2010 baseline

For 12 consecutive years, overall water efficiency in manufacturing throughout the Coca-Cola system has improved. Coca-Cola has achieved this by monitoring water efficiency and following a continuous improvement process across all its facilities. In 2014, Coca-Cola used an average of 2.03 liters of water for each liter of product produced – a 10 percent improvement since 2010 – moving it toward its 2020 goal to use 1.7 liters of water per liter of product.

• Assessing water source risks

Through its water stewardship program, Coca-Cola has implemented a rights-based approach to water. Coca-Cola requires its system’s bottling plants to assess vulnerabilities of the quality and quantity of their community water sources and production water (if they differ); determine potential impacts from Coca-Cola’s water use and discharge of wastewater; and then address the issues identified in the development and implementation of a source water protection plan (SWPP). With its new systemwide database, Coca-Cola has been able to streamline its tracking and reporting process, thereby strengthening its governance ability. As a result, by the end of 2014, all the bottling plants in the system conducted a source water vulnerability assessment and the majority of plants began SWPP implementation. Built in concert with communities and local authorities, these plans help Coca-Cola identify and mitigate risks present in a given area. They address numerous water issues related to the needs and growth of its business and of the communities where Coca-Cola operates. Coca-Cola seeks not only to maintain regulatory compliance, but also to build a Company culture focused on water resource sustainability.

• Recycling and treating water

Coca-Cola continues its commitment to return to the environment – at a level that supports aquatic life –recycled wastewater from its manufacturing process. For all new, existing and acquired facilities, the water Coca-Cola returns is cleaned and treated to meet Coca-Cola’s own high internal standards and achieve full compliance with local regulations. In 2014, Coca-Cola achieved 99 percent alignment with its wastewater treatment standards. A few plants still needed to meet this standard and were delayed due to extenuating circumstances in their region. In order to accelerate improvements to the quality of water Coca-Cola’s facilities recycle and discharge back into the environment, as well as the efficiency with which Coca-Cola processes that water, Coca-Cola is currently transitioning its wastewater governance and technical support programs into a performance-based model. Managing this process is not always easy at facilities in parts of the world experiencing violent conflict, civil unrest and other challenges. Societal conditions sometimes prevent Coca-Cola’s local operations from investing what is required to achieve its goals. However, Coca-Cola supports all of its facilities in their efforts and will continue to do so in the future.

• Engaging bottling partners, government agencies and surrounding communities in India to help replenish water resources

In India, Coca-Cola is employing the Golden Triangle of partnerships by engaging its bottling partners, government agencies and surrounding communities to help replenish water resources. Coca-Cola continues to advance work on a variety of water replenish projects from rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge initiatives to drip irrigation and laser leveling projects with local farmers to improve irrigation efficiency and productivity. Coca-Cola’s success in this region has improved the way it works on water projects in other parts of the world, as it looks to scale and replicate best practices across the Coca-Cola system.

Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?

The GRI indicators/Standards addressed in this case are:

1) G4-EC7: Development and impact of infrastructure investments and services supported – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 203-1 Infrastructure investments and services supported

2) G4-EN8: Total water withdrawal by source – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 303-1 Water withdrawal by source

3) G4-EN22: Total water discharge by quality and destination – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 306-1 Water discharge by quality and destination

4) G4-EN27: Extent of impact mitigation of environmental impacts of products and services

References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Coca-Cola, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page

3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx

4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

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Four Case Studies on Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Conflicts Affect a Company's Corporate Social Responsibility Policy?

Utrecht Law Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 51-73, November 2012

23 Pages Posted: 30 Nov 2012 Last revised: 1 Dec 2014

Cristina Cedillo Torres

Utrecht University - School of Law

Mercedes Garcia-French

Utrecht University - School of Law; Utrecht University - School of Governance

Rosemarie Hordijk

Date Written: November 19, 2012

This article studies four multinationals (Apple, Canon, Coca-Cola, Walmart) in relation to their CSR reporting. It will present a general outlook of the company's profile and its compliance with CSR standards. The article will focus on conflict situations concerning the social and environmental CSR practices of the four companies. Coca-Cola was criticized for over-exploiting and polluting water resources in India. Apple, Canon and Walmart were involved in social CSR issues. Walmart was caught using child labor in Bangladesh and has faced gender discrimination charges. In 2010 the media reported on suicides at Foxconn, one of Apple's biggest suppliers. And although Canon did not mention any employee stress-related problems at its factories, they nevertheless occurred. This article will discuss the different CSR issues that emerged within the mentioned multinationals. It will provide a comparison of the companies' CSR reporting before and after the problematic events occurred. The case studies show whether the multinationals acted before a conflict emerged or adapted their CSR policy when the problem was already widely known. Thus, it analyses whether the companies adopted clear and quantifiable policies after the issues occurred. The conclusion points out that the companies not only reported on CSR but that they also adopted long-term commitments. The findings also suggest that the conflicts may have contributed to the adoption of these multinationals' CSR commitments.

Keywords: CSR, multinationals, reporting

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cristina Cedillo Torres (Contact Author)

Utrecht university - school of law ( email ).

3508 TC Utrecht Utrecht Netherlands

Utrecht University - School of Governance ( email )

Bijlhouwerstraat 6 Utrecht, 3511 ZC Netherlands

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Four Case Studies on Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Conflicts Affect a Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy?

• Mercedes Garcia-French
• Rosemarie Hordijk

This article studies four multinationals (Apple, Canon, Coca-Cola, Walmart) in relation to their CSR reporting. It will present a general outlook of the company's profile and its compliance with CSR standards. The article will focus on conflict situations concerning the social and environmental CSR practices of the four companies. Coca-Cola was criticized for over-exploiting and polluting water resources in India. Apple, Canon and Walmart were involved in social CSR issues. Walmart was caught using child labour in Bangladesh and has faced gender discrimination charges. In 2010 the media reported on suicides at Foxconn, one of Apple's biggest suppliers. And although Canon did not mention any employee stress-related problems at its factories, they nevertheless occurred. This article will discuss the different CSR issues that emerged within the mentioned multinationals. It will provide a comparison of the companies' CSR reporting before and after the problematic events occurred. The case studies show whether the multinationals acted before a conflict emerged or adapted their CSR policy when the problem was already widely known. Thus, it analyses whether the companies adopted clear and quantifiable policies after the issues occurred. The conclusion points out that the companies not only reported on CSR but that they also adopted long-term commitments. The findings also suggest that the conflicts may have contributed to the adoption of these multinationals' CSR commitments.

• Page/Article: 51-73
• Peer Reviewed

Coca-Cola’s Corporate Social Responsibility Case Study

Introduction.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the duty of enterprises to positively impact society. CSR involves incorporating community and environmental concerns into an organization’s planning. This program is based on the idea that companies have a mandate of making the world a better place by mitigating negative ecological impacts (Wang & Sarkis, 2017). For instance, some businesses are working towards reducing carbon dioxide footprint by reducing pollution and planting trees. In the USA, no laws are regulating CSR, however, codes of conducts are used to fulfill it. This paper expounds the effects of CSR policies and reporting in the Coca-Cola Company.

The CSR concepts consist of four linked aspects, which are legal, economic, philanthropic, and ethical responsibilities. The economic facet deals with creating services and goods for the community while making profits. The ethical duty of an organization is to act in a fair and right way (Austin & Gaither, 2019). The philanthropic obligation requires business organizations to improve people’s life quality. Coca-Cola Corporation is one of the largest multinational establishments manufacturing and distributing nonalcoholic drinks globally.

Coca-Cola’s CSR Policies and Reporting

The company’s CSR policy launched in 2007 was Live Positively, this program aimed to improve seven core aspects, which are energy and climate, community, active healthy living, beverage benefits, water stewardship, workplace, and sustainable packaging. Measurable goals and guidelines to direct employees were established in the business code of conduct. In addition, the firm adopted international CSR guidelines such as Ruggie’s Protect, Global Compact17, and Respect and Remedy Framework (Ruggie’s Framework) (Torres et al., 2012). Coca-Cola publishes the company’s activities annually to show the progress done under the initiatives.

Coca Cola’s Conflicts

A conflict arose when an Indian non-governmental organization for Science and Environment (CSE) found high pesticide residues, which exceeded the stipulated European standard for consumption in beverages. In addition, it was alleged that the company over-extracted groundwater and caused water shortages in India. In Kerala, water sources had been polluted by waste products from the firm. The Indian public health authorities declared the water in the surrounding unfit for human consumption.

Conflicts ensued when Coca Cola denied the claims of polluting and overexploiting water resources as well as manufacturing harmful products. In 2006, the state government began a proceeding against the company, and thereafter its operation was banned. The legal procedures faced by the company spoiled the brand’s reputation and consumer’s trust. In addition, the annual sales sharply declined thereafter in all parts of the world including America.

Resultant Changes in the CSR Policies and Reporting

To solve the conflict, the company executed a water stewardship program through local projects, which resulted in offsetting excessive water usage. This initiative improved water efficiency by 20% from 2004 to 2012 (Torres et al., 2012). It also enhanced recycling of water by treating wastewater and returning them to be used in the manufacturing processes, about 96% of this target had been achieved by 2011. Water used was also replenished through local projects such as harvesting rainwater and protecting watershed areas. Moreover, the company partnered with WWF to improve watershed understanding. Furthermore, every year a report on the water and sustainability project is published to track progress and redeem consumers trust.

India portrayed Coca Cola as a corporate enemy whose aim was to make profit at the expense of public health. This made the company discover that its biggest mistake was denying the issues raised to protect integrity instead of showing concern. In addition, it realized that Belgium and USA issues had been handled in a better way due to the presence of stakeholders. Changing the strategy used in mitigating damages by addressing complains from the community was the best decision made. This was because reduction of water pollution and overexploitation were achieved (Austin & Gaither, 2019). Additionally, developing a framework to preserve water and incorporating other stakeholders, such as the community and WWF, enabled the company to regain consumers and community trust.

Austin, L., & Gaither, B. M. (2019). Redefining fit: Examining CSR company-issue fit in stigmatized industries. Journal of Brand Management , 26 (1), 9-20.

Torres, C. A. C., Garcia-French, M., Hordijk, R., & Nguyen, K. (2012). Four case studies on corporate social responsibility: Do conflict affect a company’s corporate social responsibility policy. Utrecht Law Review , 8 , 51.

Wang, Z., & Sarkis, J. (2017). Corporate social responsibility governance, outcomes, and financial performance. Journal of Cleaner Production , 162 , 1607-1616.

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Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Acquires Bottling, Vending Companies in Emporia, Kansas

Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Co., based in Lenexa, Kan.,  has acquired two businesses  in Emporia, Kan., that will expand its production and distribution footprint. Coca-Cola Bottling of Emporia and Classic Vending will join the beverage producer and distributor’s North Kansas Hometown division and are expected to remain intact during the integration process, according  to one local news report .

The deal expands Heartland’s business to Emporia and certain surrounding communities in Chase, Coffey, Greenwood and Lyon counties, the announcement noted. Heartland president and COO Chuck Wyant says the company, which was founded in 2017 by businessman and former NBA player Junior Bridgeman, has consistently met its goals and objectives, and this deal adds more growth opportunity for Heartland, particularly when coupled with its investment in a new production campus in Olathe, Kan.

Emporia Coca-Cola began operations in 1978, while Classic Vending, which provides vending, coffee and micro-market services in the greater Emporia area, started business in 2001. The businesses were established by the DeBauge family. Wyant told local news that Emporia Coca-Cola and Classic Vending CEO Jeff DeBauge will remain on board and report directly to him.

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.

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