Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics

The provided assignment is a collection of research papers and articles on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. The papers cover various aspects of CSR, such as its impact on consumer perceptions, the role of corporate governance in promoting CSR, and the relationship between CSR and environmental sustainability. The assignment also includes case studies from China and the United States, examining how businesses can promote CSR and ethics in their operations. The document provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of research on CSR and business ethics, making it a valuable resource for students and scholars in this field.

Business Ethics & Corporate
Responsibility

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Ethics are having own spirit, moral judgement which tells about what is wrong and what
is right. In a business sense, these ethics are decided and formed by company to take a fruitful
decision for their organisation. Business ethics and corporate responsibility are all about
operating trade in ethical manner. It is essential for organisation to work upon these ethics
because so many advantages are there and having ability to attract more customers and investors,
employees (Baumann-Pauly and et. al., 2013). In this report business ethics of Coca-Cola has
been discussed which is describing ethical issues which are faced by company. Moreover, there
are some environmental issues being discussed, which had been faced by organisation in
bringing back 15 million cans in 1999. Apart from this, it also demonstrating social
responsibility behaviour of organisation towards providing cans to their regular customers. At
last, some suggestions have been provided where organisation can deal with ethical issues which
are facing by them.
TASK 1
Ethics are concerned with moral guidelines which states good behaviour of organisation
towards their customers. Thus, behaving ethically is doing right things in correct way. There are
some ethical principles which properly defines the code of conduct of business and underpin the
organisation for making proper decision (Bhatia and Kiran, 2016). Business ethics and corporate
social responsibility are linked with each other. As this organisation is socially responsible for to
behave virtuously with their customers. There is a common approach which are used by
organisation to perform ethically in order to implement a code of conduct. While applying these
ethical code of conduct, it will also increase the brand awareness of firm in competitive market.
Coca-Cola is world’s largest beverage company which is having largest distribution
system in all over the country. This company is serving around many products to their customers
on regular basis. This company is one of the market leaders who is satisfying needs of customers
in context of drinks. The major ethical issues which were faced by company in 1999, which is
related with sale of hazardous product which was injurious for health of consumers. This
incident took place in Belgium, when this company was accused with selling of poor quality
products with a batch of carbon dioxide and made around 35 children ill. The selling of this
product harms customer confidence also. Six children in Belgium had complained that they are
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suffering from headache, vomiting and shivering. Their drinks are ultimately causing harm to
their health. While these problems are creating issues for organisation in gaining competitive
advantage. Company is facing many issues in terms of ethical. In my opinion, while launching
any new drink which contain carbon dioxide should be maintained and does not cause any harm
to customers. As a part of damage control exercise, Coke sent scientists to Europe, during their
visit and there were many issues which are facing by customers. For this, they clearly stated that
“We deeply regret for these issues which are facing by European consumer since last few days”.
While recalling of cans, it had created significant negative impact on financial performance of
Coke because their net income had decline by 21% to $942 million. Moreover, entire operation
cost was also showed 5% fall in revenues (Brammer, Jackson and Matten, 2012). While facing
these obstacles at the same point of time it is impacting on company reputation.
Another issue which was faced by company is which is related with concerned which was
causing illness to innocent children while drinking these drinks. They blamed to Coke’s
promotional strategy for selling their soft drinks to children who are studying in school. The
company receive five to six cases of poisoning of young people who are suffering from stomach
pain after drinking these soft drinks.
TASK 2
When it comes to Coca-Cola and environmental responsibility, these are impacting on
community from many decades. This company is serious about their approaches which are
implemented by them regarding environmental responsibility. In 1969, this entity had launched
first study which examined the impact of environmental issues on their products, since then they
are continuously investigating most efficient and effective strategies in which they can reduce
environmental impact from their business (Crane, Matten and Spence, 2013). There are some
measures which are considered by organisation in minimising environmental impact in different
areas.
Usage of water in manufacturing process – While making any soft drinks, water is
considered as main ingredient in beverages because it is considered as critical in manufacturing
process. This company is having several water stewardship programmes. Company started doing
conservation of waters while following some steps; each and every individual are accountable
for working with local governments so that they can improve quality of water sources.
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Coca-Cola, had return back 100% of manufacturing water volume to environment even in
those areas also where they are building and maintaining its own wastewater treatment facilities.
At the time of making beverage of 1-litre, it contains 1 and 1/3 litres of water to produce these
drinks.
Minimal packaging – The cans and plastic bottles of Coca-Cola are fully recyclable and
many of these raw materials are recycled. These plastic bottles and cans are smaller than their
original counterparts (Social Responsibility and Ethics, 2017). Company is investing lot of
amount in recycling these plants which also include Spartanburg which is largest plant in
recycling bottle-to-bottle plant across the world. While recycling these bottles, it will be
beneficial for organisation to reduce environmental impact on utilisation of resources.
Refrigeration and Energy Efficiency – Refrigeration representing component of Coca-
Cola which are used in to determine climate footprint. But the company is already working
towards a sustainable refrigeration programmes which also includes, there is an improvement in
40% of energy efficiency that results in customizing energy-management system. Along with
this, hydrofluorocarbons should also phase out in all new equipment’s which are using by firm
and helping them in making new drinks by 2015. Since 2004, employees in Coca-Cola are also
working upon basic repair such as insulating pipes and fixing leaks which are adding 10%
improvement in energy efficiency. On the basis of this it might increase the growth of company
and lead in future by creating more demands of drinks by customers.
This company is taking initiative regarding recycling the wastewater from manufacturing
process before it harms the environment. Moreover, they are also seeking to maintain quality of
water level which are mandated by local laws of every country. According to water management
policy, company aim is to establish wastewater treatment standards which have not standard
requirement at present era. To reduce the external water sources, Coke sometimes using treated
wastewater to control dust or irrigating landscaping.
Water is considered main element in manufacturing process of Coke and it also
minimising water usage which is concerned as prominent business goal of entity. The aim of
mention company is to recover 50% of material which are used in making bottles and cans and
for maintaining this they are needed to crop polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics which was
reused by 2015. By reutilizing the material of PET, this company had also reduced energy use by
70%. This has been done because, they are also making efforts in reducing greenhouse gas
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emission at the time of manufacturing by 30% and it compared with using the raw materials of
PET which does not cover any reprocessed content.
Coke is working upon on environmental issues so that they can reduce negative impact of
factory wastes. It is essential for entity to work upon these issues because they have to recycle
cans and bottles while using limited resources. If they avoid these things or negligence has been
created, then it may become difficult for them to maintain energy use while drinking these soft
drinks (Climate Change, 2016). It is leading in reducing carbon cap which has been set by
organisation while producing drinks for their customers. To conserve emission cap, it is essential
for Coca-Cola to maintain carbon foot print also.
Figure 1: Energy and Renewable Energy
(Source: CLIMATE CHANGE, 2016)
While change in climate, this can also become environmental issue for organisation. For
this, they have to change some of the ingredients which are used in making soft drinks. If there is
little change in utilisation of resources, then it may also lead in increasing environmental issue.
This company is trying to maintain emission by 2020 so that they can use best technologies to
derive continuous reduce in energy.
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TASK 3
Ethical and Socially Responsible behaviour are designed for organisation so that they can
realise the importance of their ethical responsibility. These are emphasising on placing a striving
behaviour, to follow an appropriate model. Coca-Cola had taken some of the different social
projects through which they can gain more profits and get good support from public. For
example, one of the project is “philanthropy” which is also known as ‘Education on Wheels’. In
this, children are getting admission and owners are trying to providing good education which so
that their knowledge will also increase (Fassin and Buelens, 2011). Different activities are
executing by them in order to provide best ambiance to children.
Social responsibility is also considered as ethical theory, where individuals are
accountable for fulfilling their civic duty and which provide benefit to society also. In this way,
they are trying to maintaining a balance between welfare of society and economic growth. If this
equilibrium is maintained on regular basis, then it can be said that social responsibility has been
accomplished by organisation. Theory of social responsibility is built on system of ethics, in
which decision and action of organisation must be ethically validate before proceeding any
operational function (Fassin, Van Rossem and Buelens, 2011). If these actions are causing harm
to society or environment, then it will be considered that organisation is socially irresponsible
towards them.
Moral values in society are creating distinction between right verses wrong situation.
Individuals who are living in society are being responsible to act in ethical manner which will be
beneficial for others also. Actions which are performed by individuals should be appropriate
which clearly defines their roles and responsibilities. Nowadays, businesses are developing a
system for social responsibility. It is essential for entity to maintain social responsibility within
organisation, then employees are also equally held liable for expanding business growth. While
maintaining this, it will ensure about integrity of society is protected from dangerous activity
(Groves and LaRocca, 2011). Social responsibilities and ethics are mostly practised by most of
the organisations in order to provide ethical services to their customers.
In Coca-Cola company, managers are responsible to manage corporate social
responsibilities activities in order to retain market image. CSR is considered as extra activity
where entire organisation is responsible to conduct these type of events on regular basis. This
includes a number of norms which must be followed by organisation. It is essential for entity to
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properly understand human behaviour in context of social responsibility which is also a key
development for organisation in making positive reputation in market. Along with this, it will
also enhance the quality of products which are provided by firm. Below mentioned are some
points where organisation has to follow ethical code of conduct to sustain in market.
Customer interactions – The way in which company is representing itself before their
customers can also have little impact on society To behave ethically with customers, it is
essential for organisation to satisfy their needs and resolve issues which are being faced by them
regarding using their services. Apart from this integrity and honesty in sales are making
customer interaction stronger and it is also considered as key development for organisation for
retaining them for a long period of time (Huimin and Ryan, 2011). Through this they can also
gain customer loyalty and avoid negative impact of social from organisation.
Ethics and laws – There are many issues which are effecting society in general way and
the behaviour of corporate employees are having significant impact on these laws. If employees
are behaving unethically, then this can bring negative result to organisation. Moreover, this can
also hamper work of organisation and make put more restrictions on them so that they can work
accordingly. Working with ethical behaviour can prevent laws from stepping in and help to
organisation in building a human trust.
External impacts – The impact of stakeholders are having positive and negative effect
on corporation. The behaviour of employees can impact those people who are having nothing to
do in company. Organisation have to control all these things so that they can reduce these impact
from workplace (Jo and Harjoto, 2012). Along with this, it will be beneficial for employees in
defending their rights if they are performing any prohibited activities.
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Figure 2: Environmental goals
(Source: Infographic: Our 2020 Environmental Goals, 2017)
While setting up environmental goals, it can also be said that company is trying to
maintaining a social responsibility towards customers (Infographic: Our 2020 Environmental
Goals, 2017). By doing so, it becomes easy for them to use resources in appropriate manner and
recycle cans and bottles which will maintain renewable sources. Along with this, it also showing
that company is desirous to serve best quality of soft drinks to society which does not cause any
harm to them.
TASK 4
Nowadays in order to establish in market, it essential for organisation to deal with all
issues which are faced by them. There are many ethical dilemmas which are tackle by company
and it can specific with industry or type of company. It is important for organisation to adopt
new strategies which will help them in resolving problems of customers as well as employees.
Ethical issues are those negative circumstances which creates various problems for
individuals or organizations (Orlitzky, Siegel and Waldman, 2011). In simple words, it is that
situation of company which affects organizational performance and also forces mangers to select
options which can be determined as right and wrong situation. Ethical issues arise when
individuals are not performing their duties in ethical manner. For better growth of organization, it
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is important for mangers to operate organizational activities and practices ethically, otherwise
they can suffer from financial losses or crisis. Coca-Cola is a leading multinational brand, which
produce soft drinks and export them all over the world. This company have faced many problems
due to unethical behaviour of its managers and other staff members. They faced difficulty in
Belgium. In 1999, many children fell ill just because they drank coca cola's product. That time, it
was banned all over Belgium. That incident has decreased its goodwill and reputation in market
place. Due to loss of reputation, market share of organization is also declining. Later, people of
France also got sick because they consumed soft drink of this company. Again, their reputation
was damaged. Due to these negative incidents, cited enterprise lost trust and respect of its
customers. Hence, this was the major ethical issue which was faced by soft drink producer
company. Apart from this, there are some other ethical issues as well which affected Coca Cola
and its reputation. These are described as below:
Fundamental issues: The major responsibility of every business enterprise is to operate
their activities and practices in ethical manner so that they can make strong reputation in market
place (Shum and Yam, 2011). Cited organization got failed to build trust with their customer's
mind because, they produced its products with unethical manner.
Decision making Issues: It is important for business managers to make crucial decisions
and also consider social welfare. If Mangers of Coca cola will give importance to social welfare
activities while making any decision, then it can help in building their strong image in market
place. Positive initiative of company towards its customers can help it in enhancing its
organizational performance.
Hence, these are some other ethical issues which have affected reputation and goodwill of
Coca-Cola. To remove these problems, it is essential for mangers and staff members to operate
business activities and practices in most effective and systematic manner. This can help in
enhancing organisational performance and market share. Ethical behaviour of company can lead
it to higher level of success also and can build strong corporate image in competitive market
place.
Following are some measures where company can deal with ethical issues;
Developed a workplace policy which should be based on company – It is
responsibility of higher authority to make policies but is should be based on company
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philosophies (Stanaland, Lwin and Murphy, 2011). The employees are responsible for revising
these policies so that it will improve their exiting position also.
Provide ethics training to employees and utilise different methods to engage
employees in activities – The training which are conducted by organisation should be related
with ethical dilemmas which would increase knowledge and skills of employees so that they can
do their work in appropriate manner (Valentine and et. al., 2011). While doing so, queries of
employees will also be resolved in time period and maintain strong relation of workers with
organisation.
Create a code of conduct – In organisation higher authorities are responsible to write a
code of conduct which provides employees and manager to give their overview regarding what
type of conduct and behaviour should be there in entity. It also outlines behaviour of employees
which has to be behave by them with their customers.
Employees appreciation – There are many loyal employees who are working in
organisation. So, it is responsibility of manager to appreciate them and provide reward so that
they feel that company respect them (Ulrich and Sarasin, 2012). Further, it will also help them in
making decision in effective manner.
CONCLUSION
From above report, it can be concluded that ethical and social responsibilities should be
maintained by organisation which will also support them to behave ethically with their
customers. Whatever ethical issues has faced by organisation should be analysed on regular basis
so that manager can take appropriate decision. Apart from this, resources should also be utilised
in proper manner so that they can retain some funds for future uses. It is also essential for Coca-
Cola, to gain competitive advantage by adopting new strategies and policies.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Baumann-Pauly, D. and et. al., 2013. Organizing corporate social responsibility in small and
large firms: Size matters. Journal of Business Ethics. 115(4). pp.693-705.
Bhatia, A. and Kiran, C., 2016. Authenticating CSR through Spirituality. Global Journal of
Accounting & Management. 5(1). p.83.
Brammer, S., Jackson, G. and Matten, D., 2012. Corporate social responsibility and institutional
theory: New perspectives on private governance. Socio-economic review. 10(1). pp.3-28.
Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L. J., 2013. Corporate social responsibility in a global context.
Fassin, Y. and Buelens, M., 2011. The hypocrisy-sincerity continuum in corporate
communication and decision making: A model of corporate social responsibility and
business ethics practices. Management Decision. 49(4). pp.586-600.
Fassin, Y., Van Rossem, A. and Buelens, M., 2011. Small-business owner-managers’
perceptions of business ethics and CSR-related concepts. Journal of Business
ethics. 98(3). pp.425-453.
Groves, K. S. and LaRocca, M. A., 2011. An empirical study of leader ethical values,
transformational and transactional leadership, and follower attitudes toward corporate
social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics. 103(4). pp.511-528.
Huimin, G. and Ryan, C., 2011. Ethics and corporate social responsibility–An analysis of the
views of Chinese hotel managers. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 30(4). pp.875-885.
Jo, H. and Harjoto, M. A., 2012. The causal effect of corporate governance on corporate social
responsibility. Journal of business ethics. 106(1). pp.53-72.
Orlitzky, M., Siegel, D. S. and Waldman, D. A., 2011. Strategic corporate social responsibility
and environmental sustainability. Business & society. 50(1). pp.6-27.
Shum, P. K. and Yam, S. L., 2011. Ethics and law: Guiding the invisible hand to correct
corporate social responsibility externalities. Journal of business ethics. 98(4). pp.549-
571.
Stanaland, A. J., Lwin, M. O. and Murphy, P. E., 2011. Consumer perceptions of the antecedents
and consequences of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics. 102(1).
pp.47-55.
Ulrich, P. and Sarasin, C. eds., 2012. Facing public interest: The ethical challenge to business
policy and corporate communications (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.
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Valentine, S. and et. al., 2011. Corporate ethical values, group creativity, job satisfaction and
turnover intention: The impact of work context on work response. Journal of Business
Ethics. 98(3). pp.353-372.
Online
Climate Change, 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.cokecce.com/sustainability/climate-change>. [Accessed on 8th September
2017].
Infographic: Our 2020 Environmental Goals, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/our-2020-environment-goals-infographic>.
[Accessed on 8th September 2017].
Social Responsibility and Ethics, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.pachamama.org/social-justice/social-responsibility-and-ethics>. [Accessed
on 8th September 2017].
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