Desklib - Review of Documentary Tipping The Scales on Australia's Obesity Concerns

This report reviews the documentary 'Tipping the Scale' which highlights Australia's critical degraded lifestyle and unhealthy food habits. The report uses stakeholder management theory to analyze the stakeholders involved in Australia's growing obesity issues. It also discusses the responsibilities of the food industry and strategies to address stakeholders. The report emphasizes the collective effort of both the citizens and government in terms of responding towards the anti-obesity campaigns.

ORG20002: Business and Society
ASSIGNMENT 2: Team review
of documentary
Tipping The Scales
Maybe insert pic here??
Created By:
Kong Weng Fai - 102232669
Ross Laverty - 101740763
Emily Moore | 101964220
Eve Bransgrove - 6038743

1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report intends to review the documentary ‘Tipping the Scale’ which is based on
global obesity concern and especially highlights Australia for its critical degraded lifestyle
and unhealthy food habits. At first, it has been observed here from a close stakeholders’
analysis that investors are least interested to follow a nutritional guidelines and ignoring
their social responsibilities at ease. Their focus is strictly on profit and market share
more than anything else. While analyzing stakeholders’ responsibility a wide range of
responsibilities has been addressed regarding their contribution to make a positive social
transformation. Simultaneously, different perspective have been identified among the
stakeholders regarding the obesity epidemic in Australia. Here, the idea of collaboration
has been introduced for combatting the situation following the national nutritious
guidelines. Introduction of sugar tax is appreciable and at the same time the food
organizations’ association with the government can be considered as one of the major
step towards fit and active Australia. Secondly, this report has highlighted the role of
citizens to adapt a healthy lifestyle as well. Moreover, following the business concept of
creating a social value or CSV, organizations can accomplish their financial goals in one
hand and creating social value on the other at the same time. Creating shared value
means it will both serve the interest of various internal and external shareholders and
follow the nutritional guidelines allocated by the government. Apart from financial profit,
this will help to increase the market value of certain food and beverage companies in
front of consumer base. This report has elaborated such opportunities which the
companies can explore by following the CSR guidelines. The entire report has
emphasized the collective effort of both the citizens and government in terms of
responding towards the anti-obesity campaigns. Food industry across the world must
maintain guidelines to produce healthy alternatives along with restricting the scale of
calorie in every product they produce.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this report is to focus on the issue of Australia Obesity with the help of a documentary
named ‘Tipping the scales’ where the idea of degrading lifestyle in Australia has been highlighted
(Abc.net.au, 2019). In this documentary, the speakers have mentioned Australia as the unhealthiest
country as the rate of obesity and type 2 diabetes is higher than any other European countries. It has been
observed that along with adults, even children have been diagnosed with diabetes at very early age. Food
processing companies, restaurant chains and retailers are ignoring their moral responsibility towards the
health of society, and are merely focused on generating their own profits and becoming self-absorbed
with the progression of time. The documentary consists of some important yet shocking data like 60% of
the Australians have found to be overweight and soon the percentage is going to increase (Abc.net.au,
2019).
Apparently, the culture food industries are following has been accused for not maintaining social
sustainability guidelines yet the tendency of consuming processed food cannot be ignored totally.
Governing bodies has taken serious steps on planning to launch the sugar tax on produced food and drinks
to put restrictions on consumption of unhealthy amount of sweetened and high calorie food products.
According to (Abc.net.au, 2019), this documentary works as an alarm and asks what kind of lifestyle the
generation wants and how they want to see themselves 30 year from now. This degrading rate of health
statistics is frightening in terms of imagining the future where multiple issues of public health exist. This
report uses the stakeholder management theory to analyse the stakeholders involved in Australia’s
growing obesity issues. Using the Five Key Questions of Stakeholder Management, we will discuss the
key stakeholders, their stakes and the opportunities and challenges they present. We will also examine
key responsibilities of stakeholders and identify potential strategies to help address the obesity epidemic.
The report will also examine the concept of creating shared value, and will highlight how this approach
would benefit the stakeholders involved.
3. STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
The stakeholder theory explores the relationship between organisations and the people that
have invested interest in its operations, while encouraging businesses to consider the shared
value and relationships they can create with stakeholders (Freeman, Wicks & Parmar 2004,
p.364). In this documentary, numerous key stakeholders highlight the two-way interaction
between stakeholders and organisations, with each affected by the actions, decisions and
policies surrounding Australia’s obesity epidemic (Carroll & Buchholtz 2015, p.66). Key
stakeholders in the documentary include local communities, such as Australian residents, local
schools, universities, workplaces and the general public. Suppliers and associated businesses

including sugar famers, fast food chains and soft-drink companies are also primary
stakeholders. The local, state and federal governments are secondary social stakeholders and
regulators such as councils, health professionals and public health advocates are also important
(REFERENCE DOCUMENTARY??). Other stakeholders with lesser influence are industry
employees and customers, media and academic commentators, future generations and retailers
such as supermarkets.
Each of these stakeholders views Australia’s obesity issue from a different perspective, with
contrasting opinions, concerns and expectations. Understanding their individual stakes will help
determine who holds the most importance and requires central attention (Carroll & Buchholtz
2015, p.69). The stakeholder theory identifies three key stakes as legitimacy, power and
urgency. Legitimacy refers to the perceived validity of a stakeholders claim, including the
assumption that their actions are desirable within social values (Mitchell, Agle & Wood 1997,
p.866). In this documentary, the government and regulators demonstrate legitimacy, while this
stake is not as obvious for local communities and the industries. The government is at the
forefront of the issue, with other stakeholders trying to persuade them for or against the
introduction of a sugar tax. Health professionals and public health advocates have legitimate
claims stemming from their expertise and focus on bettering Australia's health, preventing
further rise in obesity, related diseases and strain on the health system. In contrast, the claims
made by the industries, including fast-food chains and soft drink companies, have little
legitimacy due to their biases. The food industry has a desire to make profit, but no imperative
to create a healthy, active Australia (REFERENCE FOUR CORNERS – PUT IN EXAMPLE
TABLE!!!).
Power assesses the level of influence stakeholders have and how they can increase authority
(Carroll & Buchholtz 2015, p.70). Again, the superior position of the government sees them with
excessive power, while suppliers and industries also hold considerable power. Although they
may only be delaying the inevitable, with 28 countries already imposing the sugar tax, the
industries can put much more into the debate than public health and consumer voices
(REFERENCE FOUR CORNERS – EXAMPLE TABLE). Stakeholders invest considerable time
and money trying to influence the debate and although actions are not always moral, they are
effectively able to pay for increased ‘power’. For example, Coca-Cola gave money to 94
separate health agencies to argue physical activity as the cause of obesity (REFERENCE 4
CORNERS/ EG). In contrast, health advocates and individuals hold little influence due to their
insignificant size and although working together will increase power, it is unrealistic to achieve
anything on a large enough scale (Mitchell, Agle & Wood 1997, pp.865-866). For example, a
consumer boycott where no-one buys Coke would make a statement but is not viable.
Urgency identifies the degree to which immediate action is required based on stakeholder
claims or actions (Carroll & Buchholtz 2015, p.70). Health professionals draw on alarming
statistics and extraordinary cases to increase their urgency and persuade the debate. For
example, Dr Gary Fettke’s discussion of foot and leg amputations (REFERENCE 4 CORNERS,
EG TABLE) intensifies the burdens of obesity and reinforces the urgency of finding a solution.
Lobby groups and industry companies can also create urgency through strikes or protesting,
while local communities are too insignificant to force immediate attention.

It is important to note that these stakes work as an interrelated unit and when assessed
together, help identify stakeholders true impact. For example, a stakeholder may have a
legitimate claim, but if they have no power or urgency, nothing is likely to happen (Carroll &
Buchholtz 2015, p.78).
Identifying the opportunities these stakeholders present will help fosters better relationships and
allow stakeholders to work together in targeting obesity concerns, while assessing potential
threats is also important, as these detract from success and shareholder value (Hillman & Keim
2001, p.125) A partnership between health advocates and local communities provides key
opportunity to educate the public and prevent obesity rising to 80% as is currently expected by
2025 (REFERENCE 4 CORNERS). Community-based prevention programs offer potential to
target a large population across multiple locations including schools, universities and community
centres (Middleton, Henderson & Evans 2013, p.202). The collaboration of stakeholders,
engagement with local people and consideration of factors that promote unhealthy behaviours
are key to the success of these programs (Middleton, Henderson & Evans 2013, p.202). By
drawing on expertise of health professionals, funding by local government and communities to
bring people together, the likelihood of effective intervention increases.
An apparent challenge is the immoral behaviours by industries actively working to persuade
against a sugar tax. Advertising issues like persuading human emotion and targeting children
are common ethical issues that soft-drink companies ignore in the interest of generating sales
(Carroll & Buchholtz 2015, p.383). The use of money and status to increase power is also
immoral, with Coca-Cola a primary offender. For example, Coke paid scientists to conduct
research and shift blame for obesity to lack of exercise, while their headquarters hosted the
Dieticians Association seminar (REFERENCE 4 CORNERS). Although complex interventions
can be difficult to design, deliver and manage (Middleton, Henderson & Evans 2013, p.208), it is
clear that stakeholder collaboration is a central opportunity, while managing key threats will help
eliminate delays in improving Australia’s health.
Q4: What responsibilities does the firm have to its stakeholders?
The idea that obesity is caused by individuals and is not the result of corporate decisions or
behaviours is at the forefront of the argument by the food industry against government action.
However, the food and sugar industries have responsibilities toward their stakeholders. The
food industry must take some responsibility for the increase in availability of processed foods at
relatively low costs. High body mass or obesity is responsible for 8.3% of the total burden of
disease in Australia, this statistic was reported by the Global Health Data Exchange in 2016.
Much research has been undertaken and results have shown that obesity is not a personal
choice. “The failure of the unregulated market to deliver societally optimal outcomes call for
government intervention through regulation, taxes and subsidies, to create environments that
make the healthy choice the easy choice” (Veerman L, 2019).

The problem of obesity cannot be left up to individuals to solve without society as a whole
introducing strategies and programs to make it easier for individuals to make healthier food
choices and encourage the undertaking of more physical activity. Where economics within the
food industry is how a society best allocates their resources to maximise the health and
wellbeing of its people, promoting healthier food choices and the increase in physical activity
should be the start of changing the trend in the increasing levels of obesity.
It is understandable that the food industry continually rebut the argument that they are in part
responsible for the obesity epidemic, the reason for this opposition is due to the impact it may
have on their profits and their commitments to their shareholders. If interventions are not put in
place which involved the food industry’s cooperation, Price Waterhouse Coopers predict, “there
will be 50% more obese people by 2025, and the cumulative marginal economic costs to
Australia will reach $87.7 billion, not including the impact on the quality of life of the obese, their
families and carers.”(Public Health Australia, 2018)
Government intervention has been involved in many of the positive changes in behaviour within
Australian public health, such as immunisation and smoking rates. Interventions need to be
considered in an effort to combat the obesity epidemic. Interventions could include introducing
taxes on unhealthy food and sugar, improvements to food labels and restriction on food
advertising to children. The responsibility for reducing the national obesity problem is a joint one
between individuals, the food industry and the government.
The introduction of a sugar tax was widely discussed in The Tipping the Scales documentary,
with Australia is in the midst of an obesity epidemic the push for a national obesity strategy and
further investigation into the introduction of a tax on sugar sweetened beverages should be
stronger. The food industry is having a direct effect on its stakeholders and with obesity being
the number one public health problem (Aly DR, 2018) the responsibilities of the food and sugar
industries are now greater than ever.
Q5: What strategies or actions should the firm take to address stakeholders?
The Tipping the Scales documentary detailed the argument for government intervention and the
introduction of a sugar tax. This would be a good start as research has shown in 28 other
countries that have implemented such a tax already have seen some good results. However,
this is only one of a number of strategies to overcome and ultimately prevent the problem of
obesity.
The obesity epidemic cannot be overcome by the food industry alone. A joint effort is required to
produce a national nutrition strategy based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines, and such an
effort would involve, “governments, nutrition scientists, industry and civil society working
together across the food system – from food production through to retail” (news.com.au, 2018).

The food industry must work with consumers and implement strategies that assist with and
increase the likelihood of them making healthy choices. Strategies need to directly affect
individual behaviours with the main objective to increase the inclination to make healthy
choices, these should include health education, health promotion programs and social media or
marketing campaigns. The food industry needs to be particularly involved at the implementation
stage of any new initiatives or actions.
The consumption of added sugars by Australians is well above the World Health Organisation’s
(WHO) recommendation of no more than 25g per day. Recommended actions to initiate
improvements in the diet of Australians include improving the availability of healthy food options
in public areas and making improvements to the overall supply of food. The food industry must
work with key stakeholders to ensure identified strategies are implemented, these include,
better food labelling, reformulations of food products and the introduction of a tax on sugary
drinks.
Ultimately, if the food industry wants to retain its status of self-regulation, build relationships with
the public, keep the chance of government intervention low and initiate worthwhile public and
private partnerships, new strategies are required. “An excellent beginning would be to suppress
automatic opposition to public health recommendations over the last decade and embrace
recommended changes” (Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, MPH; Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, 2010)
4. CREATING SHARED VALUE DISCUSSION

The documentary “Tipping the Scales” has identified a number of societal and health issues
affecting the stakeholders of the sugar industry, including obesity and obesity related health
issue. One concept that the sugar industry could adopt to help improve their profitability, society
and overall business is Creating Shared Value. Creating Shared Value (CSV) is a business
concept where policies and procedures are designed to enhance the competitiveness of a
company while also advancing the economic and social value of the community they operate
within (Wojcik 2016, p. 33). By redefining social issues in terms of value, CSV shows that
businesses need to focus on identifying and expanding societal and economic progress (Porter
& Kramer 2011, p. 66). If the sugar industry were to adopt a CSV concept compared to a
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concept, they would be embracing a longer-term, more
environmentally friendly socially inclusive strategy (Orr & Sarni 2015, p. 19). This would help the
sugar industry with many of the social issues it is facing such as obesity and government
regulation.
CSR is a business concept that is similar to CSV and it is important to distinguish between the
two in order to analyse what concept the sugar industry is currently using. Under the CSR
concept, the sole purpose of a business is to maximise short term profit and any social issues
are seen as peripheral to management challenges (Wojcik 2016, p. 34). As a result of this
peripheral view, it is considered that CSR strategies only return a portion of the company’s
profits to society (Nam &Hwang 2018, p. 2). CSV differs from CSR by taking the view that social
concerns are not disconnected problem but are instead opportunities directly linked to business
strategy (Wojcik 2016, p. 38). Using the sugar industry as an example, they are currently using
CSR strategies, they are allocating a portion of their profits to helping societies health problem
and arguing that these help problems are not directly linked to their product. If the sugar industry
were to adopt a CSV mentality, they would view the health problems as opportunities to help
society and change the way they operate to more efficient and profitable business models.
The sugar industry is having a direct effect on the health of their external stakeholders and is an
area where adopting the CSV concept is an opportunity to improve the situation for everyone
involved. As described in the documentary, there has been a sharp increase in the prevalence
of obesity which coincides with the temporal increase in the consumption of added sugar
(Brand-Miller & Barclay 2017, p. 854). Viewing this obesity issue in terms of valve, as CSV
does, would thereby highlight this as an area where social value can be improved because
corporate success and societal prosperity are closely connected and interdependent (Nam
&Hwang 2018, p. 2). Therefore, this is an area where the sugar industry could be redistributing
their resources in order to innovate and improve social and economic wellbeing.
The documentary also heavily discussed government legislation and the introduction of a “sugar
tax” to help with the obesity dilemma facing society, before coming to the conclusion that there
is no clear solution. However, Porter and Kramer (2011, p. 74) discuss how the right kind of
government legislation can encourage companies to purse shared value and stimulate
innovation. Government legislation should be designed around societal objectives which will
encourage companies to invest in shared value rather than maximising short term profit (Porter
& Kramer 2011, p. 74). The legislation would then create a shared value between the society’s

obesity problems and the sugar industry thereby encouraging sugar producers and food
companies to develop new products and methods that are economical and support the obesity
problem.
Tipping the Scales identified a number of social concerns linked to the sugar industry and
showed that the sugar industry is currently using CSR strategies to meet their social
requirements. Under this strategy, the sugar industry is mainly concerned with short term profits
and does not view the societal issues as linked to their business strategy. However, with the
right type of legislation, it may be possible for the government to guide the sugar industry down
the path of CSV. If the sugar industry were to adopt a CSV outlook, they would then accept that
any and all societal issues directly affect their business strategies and that they need to address
both society and business areas in terms of value. This would then result in the sugar industry
innovating to find better ways of business and healthier product which not only increase the
value of their business but the value of society as a whole.
5. CONCLUSION
After reviewing several areas of documentary, this report has come to a conclusion that to
mitigate the obesity issues across the world and specifically, to treat the critical situation of
Australia a joint venture must be initiated by the fast food and beverage industry and the
Government. Strategies must be developed based on national nutritional guidelines of Australia
and World Health Organization. ‘Tipping the scales’ has been made a successful attempt to
address each problematic areas related to food habits of the citizens and scheme of fast and
processed food industry to gain profit from indifferent nature towards nutritious value of food and
unhealthy pattern of consumption. On the other hand, after a stakeholder analysis it can be
argued that if consumers become more aware about fitness and towards such unhealthy eating
habits, huge profit margin of food industry will surely drop. Therefore, it can be said that
consumers lifestyle is provoking the companies more than any other factors to gain profit from
producing highly sweetened or high calorie food products. Acknowledging the recent awareness
campaign and sight change in mentality among the consumers sugar industry is trying to
reshape the CSR policies again for addressing such serious social concern. This is a proven
method for increasing the market value of business in economic terms as social issues are
being addressed too. Government has been advised to increase the number of campaigns
using social media to make the generation aware of such degrading lifestyle. In order to build fit
and active Australia both the citizens and food industry must come forward to identify the diet
mistakes. Food industry’s process of product diversification must be initiated as fast as possible
so that people can avail healthy alternatives of their favorite food items maintaining the
guidelines. In addition to that, Government must focus on developing channels of
communication in terms of circulating anti-obesity campaigns.

6. REFERENCE LIST
1)Abc.net.au (2019). Tipping the Scales. [online] Four Corners. Available at:
https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/tipping-the-scales/9712342 [Accessed 10 Jan. 2019].

ABC 2018, Tipping the scales, 30 April, viewed 15 December 2018,
<http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/tipping-the-scales/9712342>.
Brand-Miller, J & Barclay, A 2017, ‘Declining consumption of added sugars and sugar
sweetened beverages in Australia: a challenge for obesity prevention’, The American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, vol. 105, no. 4, pp. 854-863
Carroll, AB & Buchholtz, AK 2015, Business & Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder
Management, Ninth Edition, Cengage, Stamford USA.
Freeman, R, Wicks, A & Parmar, B 2004, "Stakeholder Theory and “The Corporate Objective
Revisited”", Organization Science, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 364-369, viewed 8 January, 2019,
<https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.1040.0066>.
Hillman, A & Keim, G 2001, "Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues:
what's the bottom line?", Strategic Management Journal, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 125-139, viewed 10
January, 2019, <https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/docview/225008661?
accountid=14205>.
Middleton, G, Henderson, H & Evans, D 2013, "Implementing a community-based obesity
prevention programme: experiences of stakeholders in the north east of England", Health
Promotion International, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 201-211, viewed 10 January, 2019,
<https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/29/2/201/555368>.
Mitchell, R, Agle, B & Wood, D 1997, "Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and
Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts", Academy of Management
Review, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 853-886, viewed 8 January, 2019, <https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/docview/839097060?rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo>.
Nam, S & Hwang, H 2018, ‘What makes consumers respond to creating shared value strategy?
Considering consumers as stakeholders in sustainable development’, Corporate Social
Responsibility in Management, no volume number
Orr, S & Sarni, W 2015, ‘Does the concept of “crating shared value” hold water?’, Journal of
Business Strategy, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 18-29
Porter, M & Kramer, R 2011, ‘Creating Shared Value’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 89, no.
1/2, pp. 62-77
Wojcik, P 2016, ‘How Creating Shared Value Differs From Corporate Social Responsibility’, Journal of
Management and Business Administration, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 32-55

Baker, P & Lawrence, M 2018, Sweet power: the politics of sugar, sugary drinks and poor
nutrition in Australia, news.com.au, viewed 12 January 2019
<https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/sweet-power-the-politics-of-sugar-
sugary-drinks-and-poor-nutrition-in-australia/news-story/8ef37f1ec8b03ff62803546f879adeec>
Boyd, A, Swinburn, Sacks, G, Hall, K, McPherson, K, Finegood, D, Moodie, M & Gortmaker, S
2011, ‘The global obesity pandemic: shaped by global drivers and local environments’, Lancet,
vol.373, pp. 804-814.
Jeffrey, P, Koplan, MD, Kelly D & Brownell, PhD 2010, ‘Response of the Food and Beverage
Industry to the Obesity Threat’, JAMA, vol. 304(13), pp.1487-1488.
Veerman, L 2019, Obesity is a market failure and personal responsibility will not solve it alone,
The Conversation, viewed 12 January 2019 <https://theconversation.com/obesity-is-a-market-
failure-and-personal-responsibility-will-not-solve-it-alone-101038>
Australian Medical Association 2018, AMA Recommendations, Australian Medical Association,
viewed 11 January 2019 <https://ama.com.au/position-statement/nutrition-2018>
Bobba, S 2014, The role of the food industry in tackling Australia’s obesity epidemic, Australian
Medical Student Journal, viewed 11 January 2019, <http://www.amsj.org/archives/3445>
Public Health Association of Australia submission on the Senate Inquiry into the Obesity
Epidemic in Australia 2018, Public Health Association Australia, vol. 1, pp. 10.
Irvine, J 2018, ‘Personal responsibility' not way to fix obesity crisis, The Sydney Morning Herald,
viewed 12 January 2019 https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/personal-
responsibility-not-way-to-fix-obesity-crisis-20180801-p4zuwu.html
Brownell, k, Kersh, R, Ludwig, D, Post, R, Puhl, R, Schwartz, M & Willett, W 2010, ‘Personal
Responsibility And Obesity: A Constructive Approach To A Controversial Issue’, Health Affairs,
vol. 29, no. 3.

7. APPENDIX
Need to put table of examples and team charter in here.