Business Communication Report: Coca-Cola's Un-sustainable Operations

This report, prepared by students at the University of Kent for a Business Communication course, examines the unsustainable practices of Coca-Cola. It highlights the negative consequences of Coca-Cola's operations, including water scarcity, pollution, and deforestation, particularly focusing on the company's impact in India. The report details specific incidents and issues in regions like Plachimada and Mehdiganj, where Coca-Cola's bottling plants have led to environmental damage and affected local communities. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges faced by Coca-Cola, offering recommendations such as investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR), improving research and development, investing in sustainable operations, obtaining certifications, involving public authorities, and selecting regions carefully. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for ethical and safe business practices to mitigate environmental damage and ensure sustainable operations for the future.

Running head: Business Communication 1
Letter of Transmittal
September 09, 2017
(Name of the Lecturer)
Lecturer
Department of business Communication
University of Kent
Subject: Letter of Transmittal
Dear Sir,
With due respect we, the undersigned students of (______) batch have reported on “Business
Report: Un-sustainable practices of Coca-Cola” under the course: Business Communication.
However we are in a learning curve, this business report has enabled us to gain insight into the
core fact of business communication and importance of sustainable operations. So it becomes as
a tremendously challenging and fascinating experience. Thank you for your helpful and
supportive consideration for devising an idea. Without your keen motivation and inspiring this
business report would have been an incomplete one.
To conclude I would be grateful once again if you please provide your judicious
recommendations on effort.
Yours’ sincerely,
(Name1, Name 2, Name 3)
ID No-
Department of Business Communication
University of Kent

Business Communication 2
Business Communication
Coca-Cola

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................4
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................5
2. Aftermaths of human industrial activities: Coca-Cola- ‘Drinking the Globe Dry’.................5
3.1 Coca Cola in India accused of leaving water shortage, land poisoned and farms parched...6
3. Recommended solutions for Coca Cola to address the issues on an effective way to
ameliorate the situation....................................................................................................................8
4. Conclusion and Recommendations........................................................................................11
5. References..............................................................................................................................13

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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to highlight the various negative consequences and impacts posed
on the climate, environment and the lives of the individuals as a result of the human industrial
activities. The report will present the case of a selected organisation and the impact of its
massive operations on the environment. It will also present few solutions as recommendations to
the company by which it can overcome those issues and have sustainable business operations
from future perspectives.

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1. Introduction
With the upsurge level of industrialization and globalisation, the primary victim is found to be
the environment as there are several issues and challenges faced by the and hampering the
sustainability of the environment. These issues are because of the human industrial activities
which pose negative impacts upon the sustainable living and eco-friendly aspect of the business
environment. The report will highlight one of such incidents or issues faced by a specific region
because of the unhealthy and unsustainable business practices of an organisation in order to
maximize its sales and profits. The report will also recommend several ways by which
improvements can be made to overcome the challenges and have a sustainable business
environment.
2. Aftermaths of human industrial activities: Coca-Cola- ‘Drinking the
Globe Dry’
Coca Cola is one of the most negatively recognized organisations for its ill and unhealthy
practices in respect with the unsustainable business operations. In the past history of Coca Cola,
there have been a number of evidences that reflects theunsustainable business practices of the
company which has lead to pollution, deforestation, water scarcity and other several
environmental hazards (India Resource Center, 2014).

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3.1 Coca Cola in India accused of leaving water shortage, land poisoned and farms
parched
(India Resource Center, 2014)
There are several areas and regions of India which have faced numerous challenges because of
the establishment of the bottling plants of Coca Cola in those specific regions. There are notified
issues faced by several districts and regions of various states of India. In the year 2000, there was
established a plant of Coca cola in Plachimada which comes under the regions of Kerala. In just
next few years of the business operations, there were realized hazardous effects of the plant on
the livelihoods of the masses in number of ways and the people of Plachimada began to struggle
for leading the plat to shut down and to attain a sustainable living (Chilkoti, 2014).

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There were number of issues that arise because of the human industrial activities of Coca Cola
starting from the mass level of water shortage. The extreme water shortage was a direct outcome
of the extraction of water by Coca Cola from the local groundwater resources. All the wells dried
up and the hand water pumps do not work anymore and thus took place extreme water shortage.
Not only in the Plachimada district of Kerala but the same issues was realized at various other
regions of India too and because of the bottling plant of Coca Cola such as the at Kaladera
district near to Jaipur sate and a massive exploitation of the water resources at Mehdiganj in the
city of Varanasi (Ejatlas, 2016).The second key issue faced by these places was increased level
of pollution as Coca Cola was continuously discharging the highly contaminated and waste water
into the field and grounds which were near to the plant and many a times into the rivers too
including Ganga and it various other surrounding areas. The end result of such discharging of the
polluted water was soil and groundwater pollution. Several public health authorities have
diagnosed and posted the signs around the hand pumps and wells that they masses do not
consume the water as it is unfit for their health as the water was polluted and not left for the
purpose of human consumption anymore. The third key issue which was threatening the life of
the masses as well as was a big danger to the environment sustainability was distribution of the
toxic waste as the company was distributing the solid waste as the end product of the operations
commenced on plant to the farmers in particularly two communities, i.e. Mehdiganj and
Plachiamda in the form of fertilizers. There were scientific and laboratory tests that were
conducted by the authorities and the results were shocking as there was found presence of lead
and cadmium in the wastes which made it completely toxic in nature. Once an order was released

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by the state government, then only Coca Cola stopped the distribution of these solid wastes to the
farmers. One more environmental issue which was the result of the operations of Coca Cola at
various regions of India was that the products of the company were containing pesticides.
Number of public authorities and agencies as well as the Indian Government and it was found
that the products of Coca Cola contain increase levels of pesticides in them. There were number
of health issues realized in masses which negatively impacted their health and body (Brown,
2003).
There were number of campaigns which took place against the company demanding for the shut
down of the Coca Cola plants from Plachimada and Mehdiganj (Bhalla, 2015).There were non-
violent protests that comprises of thousands of people participating in it for the abolishment of
such business operations from India. People protested at the sites of the plant when they faced
and realized the negative consequences of these plants on their sustainable living and
environment (Singh, 2014).
3. Recommended solutions for Coca Cola to address the issues on an
effective way to ameliorate the situation
To address and overcome the issues in an effective way as well as to improve the situation, there
are few recommendations for the company which could be helpful for it to overcome the
sustainability challenges and to re-establish the plant and continue the businessoperations but
with increasedlevel of ethicality, morality and sustainability. Following are few of those
recommendations:

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Investing in CSR
The first and the foremost step is to enhance the corporate social responsibility levels of
thecompany as it is the biggest way to offer thecommunitieswith benefits and social advantages
by which their lives can be improved. It is necessary that the company invest huge amount in
CSR activities and help the masses to attain a successful living (Karnani, 2014).
Improving Research & Development
The next solution or recommended step is to improve the research and development of the
company as it is essential that before the commencement of thebusinessoperations or the
establishment of the plant, the comaopny should research about its negative consequences as
well as improving research and development will help thecompany in producing products with
improved quality which can be safe for the people as well as find innovative ways to overcome
the barriers of quality issues and sustainability issues (Lambooy, 2011).
Investing in sustainable operations

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The third key solution is to invest more capital in the development of sustainableoperations. To
overcome the challenges of sustainability and to avoid unhealthy operations which deteriorates
the brand image of thecompany, it is required that the operations undertaken must be sustainable
in nature and for the attainment of this objective, it is essential that more capital investments
must be there for the eco-friendly and sustainable business operations(Gade, 2016).
Certifications of the processes and products
Another vital and essential step to resolve the issues is to certifythe business processes as well as
the products of the company through safe and quality certificationthat involve ISO safety as well
as publishing the results so that the company can commence its operations. These certifications
will help in achieving improved and safe business operations as well as productsthat does not
imposes negative impacts upon the health of the masses and on the natural resources of the
nation (Berglund and Helander, 2015).

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Involvement of the public authorities, communities and masses
The next key action is to involve the masses, communities as well as the public authorities in the
operations of the company as it is necessary that the communities must be aware of the various
operations and business processes so thatthecan analyse whether these operations are safe or not
for their region and their health. Their involvement will offer them a sense of satisfaction that
they and their resources are safe (Karnani, 2014).
Selection of Regions and effective Disclosure
Other recommended solution is that at the time of selecting regions for the establishment of the
pant of Coca Cola, the companymust be conscious enough that it is a right place and industrial
operations would not ruin the life of the masses in any way. It is essential that all the
certification, health and safety reports and the business sustainability reports must be disclosed
by the company to the masses so that they can have an easy access to the information related to
the sustainable business operations (Gade, 2016).
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
From the overall report, it is concluded that there are several changes that are occurring in the
climate and the environment because of the human industrial activities which is causing a serious
threat to the sustainability of the environment as well as to the lives of the masses. From the

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report, it can be concluded that Coca Cola is one of the major companies that has been involved
in number of unethical practices which has ruined the sustainability of the environment, the
livelihood of the masses as well as the deterioration of the natural resources. And thus, it is
recommended thatthecompanymust have an eye on its operations regarding its ethicality as well
as safety so that it does not facethe similar issues in its future operations.