An Analysis of Coca-Cola's CSR, Issue Management, and Communication

This report provides an executive summary and detailed analysis of Coca-Cola's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, issue management practices, and corporate communication strategies. It examines the integration of CSR and issue management, highlighting Coca-Cola's commitment to sustainable development, water replenishment, and stakeholder engagement. The report reviews the company's CSR objectives, including environmental responsibility, women empowerment, and ethical business practices. It also addresses the challenges Coca-Cola faces, such as water pollution and over-extraction, and how the company uses social media and other channels to communicate its sustainability efforts. The analysis includes the importance of consistent corporate communication messaging and its impact on brand image, along with recommendations for improvement. The report references key stakeholders and their influence on the company's actions and outcomes, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a positive public image through effective CSR and communication.

RUNNING HEAD: Corporate Communication
Corporate Communication

Corporate Communication 1
Executive Summary
The aim of this paper is to explains and evaluate the importance and features of Corporate
Sustainability responsibility and issue management in an organization. The report explains the
CSR and issue management practices used in the company Coca-Cola. The report tells about the
CSR activities implemented by the company with respect to issue management. It also explains
the importance of corporate communication messaging consistency and how it uplifts the brand
image of the organization in the external environment. Lastly, few recommendations are given to
the company Coca-Cola so as to improve its activities in the market.

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Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................1
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Integrating CSR and Issues Management....................................................................................................2
Role of CSR in Coca-Cola..............................................................................................................................5
Role of CSR Issues Management in Coca-Cola.............................................................................................6
Corporate Communications Messaging Consistency...................................................................................8
Overall Evaluation.....................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Corporate social responsibility has now days become one of the most important business
requirements. It refers to the initiatives taken by the organizations with an aim to take care of the
social wellbeing and the environment. It is also called corporate citizenship; under the process of
corporate social responsibility, an organization initiates activities that are good for the society as
a whole. It is the responsibility of organizations present in the environment to reverse the
negative actions that they have taken in the environment while doing their business activities
(Banks, 2016).
Further, the below-mentioned report provides a brief review about the corporate social activities
initiated by the company Coca-Cola. The report explains a review of CSR and issue
management, the role of CSR and issue management in the company and its communication
consistency. Further, an overall evaluation provides recommendations for the company. More
details about the report are discussed below:
Integrating CSR and Issues Management
The act of corporate social responsibility is a kind of self-regulation for business under which the
organizations themselves regulate the activities that help them in securing the condition of the
environment. During the course of business actions the companies many times initiates that are
not good for the environment as a whole. With the response that, this responsibility makes them
for every wrongful action that they initiate in the environment and spread awareness in the
industry as well. CSR is an organizational policy that is integrated with the business model of the
company. The CSR activities of the company do not help them in earning well for the
organization but it helps in maintaining a reputable position in the external market (Hamilton,
2015). An organization that actively complies with the CSR activities earns respect in the eyes of
customers present in the society. These activities of the company are directly linked to the aspect
of business ethics. Further, Caroll also explained a model with regard to the corporate social
responsibility that is called CSR pyramid mode. The model has four definitional frameworks to
this process namely, economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic expectations that the society
holds from the organization at a given point in time (Agrawal, 2015). These four sets of

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responsibilities create a base for the company that helps them to explain details and frame
policies accordingly. Further, the brief of these categories are discussed below:
Economic: This type of responsibilities explains that it is the responsibility of the organization to
sustain their activities in the environment and increase the share of shareholders in the society. In
this way, the company can incentivize themselves and increase the community's growth as well.
Also, the management of the company should work in a cost-effective manner (Yawar, &
Seuring, 2017).
Legal: The society has sanctioned companies as economic entities and it has also provided
minimal ground rules according to which businesses should function their activities. These rules
include the laws and regulations that help the organizations in inducing maximum benefits.
Ethical: The ethical responsibility is to explain that the businesses present in the environment
should carry on their business by complying with the codified ethics. The companies should
follow a fair path to gain success profit in the target market (Jamali, El Dirani, & Harwood,
2015).
Philanthropic: This type of responsibility includes all types of business giving. Corporate
philanthropy is helping an organization to fulfill all the responsibilities related to the activities of
the company.
Source: (Carroll, 2016)

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The issue is the event that occurs outside the control of the organization. The framework of issue
management involves the process of monitoring and gathering the information, analyzing them
and taking corrective actions to eliminate the issue connected with the organization (Fernie, &
Sparks, 2014).
Source: (UNECE, 2018)
In the process of issue management, the organization needs to initially define and sort the issue,
then rank them according to their priorities in the organization. After that, the management needs
to define the roles and responsibilities of the employees in the organization according to the
measures sought. Further, the employees need to synthesize and analyze the current situation and
evaluate the information received by them. Lastly, after initiating all these activities, the
management finalizes the issue and initiate actions and response.
Further, it should be noted that the corporate social responsibility issue management of an
organization helps the company in making effective decisions for the process of issue
management. The CSR issue management refers to the process with which, an organization
manages the issues present with them while considering the CSR practices of the company. With
the use of these codes of ethics, the company can easily satisfy all the stakeholders of the
organization by increasing revenue as well. If both the concepts are executed properly then they
can improve the state of the company by making its management efficient and increasing wealth
as well (Cantrell, Kyriazis, & Noble, 2015).

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Role of CSR in Coca-Cola
The company gives utmost priority to the Corporate Social Responsibilities Policy, 2014 present
in the environment. The company has formed various policies in order to fully satisfy the
requirements of the stakeholder present in the environment. The below-mentioned rules explain
the role of CSR in the activities of the company.
 Preamble: As the company realizes the impact of their activities on communities, with
regards to which they believe that they have tremendous opportunity to make significant
changes in the environment. The company aims to create economic opportunities of the
country in which it operates and contribute their share in the market (Visser, & Tolhurst,
2017).
 CSR Objectives: The Company aims to initiate sustainable development and inclusive
growth for the environment in which they prevail. They focus on many environmental
aspects including water environment, women empowerment, grass root education, gender
equality and social advancement etc. Further, the company aims to eradicate hunger, ,
and poverty in the environment by collaborating with the government and initiating
various ethical actions.
 Coca-Cola also aims to promote education by empowering women, girls, differently
abled people and children and providing them with various facilities to gain knowledge
and grow. In order to initiate gender equality, the company confronted with the socially
and economically backward groups and provides them various facilities so that they can
also compete in the external environment. This process further helps the organization in
employing these people in the company and increasing their corporate family (Louche, &
Idowu, 2017).
 In order to ensure the environmental responsibility, the management of the company
created funds for various issues present in the environment and they also aligned their
motive with the government so as to support the people of the nation. The company
raised funds to uplift the society in which they exist. This process also helped the
organization to gain recognition in the market.

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 The company in-build values in their activities collaboration, diversity, integrity, and
quality under the management so as to provide best products and services to the
customers present in the target market (Voegtlin, & Greenwood, 2016).
Source: (CocaCola, 2018)
 The company announces an ambitious sustainable packaging goal and recycles every
bottle and can sell it globally. With concern about the issue of waste management, the
organization initiated various activities to sustain life on earth. They understand their
responsibility due to which they initiate the World Without Waste vision. They also
started product plant bottle (easily recycled).
 As the company uses 305 billion litre water daily in order to serve 1.9 billion people, so
the company aimed to balance the replenishment of water by the year 2020. The
company has already achieved this goal by using recyclable products and providing water
to many people present worldwide (Karnani, 2014).
 The key stakeholders of the company are its suppliers, shareholders, employees,
consumers, government, communities and all other people connected to the activities of
the company worldwide. Any activity initiated in the organization majorly affects the
interest of stakeholders of the company. Thus, the company initiates activities the interest
of stakeholders due to which brand image of Coca-Cola is subsequently increased.

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Role of CSR Issues Management in Coca-Cola
The above-mentioned is the role of CSR activities in the company Coca-Cola, however, the
company still faces some issues in managing their responsibility properly against the
stakeholder. Further, the aspects of CSR issue management are discussed below:
Source: (CocaCola, 2018)
 Water pollution and the over-extraction of groundwater is the biggest problem that the
company is facing nowadays. Even after initiating various policies for the compensation,
still, the company is over extracting the natural resources that can hamper the survival of
mankind on earth. The company is use water that is reducing the natural resources along
with which they are also increasing the level of water pollution present in the
environment. This can initiate water scarcity in many parts of the world. Thus, depleting
of ground water around bottling plants is the major issue that the company should be
concerned about (Visser, & Tolhurst, 2017).
 Further, it should be noted that the company holds a place between some of the top most
companies in the world. They have not made this position easily, but the company has
always tried to keep to good public relations and satisfy them in order to succeed. Thus,

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in order to understand the environmental need, the company has launched the project
named Water Replenishment goals 2020. Under this project, they attempted to create a
balance between the consumption, waste, and supply of water in the environment
(Gaither, & Austin, 2016).
 Lastly, it should be noted that the organization mainly uses social media to reach to their
customers and spread awareness as well. Besides that, they also use local newspaper and
television also. With the help of these tools, Coca-Cola communicates their upcoming
projects related to corporate sustainability. The CSR issue management positively affects
the brand of the company in the target market as the employees of the company are
responsible enough to take actions related to corporate as well as environmental
sustainability (Faria, Barros, & Sauerbronn, 2017).
Source: (CocaCola, 2018)
Corporate Communications Messaging Consistency
The below-mentioned chart explains the key stakeholders of the company Coca-Cola:

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Source: (Government of Canada, 2018)
Communication is the medium through which companies access the vital resource and circulate
information to the stakeholders of the organization. Further, corporate communication refers to
the integrating of different messages of the organization under one banner and providing
information to the stakeholders accordingly. Strong centralized functions with a direct link to the
CEO are the best way to which the company can ensure the success of its corporate
communication functions. The CEO of Coca-Cola manages all the functions related to the
stakeholders of the organization. James Quincey centralized the organizational structure with a
clear mechanistic process that helped him to drive and control aggressive marketing and
expansion plan. However, the local people of the company believed that the strategies of the
company are going more global and are ignore local communities. With regards to which, the
management of the company started decentralizing their activities and initiating horizontal
information communication with peers.
Further, the corporate communication strategically influences the people about the reputation of
the company. This process also influences the image of the organization in the eyes of the

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customers. Media plays a huge role in helping the company in communicating with the
stakeholders of the organization (Melton, Damron, & Vernon, 2017).
The company is present on all social media platforms through which they communicate with the
people present in the environment. With the help of social media, Coca-Cola tells people about
their upcoming CSR programs and other activities that they are going to implement in the
organization. This helps the stakeholders to get updated with the upcoming projects of the
company. Resulting in which, the brand image of Coca-Cola is subsequently raised when they
adequately address the stakeholder in their activities. Also, consistency in this system increases
the satisfaction level of the customers present in the environment. Coca-Cola also manages to
implement green marketing for the success of the organization. Looking towards the ill effects
present in the environment due to the activities of Coca-Cola, the company aims to the work to
the sustainability of the resources. They introduced environmental friendly bottles and cans as
they introduced bottles that are made of 30% of plant based plastic that can be easily recycled.
Lastly, it should be noted that the company displays all the information about their products,
services and CSR activities on the official website and social media handles as well. From these
platforms, different stakeholders can attain information according to their interest (CocaCola,
2018).
Overall Evaluation
Coca-Cola’s company’s official website, Instagram handle, Facebook page, twitter account
adequately address all the activities initiated by the company. These accounts of the company
adequately tell information about the goals, vision, and values of the company and future
upcoming projects as well. A stakeholder of the organization can easily gain information about
the company through these pages. Unlike other manufacturers present in the environment, the
company is concerned about their corporate social responsibility for the environment. For the
purpose of which they invest in the programs that aim to uplift the society(CocaCola, 2018). The
organization aims to create a balance in their activities so as to sustain their environmental
responsibility. The company adequately understands the importance corporate messaging
consistency so they implement policies that sustain the economic responsibilities of the company
and support the stakeholders as well. Although the organization is working well still there is