About the company
Discuss about the Corporate Social Responsibility And Access To Finance.
Corporate Social responsibility can be defined as the sound strategy which is formed by the organization in order to give it back to the society. It can be described as the initiative which is adopted by the organization to take responsibility of the efforts of the company which tends to have an effect on the social as well as environmental wellbeing. The CSR Activities can be described as the continued commitment which a firm can adopt in order to contribute towards the overall welfare of the organization (Schwartz 2017). The primary motto behind these activities is to ensure that the goof company helps the good people and contributes to a good environment.
As it is a common saying that the organization`s industrial activities tend to have a harmful impact on the society, this makes up for it and contributes to the wellbeing of the society. According to Schwartz (2017), there are around 55% of the consumers who want to pay extra for the product when it comes out of socially responsible companies. A total of 18 billion dollars are spent by the companies to help the society. Therefore, it can be stated that the corporate social responsibility initiatives taken by the firms are compulsory in nature. The given report will be discussing the CSR activities of the company Coca Cola and determine its success.
The company Coca Cola is an American multinational company which is a beverage corporation and manufacturer retailer. It has a large market share of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company has headquarters in the Atlanta, Georgia and since then the company has had a franchised distribution system. The company sells these syrups to different companies present in worldwide (Coca-colacompany.com 2018). The company is listed under the NYSE and the S&P jones as well.
Coca Cola is popularly known for their CSR activities which it has carried out since the past few years. The activities of the company are often taken as examples for other large organizations present in the industry. The given section will be discussing the different activities of the company and analyze the same.
The Coca Cola Social Responsibility report stated down the different activities which the company engages in and discusses the CSR Program objectives. According to the report, the company`s main objective behind the CSR program is Sustainability. In order to ensure sustainability, the company engages in various programs like that of packaging, consumer health, employee development, energy and climate along with sustaining supplier relationships.
Identification of their CSR
With respect to the Consumer health, the company has objectives that help it to meet the consumer trends and in order to implement this the company has broadened its portfolio and reduced the calories present in each of the products. To look out for csr in packaging and recycling, the company has introduced a PET bottle system which uses a blend of petroleum and other elements which make it sustainable.
In order to initiative development strategies for its employees, the company has used various training and other facilities to ensure that the skills and abilities of the different employees are developed. The CSR activities also promote the equality of the employees and provide them with diverse cultures. The company has achieved a 100% score in the domain and this reflects that the company is performing well. To conserve the energy and the climate, the company has signed the Copenhagen Communique (Saeidi et al. 2015). It has agreed to take supportive action with respect to climate change and has considerably reduced its carbon foot print.
The company serves and has its operations in more than 200 countries and the CSR is at the core of its business activities. The CSR is an essential part of the commitment of the company and the company tries to spend at least 1% of its operating income to different causes. Along with the above mentioned activities, the company also engages.
As stated earlier, the primary objective behind the company`s CSR activities is the achievement of sustainability and hence, Coca cola follows a sustainability approach in order to integrate the corporate responsibility and sustainability activities at every aspect of the business. The Coca-Cola’s CSR and sustainability form an essential part of the organizations and acts as a huge determiner of the long term investments and decisions taken so that they deliver everlasting value (Deng, Kang and Low 2013).
The company ensures that it can attain commitment from different parties to ensure overall success of the program. Lastly, the primary strategic objectives which are the basis of the sustainability approach of the Coca Cola Company is as follows:
- Promotion of wellness and health- This it does by improving the calorie content of the products it is offering. It also assists in conducting medical campaigns towards the society at large.
- Minimizing the environmental impact- The environmental impact is reduced by making products which are environmental friendly in nature and conduct minimum impacts on the chosen organization (Pedersen 2015).
- Returning it back to the community- The organization returns it back to the society by conducing programs which benefit the health and education of various children. It is helping the environment by reducing its emissions, decreasing the waste to landfill, disaster relief operations, creating positive impact, creating sustainable value chain so as to ensure successful consumption.
- Promoting informed choices-In order to build informed choices, the company recognizes the importance and the value of a comprehensive framework to ensure that the customers enjoy the benefit of being with the company Coca Cola (Flammer 2013). The company is also contributed towards committing excellent corporate governance and leadership policies in order to ensure transparency in their disclosures. The form regular reports for the same (Khan, Muttakin and Siddiqui 2013).
Hence, after analyzing the different CSR activities which have been taken by the firm Coca Cola, the given section will be analyzing the different impacts of these activities on the overall functioning of the organization. Very often CSR is not considered to be just a choice but it can also improve the company in various ways. The experts in the given field have identified that that sustainability refers to the improvement of the climate, conservation of the resources, corporate governance and even improvisation of the various ethical aspects of the business
Sustainability policies and strategies
Even from the customer`s point of view, they believe that they would like to switch to a better option to a company who is providing benefits to the society. Hence the following was the impact of the Corporate Social Responsibility conducted by the company on its operations:
- Increased brand recognition-The CSR activities have increased the brand recognition of the company Coca Cola. In fact the activities of the company in this field are often considered to be in sync with the CSR activities (Grayson and Hodges 2017).
- It has improved the reputation of the company and it has become one of the best places to work in.
- The CSR activities have contributed towards improving the customer and sales loyalty of the organization thereby saving the operational costs of the company.
- It has also lead to improve the financial performance of the company. It leads to increased sales which has improved the brand name and popularity of the company (Clapp and Rowlands 2014). It also leads to savings of the operational costs as it tends to improvise the different operations which then help to contribute towards the wellness of the firm. It has also been successful in promoting organizational growth and prosperity.
The strengths of complying with the CSR Activities of the organization are as follows for the company:
- It tends to have a positive impact on the financial performance of the organization.
- It leads to easy availability of the capital as the government and banks are willing to lend the money to the different companies who have a good track record. Furthermore, the Corporate Social Responsibility of an organization also encourages diversity of the employees and ensures safety and quality standards are maintained throughout (Servaes and Tamayo 2013).
The given section discusses the weaknesses of the Corporate Social Responsibility of the Coca Cola Corporations.
- There lacks a sense of communication between the companies and the general public (Crane, Matten and Spence 2013). Very often a large percentage of the customers do not want to know what the company is doing.
- Very often in the sub units of the company, there is a lack of transparency among the different companies and this leads to the problem that the CSR initiatives cannot be undertaken because there is no detail about profitability, auditing issues, utilization of funds and accurate information (Servaes and Tamayo 2013).
- The CSR activities often suck up the different funds of the organization and due to this the management does not want to indulge in the activities when they have shortage of funds.
However, the company needs to take an effort and ensure that it engages in proper CSR activities, as these activities tend to foster good business relationships in an organization and strengthens the mutual understanding between the society and the firm (Kilkenny 2014). On the government`s side they should engage in proper rules and regulations so that the company is able to achieve success in the long run and the society benefits (Cavico 2013).
Although the different Corporate Social Responsibilities of the Coca Cola Company are considered to be quite good, there are various activities which may have not been that successful in the domain of the business environment. Very often corporate sustainability goals need to have a balance between the ambition and realism. Coca cola has very often not been successful in its ventures (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim 2014). The company according to its reports has missed out on the goal of returning all the water which has been used in its manufacturing procedures and has also been unable to support the aquatic life aimed by 2015.
Although the company got closer to achieving its goals and that 94% of the different system facilities were complaint with the waste water treatments which it planned to conduct, they were faced by unplanned challenges which lead the criteria of not meeting the targets (Deng, Kang and Low 2013).
As the company has its operations in more than 200 countries, the locations where the treatment of the plant is done is only at a few places and hence, the firm might face challenges in this aspect (Carroll 2015). The main challenge lies because for some countries, this process is totally new and thus, they faced some problems with respect to the given system.
The CSR programs have been crucial parts of the different organizations over many years and initially they were considered to be a charity function and this is the reason why only big businesses engaged in it. However the manner and the approach of the different organizations with respect to the CSR activities has changed considerably. The evolution has taken place and the companies have begun to extract value by performing the different CSR activities and program in order to ensure that there exists a situation whereby there are long term benefits to the different partners who are involved in this (Bhattacharya et al. 2017).
Impact on the organization
The given concept is preferably known as “shared value”. This was developed by Michael Porter and that was stated that the different CSR Activities which are initiated not only help the firm but also help out the different parties in all the ways involved.
If a given CSR program which is being used is a useful one then it involves more engagement from the side of the different corporate entities and the partners by fostering a culture of understanding and trust in the organization. The CSR of a firm should encompass various parties in the given realm which comprise of stakeholders, management, shareholders, government, customers and employees. It needs to be the primary aim of the organization to ensure that these different activities in which the firm engages in are sustainable instead of being quick and successful. The perfect CSR is required to comprise of strategic investment.
In this context, it can be said that the initiatives as adopted by Coca Cola tend to incorporate shared approach and shared value in the society by bringing together the different employees in the organization. Furthermore, it also involves the amalgamation of the different partners like suppliers, stakeholders and other parties involved.
The triple Bottom line approach in the different activities involving the CSR activities tends to work on the assumption that as the given firm is a member of the society, it has certain corporate social responsibilities which will have to be abided by (Huss 2014). The given theory focuses on sustainability and it needs to ensure that the society before engaging in different activities and it also needs to ensure the sustainability in three different scales which comprise of economic sustainability, social sustainability and the environmental sustainability (Tai and Chuang 2014). The economic sustainability must focus on the long term welfare of the given company and the manner in which a CSR activities tends to create an economic boon in the society at large. Secondly, the social sustainability aims to provide a sense of balance in the society by ensuring that the different competition in the business do not sense to succumb to pressure. However, this is always not successful (Kobzar, Nikolayeva and Shvets 2014).
Lastly, the environmental sustainability looks out to seeing to it that the resources remain in the organization and that they do not degrade the general environment. The firm should not cause harm to the society and its members at large.
The Strengths and weaknesses of the Coca Cola CSR activities
Coca Cola engages in a triple bottom approach by ensuring environmental sustainability and that the social balance in the society is maintained. It also ensures that the society benefits largely and the people can make up for the resources which have been lost.
Therefore, the business has been successful in initiating the CSR activities and has ensured that the organization maintains the success theme throughout. The CSR activities of the organization has been on social purpose which has clearly brought about a huge change in the organization. The manner in which the people conduct business has changed considerably (Ruggie 2017). Furthermore, there has been a concentrated effort on the side of the organization to improve the long term welfare of the organization.
Lastly, the firm has partnered with different experts in order to ensure that the activities have a rippling impact on the firm.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the given analysis it could be stated that the Corporate Social Responsibilities tend to form an essential aspect of the organization and that the different firms which engage in the given process tend to have a positive impact on the long term sustainability and are able to gain the respect and brand image of the company. The given report tends to concentrate on the importance on the Corporate Social Responsibility of the organization and discusses all the theoretical concepts which are related through practical examples as well. The company used as an example is the Coca Cola Company. The CSR and sustainability programs of the company has been highlighted along with the strengths and weaknesses of the same.
References
Bhattacharya, C.B., Korschun, D., Sen, S. and Routledge, H., 2017. Corporate social responsibility. Journal of International Law, 26(2).
Carroll, A.B., 2015. Corporate social responsibility. Organizational dynamics, 44(2), pp.87-96.
Cavico, F.J., 2013. Corporate Social Responsibility. ILEAD Academy.
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and access to finance. Strategic Management Journal, 35(1), pp.1-23.
Clapp, J. and Rowlands, I.H., 2014. Corporate social responsibility. The Essential Guide to Global Environmental Governance. Routledge: London, pp.42-44.
Coca-colacompany.com ,2018. Coca-Cola Sustainability Reports. [online] The Coca-Cola Company. Available at: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/sustainability-reports [Accessed 31 May 2018].
Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L., 2013. Corporate social responsibility in a global context.
Deng, X., Kang, J.K. and Low, B.S., 2013. Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value maximization: Evidence from mergers. Journal of financial Economics, 110(1), pp.87-109.
Flammer, C., 2013. Corporate social responsibility and shareholder reaction: The environmental awareness of investors. Academy of Management Journal, 56(3), pp.758-781.
Grayson, D. and Hodges, A., 2017. Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
Huss, F., 2014. Corporate Social Responsibility.
Khan, A., Muttakin, M.B. and Siddiqui, J., 2013. Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from an emerging economy. Journal of business ethics, 114(2), pp.207-223.
Kilkenny, S., 2014. Corporate Social Responsibility. Network Journal, 21(3), p.24.
Kobzar, T., Nikolayeva, V. and Shvets, O., 2014. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Pedersen, E.R.G. ed., 2015. Corporate social responsibility. Sage.
Ruggie, J.G., 2017. The theory and practice of learning networks: Corporate social responsibility and the Global Compact. In Learning To Talk (pp. 32-42). Routledge.
Saeidi, S.P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S.P. and Saaeidi, S.A., 2015. How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), pp.341-350.
Schwartz, M.S., 2017. Corporate social responsibility. Routledge.
Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A., 2013. The impact of corporate social responsibility on firm value: The role of customer awareness. Management science, 59(5), pp.1045-1061.
Tai, F.M. and Chuang, S.H., 2014. Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), p.117.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
