Recognisable Brands: Live On The Coke Side Of Life

MODERN BUSINESS ETHICS AND DILEMMAS

The word ‘ethics’ means standards of right and wrong behaviour. Another word often used is ‘morality’.
The Modern Business Environment:
Today, things are getting complicated in the business environment. There is no longer any single moral code. There are competing religious and social moral codes, especially the multinational companies ("MNCs") operating in various parts of the world and having people from different cultures. The pursuit of profit has become a goal in its own right, and this pressurises people to compromise their standards, not just ethically, but in less important areas as well. Greater wealth in the west implies that people have less tolerance for ethically dubious behaviour. Businesses

The company’s profits amounted to just under $15 billion in 2005, while its market value is calculated at over $100 billion. Worldwide, more than one billion cans or bottles of Cola-Cola are consumed every day – or 12,500 every second. Advertising is key to Coca-Cola’s expansion, seen most recently in the launch of its new global campaigns slogan:“Live on the Coke Side of Life”. Coca-Cola spends a massive $2 billion a year promoting its image of healthy, wholesome living, including through sponsorship of major sporting events such as the football World Cup and the Olympic Games. Yet there are signs that the image is beginning to crumble.
It is said that those who don't learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them. It seems that the Coca-Cola has not learnt any lessons from Plachimada - a village in the state of Kerala in India where the community-led campaign has shut down its plant since March 2004. The manner is which the Coca-Cola company has decided to deal with another community-led campaign in India - in the village of Kala Dera in the state of Rajasthan - is indicative of the arrogance and impunity of the company that has landed it in trouble before. And Coca-Cola in India is in for a rude awakening,

The community of Kala Dera, as well as the villages of Plachimada and Mehdiganj in India that are opposing Coca-Cola bottling plants, have enjoyed significant international support. And most notable in lending support have been college and university students across the globe, and in particular, the US, UK and Canada - some of Coca-Cola's larger markets.
One of the successful campaigns was at the prestigious University of Michigan in the US, which, after a sustained student-led campaign in which the India Resource Center represented the India issues, placed the Coca-Cola company on probation on January 1, 2006.

Some of the most disturbing findings in the assessment concerned Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Kala Dera.
Confirming that Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Kala Dera operated in an "overexploited" groundwater area and the Coca-Cola's bottling plant had "significant impacts", the assessment noted that "the plant's operations in this area would continue to be one of the contributors to a worsening water situation and a source of stress to the communities