Social Impact of Business
Discussions:

1. Read the case Coca- Cola's Water Neutrality Initiative shown below. Discuss the "performance- expectations gap" found in the case- what were the stakeholders' concerns, and how did their expectations differ from the company's performance?

•"Coca- Cola's Water Neutrality Initiative

•Coca- Cola's Water Neutrality Initiative

•Water is essential to the business, they used around 80 billion gallons of water world wide every year

•Two-fifths of the water went into finished beverages, while the rest went into the manufacturing process

•Coca-Cola's Chairman and CEO said without water, "We haven't got a business"

•Coca- Cola's Water Neutrality Initiative

•In India, they accused Coca-Cola of having dangerous levels of pesticide residues and using enormous amounts of water

•This caused a bottling plant in the state of Kerala to shut down

•As a result, in the United States, the India Resource Center took up the cause to boycott Coca-Cola Products

•Coca- Cola's Water Neutrality Initiative

•Water shortage was a major concern for world leaders

•1 billion people lacked safe drinking water; water consumption doubled every 20 years By 2025 one-third of the worlds population was expecting to face water shortages this could lead disease, rising food prices and regional conflicts

•Coca-Cola had a reactive approach and fought the challenges brought on by India; Began to examine the water issue

•Reached out to several stakeholders including: World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy and Academic Experts to seek their advice on the issue

•Coca-Cola built an internal set of web based tools to benchmark themselves against others and learn from the best practices of their peers
Coca- Cola's Water Neutrality Initiative

•TCCC announced a goal of water neutrality which is done by reducing, recycling and replenishing all water that is used in the process
Reduce it's own use of water, discharge only clean water, and replenish the balance of water used

•TCCC participated in many water conserving projects globally and donated 20 million dollars to environmental groups

•Coca- Cola's Water Neutrality Initiative

•Coca-Cola company was the worlds largest beverage company, operating in more than 200 Countries

•More than 70% of the company's revenue came from outside the USA

•In the mid to late 2000s , Coca-Cola faced an emerging issue: it's corporate impact on water quality, availability, and access around the world"

2. Evaluate two or more key reasons why a business should be ethical. Use examples in support of your discussion and cite your references in APA format.

3. Define an ecologically sustainable organization. Outline and discuss the stages through which firms progress as they become more sustainable.

4. Using supporting examples, discuss how e-commerce has changed the way businesses operate and interact with their stakeholders.