Coca-Cola’s Business Practices: Facing the Heat in a Few Countries
Coca-Cola’s Business Practices: Facing the Heat in a Few Countries
To: Francisco Santo, Vice President Colombia Atul Singh, President & CEO India
From: Joseph Cain, Nicholas Dabbraccio, Margaret Metz, Johnny Rueda, and Keshma Thomas
Date: October 8, 2011
Identification of Symptoms:
(Internal Management)
• Continuously denying accusations of fault
• Ignoring problems by switching business strategy/operations
• Continuing to pay heavy fines/penalties without a fight
• Believing that philanthropy and job creation is the only requirement for consumer acceptance
• Having disputes relating to labor relations only being solved in the place of origin
• Management not investigating the relationship between plant managers of local bottlers and paramilitary groups
• Inability to meet deadline that required agreeing on a protocol of findings of the commission formed by a set of Universities in the US
(External Management)
• Accusations of hiring death squads in Colombia to intimidate or kill union leaders
• Accused of contaminating water in selling products with pesticide residue in India
• Anticompetitive business practices in Mexico; non-conformance with competition laws
• Not meeting the terms of applicable laws in various countries
• Not making sure that the bottling and canning companies that they partner with are conforming to these laws as well
I think the above symptoms are more like errors that Coke has made. I think this section is meant to be more of what has happened as a result of those errors. I could be wrong, but this is my recommendation. Let me know what you all think. - Margaret
Coca-Cola is gaining poor publicity after several accusations surrounding its foreign plants were made
• Accused of distributing improperly treated, toxic sludge disguised as fertilizer to farmers in India
• Accused of selling products in India containing harmful pesticide residues
• Accused of draining the underground water table in
To: Francisco Santo, Vice President Colombia Atul Singh, President & CEO India
From: Joseph Cain, Nicholas Dabbraccio, Margaret Metz, Johnny Rueda, and Keshma Thomas
Date: October 8, 2011
Identification of Symptoms:
(Internal Management)
• Continuously denying accusations of fault
• Ignoring problems by switching business strategy/operations
• Continuing to pay heavy fines/penalties without a fight
• Believing that philanthropy and job creation is the only requirement for consumer acceptance
• Having disputes relating to labor relations only being solved in the place of origin
• Management not investigating the relationship between plant managers of local bottlers and paramilitary groups
• Inability to meet deadline that required agreeing on a protocol of findings of the commission formed by a set of Universities in the US
(External Management)
• Accusations of hiring death squads in Colombia to intimidate or kill union leaders
• Accused of contaminating water in selling products with pesticide residue in India
• Anticompetitive business practices in Mexico; non-conformance with competition laws
• Not meeting the terms of applicable laws in various countries
• Not making sure that the bottling and canning companies that they partner with are conforming to these laws as well
I think the above symptoms are more like errors that Coke has made. I think this section is meant to be more of what has happened as a result of those errors. I could be wrong, but this is my recommendation. Let me know what you all think. - Margaret
Coca-Cola is gaining poor publicity after several accusations surrounding its foreign plants were made
• Accused of distributing improperly treated, toxic sludge disguised as fertilizer to farmers in India
• Accused of selling products in India containing harmful pesticide residues
• Accused of draining the underground water table in