Koch Industries Case Study

Koch Industries: Making the World Better?
Sheila Turner
Bridgewater State University

Author Note
This paper was prepared for COMM 353 W01 11811 Corporate Communication/ Social Responsibility Spring 2018.

Koch Industries: Making the World Better?

Koch Industries Overview Koch Industries is a privately held United States company owned by two brothers and has a net worth of over $100 billion with their primary headquarters in Wichita, Kansas. They are comprised of sixteen industries and claim to make things that make the world better. Companies like Georgia-Pacific and INVISTA are subsidiaries of the Koch empire. The larger holding company has sixteen areas of products that they market and make. These include building products,
These can include employees, governmental agencies, regulatory commissions and the local communities in which they conduct business. CSR seems to have a positive connotation and implies that corporations demonstrate a level of social responsibility as they perform their daily work. Koch Industries claims to have five steps they take to maintain social responsibility. They include: reducing waste, saving energy, recycling resources, preventing pollution and promoting community partnerships. This author's research has demonstrated that Koch's CSR may not align with the five steps they claim to take to maintain CSR.
Koch Industries CSR demonstrates environmental and regulatory compliance issues. Stakeholders affected by Koch's CSR have been the communities in which they are located and the governmental regulatory agencies. These issues are documented through oil spill lawsuits, noncompliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations, and pollution to local rivers and air quality in the communities in which they operate.
Koch Industries Corporate Social Responsibility: Oil Spill
The first alleged complaint is from a Georgia-Pacific paper mill in Crossett, Arkansas. The Georgia-Pacific paper mill is located near Coffee Creek in a small Arkansas town. This creek dumps into the larger Ouachita River in Louisiana. Residents of this town have complained about the water and air quality dating back to the 1990's. The paper mill allegedly contaminated Coffee Creek with millions of gallons of paper waste like ammonia, chloride and mercury. These contaminants have left the waters polluted with odor, slime and black pockets of water. The emissions into the air from this same plant and processes pollute the air with formaldehyde, dioxin, hydrogen sulfide and