Coke-India: Case Study Essay

Coca-Cola has considerably gained a large sh are of the market in the piano drinks industry. In the chase of expanding to foreign companies, it decided to explore India which presented great effectiveness for revenues due to the growing universe of discourse. The company built bottling plants in India and also contract with local anesthetic entrepreneur to facilitate the circulation of the products. Acquisition of local beverages companies, aggressive advert campaigns and competitive pricing played an important role in service of process penetrating the market and gave Coca-Cola a competitive advantage over local beverages.In no time, Coca-Cola had gained the trust of the tribe and experienced a rattling(a) growth of the business in the region. This success was tarnished when accusations were brought to the government of India about a discovery found in the tests conducted by the Center for Science and surround (CSE), a Non-Governmental Organization in India. The discovery rev ealed that elevated amount of noxious substances (including Lindane, DDT, malathion and Chlorpyrifos) had been found in shock and Pepsi products especi onlyy in soft drinks.These substances are known to be dangerous to human health including causing sesscer, abide defects and damage to the nervous and reproductive systems. Following this discovery, Indias government proscribed all change state and Pepsi products and launched an independent investigation. Coke stock price topknotted the company promised to launch its own investigation and provide the results of the tests to disclaim the CSEs accusations to regain the trust of the consumers in India.Previous cases involving Coca-Cola Company show that this is not the first time that the company is tough in this token of allegations. The realise of this letter is to bring to your attention the ethical issue presented in Cokes business practices with emphasis on product safety and quality. The practices presented in the facts preceding(prenominal) need to be investigated and resolved. If these practices are not investigated and addressed, the effects to the population will be very devastating for many.The concerns will eventually pass on out of India and pose great distress to the community of soft drinks consumers slightly the world. In addition to the consumers, these concerns will also affect Indias population, avocation growth In India, the employees, current and future investors, the suppliers and the competitors. In response to these practices, I am proposing three different move upes that can be practised to solve the dilemma and I hope that one of them can ultimately be mechanismed.The three alternative resolutions are found on the Utilitarian principle, the morality of Virtues and Kants Categorical Imperative rule. The Utilitarian principle calls for actions that would produce the great balance of happiness over unhappiness (James, 2010). If Coca-Cola wants to regain the trust of its consumers and tranquillises them of the non-validity of the accusations, it should use mass media and communicate the results of their own tests to the greatest number of people. Instead of doing so, the companies redirected the consumers to its website to view the information.Now in a population with a low per capita of 6 bottles per year, I do not theorise that finding the results on the website is a proper media source for the consumers. Coming clean about the allegations will reassure the consumers and all the stakeholders. If the company uses the mass media to publish its results, the vast majority of population will get answers to the concerns and this will also help the company join on sales and attract much investors. Another solution will be based on the ethics of Virtues.According to Aristotle, a virtue is a trait or character manifested in habitual action (James, 2010). Here, Coke and Pepsi should construct positive behaviors of honesty and care and therefore invest more resources in educating the population on the processes used to manufacture their beverages from the collection of piss to the cleanliness of the trucks used for transportation of the net products without of course revealing the recipe of the drinks. The dissolve of this step is to present consumers the strict safety standards that the companies claimed they use at all times in their manufacturing lants.In doing so, these companies show care for their consumers and their willingness to abide to regulations. The facts presented above show that this is not the first time Coca-Cola is involved in this type of allegations as mentioned in the Belgium case of 1999. Instead of taking responsibility for the accusations Ivester, Coca-Colas CEO at the time on visit in Paris, returned to the U. S. A without responding to the crisis leaving the consumer in distress. This is not a behavior of a psyche who cares about the well-being of the consumers.To avoid this type of habit to develop, it is important to implement policies that figure that the processes of manufacturing these goods are well presented to consumers. The third alternative resolution is based on Kants Categorical Imperative rule. Kant defined this rule as follow act only according to that maximum by which you can at the same time will that it should become a widely distributed law (James, 2010). Kants Categorical Imperative rule calls to act in such a way that the action taken under the detail could be a universal law, rule or behavior.I think that Coke, Pepsi and other beverage companies in India should joint the government in development standards that they believe are strict enough to eliminate the potential for contamination in the manufacturing process of the soft drinks. These standards will also ensure a safe delivery of the final products. Everything use to produce and deliver the final product should be free of all contaminants. In developing these standards, companies involved and the government should make sure that the standards apply to all the parties involved in the production of beverages.In conclusion, I believe that the ethics of Virtues is the best approach to address this issue. A company that cares about the well being of its consumers forever engages in activities that promote that objective. By caring for the consumers, managers at Coca-Cola and Pepsi will ensure that all the proper steps are taken to eliminate contamination. If a contamination occurs somehow, the company should take responsibility for the event and assist in resolving it not run away and abandon the consumers in distress. Corporations should depend the consequences of their actions at all time.