Employee Communication at Coca-Cola India

¶ … Employee Communication at Coca-Cola India

Response to:

Coca-Cola India

Response:

Brian's analysis of the current financial condition of Coca-Cola and their previous legal issues is outstanding. His analysis of the current financial condition of Coca-Cola, and the exposure the company has due to the many quality problems in the Indian supply chain provide insight into how myopic the company has been in quality management and Corporate Social Responsibility. The further analysis of current legal issues that are diverse in nature, from the lawsuits regarding discrimination, to the lack of quality standards on their water and soft drinks. The current situation analysis involving the role of Sanjiv Gupta is a strong foundation yet lacks enough detailed enough plan to turn around the quality crisis emanating from the Indian suppliers while also staying compliant to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) guidelines specific to India (Ghosh, Chakraborti, 2010). Lacking in the analysis is plan for enterprise quality management and auditing of the supply chain to ensure the quality standards are never comprised again (Nellist, 1992). There is no contingency plan for averting the Indian government from throwing Coca-Cola out of the country for the negligence of producing tainted products. Creating an enterprise quality management strategy that incorporates the need for more stringent alignment to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and programs is necessary, especially in India where these requirements are managed by government agencies (Sharma, Tyagi, 2010). As part of the quality management plan there also needs to be more details on how to compensate the thousands of victims of the tainted beverages as well. This area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one that needs to include a service recovery approach to compensating those affected by the tainted beverages (Dizik, 2009). In conclusion, Brian's analysis is a strong foundation yet needs more depth to provide guidance out of the complex, challenging problems the company is facing on lack of quality management and auditing, in addition to lack of compliance to CSR programs within India.

Barbara correctly points out that Sanjiv Gupta needs to take greater accountability for the disaster and respond back with a more effective accounting to the Indian consumers concerning the findings of the Center for Science and Environment (CSE). She stresses the need for greater transparency, and focus on how best to make Coca-Cola trustworthy again by a series of actions she mentions. Missing from her analysis however is a more systemic and fundamental organizational re-structuring of Coca-Cola in India to ensure this will not happen again. There needs to be a more thorough focus on how CSR programs in India require disclosures, how these disclosures need to be handled, and guidance on how best for the CEO to respond and be responsive to them (Dizik, 2009). A press release will not solve this issue, yet a strategic plan aimed at averting problems like this in the future will. The CSR requirements in India are among the most stringent and extensive globally for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and also require an Indian national to be on the board of directors (Sharma, Tyagi, 2010). Coca-Cola needs to make a formal apology to the Indian people and provide very concrete, step-by-step directions as to how they will alleviate this problem going forward, including their key board members as well. A comprehensive plan is necessary to turn around the situation and place it on a better overall path of progress. Finally, the CEO of Coca-Cola in India ought to also consider resigning over this out of respect for the families hurt by the tainted drinks. Out of respect for the country and its people this could be one very powerful way to protect the brand going forward as well.

References:

(Dizik, 2009)

Alina Dizik. (2009, November 19). Education for Executives: Building Responsibility - Firms Look to Business Schools to Develop Good Practices. Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), p. B.8.

(Ghosh, Chakraborti, 2010)