Name: Soboktageen Sohail

Roll no.: S-80072

Class: BBA-7B

Course: International Business

Assignment # 2

Submitted To: Dr. Sadaqat

Date: 28-03-2023
Table of Contents
1. Why did Coca-Cola Vietnam choose to work on water projects?............................................3
2. What is the risk to Coca-Cola’s reputation in using too much water and producing
wastewater?..........................................................................................................................................3
3. How do Coca-Cola’s community-based projects help them promote their business interests?. 3
4. Identify Coca-Cola’s stakeholders in Vietnam. What key stakeholder(s) is Coca-Cola missing
with its community projects in Vietnam?..........................................................................................3
5. What risk is there to Coca-Cola in using its NGO partners as a key means to reach out to
local communities?..............................................................................................................................4
6. What can Coca-Cola do to improve its community programming?............................................4
7. Will Coca-Cola’s efforts for sustaining program after their direct supports’ ends succeed?.....5
8. How can Coca-Cola make its monitoring and evaluation provide information to measure
whether its CSR programming is supporting its strategy?..............................................................5
 Assignment # 2:

CSR Case Studies: Coca Cola

1. Why did Coca-Cola Vietnam choose to work on water projects?

It is estimated that 40% of the households in rural Vietnam lack access to clean drinkable
waters. Waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery are prevalent in the community.
Coca Cola being a beverage manufacturer needs a huge amount of clean water to produce its
beverages. The figure is around 2.43 liters of water is needed to produce 1 liter of Coca Cola.
This has led to Coca Cola being targeted ferociously by environmental activists for their role
in depletion of clean water sources in Vietnam. To repair the damage to its image and also
play a positive role in the society they are doing business. Coca Cola chose to work on water
purification and water replenishment projects.

2. What is the risk to Coca-Cola’s reputation in using too much water and producing
wastewater?
Coca-Cola is committed to sustainable business practices. But such massive use of water has
led to backlash by environmental activists for depleting water supplies and damaging the
environment through wastewater because of the manufacturing process. Coca Cola runs the
risk of damaging its reputation by going against its own business practices and draw rebuke
from international organizations and extreme scrutiny that may make it more vulnerable
against its competitors. Coca Cola wants to make sure that the wastewater is treated 100%
before it becomes a part of the environment.

3. How do Coca-Cola’s community-based projects help them promote their business

interests?
Coca Cola is the world’s leading beverage manufacturing company. As a result, it is the most
recognizable brand name worldwide. To maintain this brand name and promote their business
interests, the company has a rigorous Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. The
community-based projects include education, healthcare, and environmental projects i.e.,
water replenishment projects in Vietnam. The motivation behind these community-projects is
to raise awareness and promote a positive image of the business. This helps further the
business interests in the communities.
4. Identify Coca-Cola’s stakeholders in Vietnam. What key stakeholder(s) is Coca-Cola
missing with its community projects in Vietnam?
Coca Cola has the following stakeholders in Vietnam:

 Local rural Communities.

 Environmental activists.
 International NGOs like World Wildlife Fund (WWF), CEFACOM.
 Local NGOs.
 Duyen Thai People’s Committee.
 Local Government health officials.

The key stakeholder missing from the community projects in Vietnam are the employee
volunteers. The employee volunteers are a major part of Coca Cola’s CSR in the rest of the
world. This component needs to be added in Vietnam to make the community projects more
effective and wide reaching.

5. What risk is there to Coca-Cola in using its NGO partners as a key means to reach
out to local communities?
The local and international NGOs are used by Coca Cola to reach out to the local
communities. These NGOs help Coca Cola learn about the needs and issues of these
communities. Coca Cola only invests in the projects and is concerned with the figures of
these projects such as the number of students benefiting from its initiatives. It also keeps a
check on the performance of the partner NGOs, if the projects are on time and within budget.
But the risk for Coca Cola is that the information being communicated to them by the NGOs
might have biasness and/or the interests of the NGOs. This may mislead Coca Cola and in
fact do more harm than good to Coca Cola’s business reputation if an audit is conducted.

6. What can Coca-Cola do to improve its community programming?

Coca Cola has a comprehensive CSR program. But in Vietnam this falls short due to a couple
of reasons:

 Lack of employee volunteering in the community-based projects.

 The use of NGOs to accumulate information and interact with the local communities.

So Coca Cola needs to have a direct involvement in their community based projects to
improve its community programs in Vietnam just like the rest of the world. This will enable
Coca Cola to develop a direct relation with local community. The quality of the projects will
also improve, and the biggest outcome will the improved business image in these local
communities.

7. Will Coca-Cola’s efforts for sustaining program after their direct supports’ ends
succeed?
Coca Cola has a massive focus in its CSR programs. This means they place particular
emphasis on the useability of the equipment by communities and schools after their project
has been installed the direct support from the company has ended after a period. This includes
providing the funds and skills for the maintenance of these equipment. To ensure the
sustainability of the community programs Coca Cola has formed partnerships with the local
health officials to educate the communities about the use of these equipment to make them
useable and viable in the long run. As well as raising awareness about the use of clean water
and preventing pollution. So that the communities can continue to use clean water even after
the direct support from Coca Cola has ended.

8. How can Coca-Cola make its monitoring and evaluation provide information to
measure whether its CSR programming is supporting its strategy?
The strategy used by Coca Cola is to make the company’s CSR projects to develop a positive
brand image and have sustainable business practices. Coca Cola believes in giving back to
the community. But Coca Cola needs to audit the CSR programs to monitor and evaluate the
information on these projects. That these projects are meeting the goals or not. In fact, Coca
Cola has heavily invested in the evaluation and monitoring of their community projects. This
has led to reports being published by the company and resulted in a positive brand image for
Coca Cola. This furthers the company’s business interests.