Green Consumption The Global Rise Of Eco-Chic

Question: Discuss about the Green Consumption for The Global Rise Of Eco-Chic? Answer: Introduction Ethical consumerism is considered as the practice of the purchasing products along with the different services formed in such a way, which lessens both the communal and environmental damages at the time of evading services deemed, and products, which can have a negative effect or impact on the humanity or environment (White et al. 2012). With respect to this fact, it can be said that, in modern day where globalization is at its peak and the business is becoming more competitive and global, from the point of view of the consumers and producers, ethical consumerism is highlighted as the most important factor in terms of a good business relationship. With respect to this phenomenon it very important to monitor the valuation of ethical consumerism with respect to different brand and products (Harris 2015). As we, all know that Coca-Cola is considered to be one of the largest beverage drink manufacturer and seller globally. In recent time there has been some issues regarding the health as pects of such beverage products. With respect to this issue, the aim of the study is to highlight the different aspects of ethical consumerism and their evaluation with the current global scenario. Brief Overview and Analysis of Ethical Consumerism Ethical Consumerism highlights to the buying of the products that are ethically produces are not harmful for the society or environment. This can be simple products such as eggs or complex machine processed items. The factors of child labor and other related unethical factors are boycotted in ethical consumerism (Barendregt and Jaffe 2014). Examples of the products, falling into this category includes ethical food and drinks, the green home, fashion, travel and tourism, energy, and ethical finance among others. The Unethical Land Acquisition of Coca Cola Sugar Supplier There are various products of Coca Cola, which are subjected to ethical consumerism. One of the most effective criticisms of Coca Cola was regarding the soft drink sugar used in their products. The Guarani Indians residing in Brazil urged the fact that Coca Cola should stop buying the sugar products from the United States Food Giant Bunge (Krzywoszynska 2015). The company was accused for land grabbing scandal, which was highly unethical. A report published in 2013 clearly stated the fact that Coca Cola imported sugar from Bunge, which acquires the product from the sugar cane fuels stolen from Guarani (which previously produced Bio-fuels). The company adopted the Oxfams Zero Tolerance Policy (OZTP) for this act of land grabbing. It claimed to recognize and thereby safeguarded the rights of the related communities. The company targeted in restoring the interest of traditional people who maintained an access to the land along with the natural resources. Stephen Corry (the director of the Survival International, Coca Cola) stated, Multinational companies are the masters of deflecting criticism with promises of change, but policy is worthless when concrete action doesnt follow. If Coca Colas commitment is to be taken seriously, the company has to stop buying sugar from Bunge. As long as the deal continues, Cokes pledge against land grabbing is meaningless. On the other hand, Guarani spokesperson claimed that, Coca-Cola must stop buying sugar from Bunge. While these companies profit, we are forced to endure hunger, misery, and killings. It was clearly estimated that the Guarani community of Jata Yvary in Brazils Mato Grosso do Sul state said to have lost their ancestral land for the plantation of sugar cane industry, which mainly produced sugar syrup to Coca Cola. This resulted in the development of various health problems, which occurred due to over spraying of pesticides on the plantation. Moreover, there was a huge loss of forest, which provided various products such as medicine, food and shelter to the native people. Arlindo (who was the leader of Jata Yvary) stated that, The ranchers have destroyed almost all our forest, our medicinal plants, our fruits and resources. They spray pesticides from planes. The children get headaches and start vomiting. The land of Guarani were inherited by the sugar cane factory, which was previously used by cattle ranching and harvesting soya. These leaders targeted in enforcing the land rights. This desperate situation led to many suicides. Brazil encountered a high suicide rate of 34% in 2013, which was considered one of the highest in Latin America. Coca Cola Management decided to provide job to every member who have lost his or her property due to the entire event. Although the company faced several challenges in implementing this notion, it helped in minimizing the consequences to some extent. Other Products of Ethical Consumerism Coca Cola has been accused for Animal Rights for the usage of Fish Gelatin The company is accused for Animal Testing to test the basic ingredients The products of Coca Cola was charged to contain Palm Oil Detailed Review of Coca Cola Coca Cola Company mainly aims in learning from the global experience. Setting high standard for the customers at all the levels and thereby striving to meet them consistently remains the primary aim of the company (Dolan 2015). The company is said to be guided by the Standards of Corporate Governance and Ethics. The management tends to review the systems in order to ensure effective practices in terms of precision and liability. The approaches of Coca Cola Company are mainly governed by the Corporate Governance Guidelines, which is mainly monitored by the Board of Directors Committees. Corporate Responsibility The Corporate Responsibility of Coca Cola Company is mainly managed by the Public Policy along with the Corporate Reputation Council (which is actually a cross functional group consisting of senior Managers of the company and the bottling partners). This council mainly targets in identifying the risks along with the opportunities, which are faced by the business and the communities, and thereby recommends effective strategies in order to address these challenges (Davies et al. 2012). Ethics and Compliance The base (core) of Ethics and Compliance of Coca Cola Company is mainly governemed by the Code of Business Conduct. The Code is mainly guides the business conduct, develops honesty and thereby triggering integrity in every matter. The Ethics and Compliance Committee monitor the code (Gabriel and Lang 2015). This is considered a cross-functional senior management team, which oversees all the factors of ethics and compliance programs and thereby determines the code of violation and discipline. Coca Cola Company has a unique Ethical and Compliance Office, which is mainly responsible for the factors of monitoring, consultation, education and maintaining the Code of Business Conduct along with the compliance issues. Most of the associated to the worldwide tend to receive various factors of ethics and compliance training courses, which is administered by the officials. The management of Coca Cola Company regularly monitors and thereby audits the business system effectively. Maintaining a c onsistent set of standards around the world mainly helps in governing the system regarding the investigation and handling the code issues. By 2008, the company said to revise the code of ethics in order to improvise its effectiveness. Ensuring the ongoing commitment and thereby understanding the code of business conduct tend to offer various online training sessions to every associate within the company. The Anti Bribery Policy is also included in the management of Coca Cola Company. In 2010, the company was said to be estimated to 22,000 employees (which included both the management and non-management workers) were effectively certified with their compliance with the Code of Business Conduct. Coca Colas Anti Bribery Requirements (CCABR) equally supports this. Moreover, the company is entitled to various operational training courses, which is found to be related to various topics (Sebastiani et al. 2013). The associates of Coca Cola are significantly advised to participate on the ethics programs and the various training sessions related to the same genre. Thus, a 60 minute of ethics training is regularly conducted in Coca Cola Company every year in order to foster its influence over the staff members. Coca Cola has a wide range of associates belonging to various domains. This includes bottling partners, customers, suppliers and the consumers. The company is said to be associated to the legal protocols, which are said to be associated to the ethical, and compliance issues or the report of potential violations based on the EthicsLine (which is a global web and telephonic information service used for various reporting purposes). It is often observed that the telephonic calls of the Coca Cola primary associates are facilitated wit complete toll free facilities. Moreover, the connection line remains uninterrupted in the whole day. The translator facilities are also available in this communication channel, which helps to connect individuals belonging from different linguistic background. Thus, a global infrastructure is claimed to be established in Coca Cola Company, which helps in maintaining effective Code of Ethics within the entire management. Result of the Short Opinion Survey The researcher conducted a primary research based on 15 participants. The questionnaire session of the research study is stated below: Do you think Ethical Consumerism need to be followed by every organization? Respondent Response Yes 13 No 2 Do you support the case of United States Food Giant Bunge regarding the land acquisition? Respondent Response Yes 4 No 11 Do you support the strategies implemented by Coca Cola to minimize the consequence of Land Acquisition? Respondent Response Yes 14 No 1 Do you think that the company should pay more attention to their products before launching in the market in order to manifest ethical consumerism? Respondent Response Yes 14 No 1 Would you boycott using the product of a company who does not follow the code of ethics? Respondent Response Yes 14 No 1 Conclusion Thus, it can be concluded that Coca Cola need to manifest the Ethical Parameters much significantly and effectively. Although the company is found to be associated to wide range of parameters to take care of these perspectives, there are various issues, which are still being faced by the company. The factor of land acquisition was one of such issue, which accused the company for being unethical to the society. These resulted in massive social consequences and even deaths of several people. Apart from the sugar cane land acquisition case, the company is also found to be associated to other associated ethical issues. This included the usage of fish gelatin in the soft drink products, usage of palm oil and the factor of animal testing before launching of new products in the market (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2016). Although the company laid a strategy to minise the consequence, still it can be considered replaceable. In case of Sugar Cane issue, the company targeted in providing job to the p eople who lost their land due to acquisition. Nevertheless, there were certain constraints related to this strategy (Bucis et al. 2012). Primarily, the workers were unqualified to work for an MNC. Hence, many efforts need to be implemented in order to boost them. Moreover, the factor of saturation persisted in the factory due to the additional workers, which affected the economy to a considerable level. Recommendations It can be recommended that Coca Cola Company need to implement ethical norms and policies before handed. This would help in minimizing the factor of compensation, which was barred by the company in the case of land acquisition. Had the company paid more attention on the policies and consequences of land acquisition, then there will not have been much issue occurring in the organization. Thus, both the moral (ethics) and economy of the company would have been sustained effectively. References Barendregt, B. and Jaffe, R. eds., 2014.Green consumption: the global rise of eco-chic. Bloomsbury Publishing. Benson, P., 2015. Teaching the Experience and Ethics of Consumption and Food Supply.Teaching Food and Culture, p.99. Bucic, T., Harris, J. and Arli, D., 2012. Ethical consumers among the millennials: A cross-national study.Journal of Business Ethics,110(1), pp.113-131. Davies, I.A., Lee, Z. and Ahonkhai, I., 2012. Do consumers care about ethical-luxury?.Journal of Business Ethics,106(1), pp.37-51. Dolan, K.C., 2015. Communicating Food Through Muckraking: Ethics, Food Engineering, and Culinary Realism.Communication Practices in Engineering, Manufacturing, and Research for Food and Water Safety, p.171. Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2016.Business ethics: Ethical decision making cases. Nelson Education. Gabriel, Y. and Lang, T., 2015.The unmanageable consumer. Sage. Grimmer, M. and Bingham, T., 2013. Company environmental performance and consumer purchase intentions.Journal of Business Research,66(10), pp.1945-1953. Harris, L., 2015. Sugar consumption must be reduced throughout life.British dental journal,218(4), pp.215-215. Hassan, L., Shaw, D., Shiu, E., Walsh, G. and Parry, S., 2013. Uncertainty in ethical consumer choice: a conceptual model.Journal of Consumer Behaviour,12(3), pp.182-193. Krzywoszynska, A., 2015. Wine is not Coca-Cola: marketization and taste in alternative food networks.Agriculture and Human Values,32(3), pp.491-503. Metzger, K., 2014. The Import of Culture? The Coca Cola Company in America and Australia. Sebastiani, R., Montagnini, F. and Dalli, D., 2013. Ethical consumption and new business models in the food industry. Evidence from the Eataly case.Journal of business ethics,114(3), pp.473-488. Solomon, M.R., 2014.Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. White, K., MacDonnell, R. and Ellard, J.H., 2012. Belief in a just world: Consumer intentions and behaviors toward ethical products.Journal of Marketing,76(1), pp.103-118.