Introduction
In the business world today, corporations have become more conscious of the need to conserve the natural environment. The threatening features of the natural system are the irreparability of naturally occurring objects and the irreplaceable nature of this system. In their bid to conduct business in the local and global fronts, businesses today have concentrated their efforts in ensuring that the existence of tomorrow is cared for accurately. The common belief is that, taking care of tomorrow involves taking care of today. Corporations such as Multinational Corporations and small business ventures strive to ensure that they have the best alternatives to the naturally available resources.
Sustainable development is one of the practices that these corporations have adopted. According to sustainable development, it is very important to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future to access the resources for meeting similar needs (Lawrence, James, &Lawrence, 2013). Through Corporate Social Responsibility, which slowly becomes part of the mission and vision of several organizations, corporations have become responsible in responding to the concerns of their hosting communities. The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company with a worldwide distribution channel in more than 200 countries and serving about 1.4 million customers every day CSR Newswire, 2014). The company has also been commended for its participation in Corporate Social Responsibility activities in different communities all over the world, including the United States and other developing nations.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Packaging
Sustainable packaging is one of the ethical practices that the company engages in them to protect the environment and ensure sustainable development. Through sustainable packaging, which is one of the company’s strategic goals of its business model, the company aims at using the least resources and generates the least waste in its production and distribution processes. Through this business model, which ensures that the company’s wastes are recycled back to the company and reused for further packaging, Coca Cola intends to reduce its waste contribution, which could lead to land, water, and air pollutions. These pollutions could lead to global warming, which consequently tamper with the weather systems. In this manner it can be argued that, while these Corporate Social Responsibility activities are aimed at protecting tomorrow today, the companies also use these opportunities to maintain continuity and production in the future.
The Coca Cola Company boasts of its increased efforts to participate in sustainable packaging with increasing success every year. In the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the year 2011, the company reported managing to increase its packaging recycling rate by 0.58 percent in the Turkey Operations, 0.39 percent in the Azerbaijan operation, and 2.89 percent in the Jordan operation (The Coca Cola Company, 2012). Additionally, the same report reveals that the company managed to achieve 88.9 percent recycling rate in Jordan, 94.45 percent in Turkey, and 92.47 percent in Azerbaijan, and 85.34 percent in the Kazakhstan operations (The Coca Cola Company, 2012). This is probably one of the largest successes in the recycling rates in the world of business today. This reveals that the company is concerned with improving the environmental conditions through recycling wastes and packaging materials. Further projection for the following year, which indicated that the company aimed at achieving 89 percent recycling rate in the Jordan operation, 95 percent in the Turkey operation, 94 percent in the Azerbaijan operation, and 90 percent in the Kazakhstan operation indicates that the company is dedicated to improving the quality of its packaging and maintain a safe environment.
Corporate Social Responsibilities are also associated to corporate power. Larger Multinational Corporations Such as Coca Cola and its industry competitors such as PepsiCo have stronger corporate powers. Corporate power refers to the capability of corporations to influence government, the economy, and society, based on their organizational resources (Lawrence, James, &Lawrence, 2013). While pursuing their business models, the Coca Cola Company has successfully gained stronger corporate power in the beverage and soft drink industry since it has the correct balance of the economic, social, and legal aspects of business. Through its enlightened self-interest based on sustainable packaging, the Coca Cola Company aims at continuously reducing the material amount and energy used I package manufacturing, increasing reuse and recycle rates, and working together with stakeholders in order to establish an environmental friendly and economically sustainable infrastructure for reusing, reclaiming, and recycling of product packaging (The Coca Cola Company, 2012). This enlightened self-interest has maintained the relationship between the company and its stakeholders such as the customers.
Impacts of Sustainable Packaging on other Unites States Companies
The impact of sustainable packaging has been witnessed in the company’s largest competitor, PepsiCo. As the industry leader, the Coca Cola Company has always been in the forefront of introducing packaging material designs and types. PepsiCo has also adopted environmental friendly packaging materials including glass and plastic reusable bottles, which are recollected back to company’s distributors for recycling and reuse. Just like the Coca Cola Company, packaging plays a significant role in the delivery of PepsiCo beverages to its consumers safely. With the idea of the depletion of natural resources and the rising costs of energy, the latter company has made similar efforts to reduce its environmental impacts. Today, beverage packaging is the most recycled consumer packaging (SPC, 2014). The PepsiCo Company minimizes packaging waste from the supplies it receives in all its production facilities and strives to recycle, reuse, and recover as much as possible of its wastes (PepsiCo Company, 2014). Additionally, the PepsiCo Company has significantly reduced the thickness and weight of its bottles to reduce the amount of material used in the production of such packaging materials.
Several other producers and distributors have joined in the campaign for recycling and reusing packaging materials. Due to the awareness creation about the impacts of industrial activities on the environment, especially related to waste management, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition® (SPC), which is an industry working group dedicated to a more robust environmental vision for packaging was established (SPC, 2014). The coalition has developed from nine founding members to about 200 hundred member organizations today. The members that have joined this coalition include small businesses and large Multinational Corporations operating on the global scene. While implementing its agenda, the coalition draws from its strong member support, supply chain collaborations, informed and science-based approaches, and continuous outreach to ensure that all members of the organization participate in sustainable development, especially on packaging. Additionally, this organization alongside other organizations fighting the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases have participated in treaties and influenced governments’ actions in formulating production and environment protectionist policies and laws.
The economic impacts of sustainable packaging have also been witnessed in the beverage industry. While embracing new technologies such as the Blow-molding, which is a manufacturing technique used in the polymers and plastics industries to create hollow but string containers, the beverage industry has incurred several costs including the costs associated with ordering, shipping, storing, handling, cleaning, and sterilizing of pre-made P.E.T. bottles (PepsiCo Company, 2014). Consequently, different companies including Coca Cola and PepsiCo have constructed their own blow-molding production lines. In this regard, the companies have reduced the market for the companies that produce these bottles, thereby leading to acquisitions of these companies in different countries. Subsequently, this has not only reduced the costs, but also assisted the companies in designing specific bottles that meet the tastes and preferences of the customers, and takes into account the environmental impacts of the wastes. Through such activities, the companies have managed to engage in safe disposal of their wastes through storage and incineration by energy recovery.
Conclusion
There has been a growing concern on the use of the natural environment that faces depletion. Corporations have responded by implementing sustainable development strategies, which are aimed at ensuring that resources are available today and for production tomorrow. The Coca Cola Company has been an industry leader in the beverage industry. Through sustainable packaging, the company has managed to reduce the negative impacts of its packaging materials to the environment though recycling and reusing these packaging materials. Other industry players such as PepsiCo have also risen to this challenge and implemented similar strategies. Through this CSR activity, several other organizations have joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, which operates with a more robust environmental approach. Other impacts of the sustainable packaging include the legal aspect of influencing governments to formulate environmentalist policies. Economically, sustainable packaging, especially the construction of Blow-molding productions lines has instigated acquisitions in different supply destinations.
References:
CSR Profile of Coca-Cola Company. (2014). The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire. Retrieved from http://www.csrwire.com/members/12216-Coca-Cola-Company-The
PepsiCo Company. PepsiCo Bottling Ventures. Retrieved from https://www.pepsibottlingventures.com/news/environment/recycling.html
Sustainable Packaging Coalition. Retrieved from http://www.sustainablepackaging.org/
The Coca Cola Company. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Retrieved from http://www.coca-colacompany.com
Lawrence, A. T., James W., and Lawrence K. (2013). Business and Society: Bus Adm 200. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Create
