Question 1:
The term stakeholders are defined as and related with those people, organizations or groups that pose some concerns and interests in the company or organization. The organizations have the potential and tendency to affect the stakeholders and also get affected from them (Bourne, & Walker, 2005). Both the parties get influence of each other from the objectives, actions, policies and procedures they acquire and practice. For an organization, there are many stakeholders who have concerns with it. These stakeholders include internal and external stakeholders. Internal includes the directors, shareholders (which are the owners of the organization), and employees of the organization. There are external stakeholders like the suppliers, government agencies, labor unions and the communities existing in the society where there is a presence of the organization (Weiss, 2009).
The stakeholder of the Fiji water includes environmental organization and groups that works for the betterment and well-being of the environment. The governmental agencies in Fiji, local communities existing in Fiji are also the stakeholders of the company. Roll International Corporation which has been bought by David Gilmour who was previously the owner of Fiji company. The Roll International Company works under the control of Stewart and Lynda Resnik who are considered as the richest couple of Hollywood. The list of Fiji’s stakeholders includes its employees who work for the company in plants, in headquarter and in the markets where the product is carrying its business. So far, the main two markets of the company are United States of America and Australia. The international market has become another stakeholder of the Fiji waters with the expanding base of consumer in the several different regions. A key stakeholder of Fiji waters includes the suppliers of the company. In this context, the major role is played by the packaging firm who provides bottle packaging services to the company. The role of distributors of the company that distributes the bottled water across the world is also important. Distributors ensure that the brand is easily and readily available for the customers. These include the wholesalers and retailers individual and chains and merchandisers. In Fiji, Coca-Cola Amatil is the sole distributor of the company. In US and Canadian the major stakeholder in form of supplier of the Fiji waters is Cadbury Schweppes.
Question 2:
Ethical issues within the case
The key ethical issues in the presented case of Fiji waters arose when the bottled water of the company reached the destination of Britain. The country is known for the best quality of tap water across the world. The conservative groups and environmentalist group in the region have raised an objection over the bottled water that travels 10,000 miles to reach the consumer residing in Great Britain. This has initiated a debate on the impact of bottled water on the environment. The climate change caused by the bottled water is also a considerable ethical issue. This has caused the emissions of carbon in the environment with the production, storage, distribution, transport of the bottled water and the disposal of the empty bottles.
Another ethical issue highlighted in the case is that several local dwellers of Fiji are deprived of safe and healthy tap water especially where there are Fiji plants for water bottling. With the environmental issues, it has been also pointed out that the price of bottled water is 500 to 1000 times higher as compared to the water available in tap. Therefore, many of the conservative groups that using tap water is not just unfriendly to the environment but also a sheer waste of money. Also, many bottled water companies are just selling the purified form of tap water to the consumers that are quite ironic. The conservationist group has also claimed that the company is involved in misleading and deceiving the consumers from the carbon negative campaign. The company has failed to provide a comprehensive information about the measure for the campaign, and it was perceived that the campaign was not the green makeover but the greenwashing in the environment. It has been also observed that the company was not much engaged with the local community of the Fiji that should be the case.
Question 3:
Ethical perspectives contributing to the conflict between the stakeholders and the organization for decision-making:
For any conducts or actions, there are certain repercussions with that there are certain morals attached with it. This has been also applicable in doing the business despite its mode and mode of operations. The principles set for this domain differentiate between the right and wrong side of the actions. This involves moral and ethical values need to be a practice while doing the business, which helps organizations to handle the conflicts in a much better way and also direct them to formulate better strategies.
In the case of Fiji water LLC, the perspective of relativism is contributing in the conflicts in a way that the ethical practices are driving and arising from the behaviors of individual groups. They are defining the standards of the ethics in their way by considering the people associated with a particular group. With that, there are many aspects attached with the virtue ethics of the company that is considered the implications of alternative solutions that can be incorporated with the cultural norms and traditions of the people. There was a need for Fiji waters to comprehend the virtue ethics in the business practices. This will reflect in the operations of the company in the Fiji and will benefit the local community.
The study of the case has also reflected that there might be some essence of egoism in the strategic objectives of the company. While making decisions on the basis of ethics, the company might overlook the benefits of the society with it campaign and keep gaining the benefits for the prosperity and progress of its self. It has been also observed that the role of utilitarianism might be prevailing in the decision making of the company that is based the on the analysis of cost and benefits to the company and the associated parties.
Recommendations:
After the study of the case on Fiji water, it is recommended that the company need to build further strong relations with the community. Moreover, the company needs to use these relations in the negotiations with the government of Fiji, with that the tax issues that the company is facing. Thus, relationships can be helpful in solving these issues. For that, it is important for a company to approach the Fijian government aiming to cooperate with the highlighted issues. These initiatives have the potential to make the government think before taking any actions for the company that is interested in the betterment and wellbeing for its citizen. For this, the company should make an action group in the community which will conduct meeting on the issues that the community is facing. The agenda should be to overcome the issues by coming up with ways that will impact on the Fiji people in a much better way.
References
Bourne, L., & Walker, D. H. (2005). Visualising and mapping stakeholder influence. Management Decision, 43 (5), 649-660.
Weiss, J. W. (2009). Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach With Cases (5 ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
