Coke - Ethics

Q5. How do companies protect themselves against the nonstop allegations of special interest groups that have made them a target? Is stakeholder management an answer?

- allegations made initially were abt the water residues problem.
- they had individually conducted their own test to ensure that they had met the european standards accordingly.
- the companies also pointed out that the other food available in the mkt also contained pesticides.
** problem: they had not find out why is it that out of so many companies, the irc ans cse had picked on them to highlight the pesticide residues
** they had gone straight to doing their test to prove that they have met the standards.
- company also put in a fair bit of money to start marketing again, have their really doubted their own products?
- after which all the promotion and the testing were done, irc had accused them of not taking the matter seriously.
- they had not done according to what the community were expecting them to do. Therefore they have started out on a wrong foot.
- further on when the allegations did not stop, they had carried on to do their marketing more forcefully.
- however this time, coke had hired researchers and well-respected celebrities to endorsed on their products while
- pepsico used the image of the president to convince the people
- these actions have somehow worked better then the initial actions as the public in india very much based on trust in the country
- esp for a mnc that was foreigned owned. Hence the outburst of ongoing allegations
- the other india owned companies had no issue with their products and beverages
- things start to take a turn, when the indians recognizes the iconic people that coke and pepsico has used and os more trustworthy towards them