WATER SUSTAINABILITY IN INDIA

COMPANY PROFILE:COCA COLA● Largest beverage company in the world.

● Operates 57 Bottling Plants in India

● Coca-Cola India (CCI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company (TCCC).

● Brands include Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, Vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, etc.

PROBLEM● Coca-Cola has been accused of depleting fragile water supplies and

polluting local water sources in Kerala, India. ● Water levels have been critical for more than a decade because of the

firm (the company uses 3 liters of water to make 1 liter of coke).

● Such excessive water extraction directly threatens farmers (70% of India’s population) that rely on water for their agricultural livelihoods.

● Coca-Cola India was held liable for US$ 48 million for the damage it did in Kerala.

PROBLEM DEFINITION CONT’D● The plant in Kerala was ordered to close

● Second time a Coca Cola plant was shut down in the region in 10 years

● Despite the company claiming that it has a “special interest” in water conservation and advertising that it has sustainable water practices - Coca Cola has (and continues to) fall short

STAKEHOLDER CONCERNS

❖ Consumers-Worries about product contamination.

❖ Local Farmers-Groundwater contaminated, drained dry

❖ General public-Suffers without available, clean water to drink

❖ NGOs: Removal of TCCC from India➢ Indiaresource.org

❖ News media-Watchdogs for corruption and pollution (ie:”fertilizer scandal”)

❖ Politicians- Government Initiatives for Public Safety

❖ The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC)-Profit, Brand Image

● Coca-Cola appears to be taking the responsibility substantially.

● Company has already opened 209 community projects in 61 countries.

● Company has partnered with organization.

STRATEGY

STRATEGYCoca-Cola doing well:

● Improving Water Efficiency

○ Water Stewardship

● Mitigating Water Risk○ Bottling Plants

● Replenishing Water○ Water Balance

STRATEGYWhat Coca Cola could do better:

● Improve stakeholder engagement in Kerala.

● Coca Cola should avoid operating in water stressed areas.

● Coca Cola replenishes aquifers hundreds of miles away from the original source.

● Coca Cola should take agriculture into account when calculating water footprint.

● Remember that India is a growing customer base!

Even though with these strategies there are various shortcomings.

Coca Cola’s needs to reconsider its strategy by having a more accurate measure of its water footprint:

• When measuring its water footprint, Coca Cola does not take into account the amount of water used to grow the cane sugar for its products.

• In addition, there are a variety of ingredients in the newer product line.(http://indiaresource.org/news/2015/1025.html)

• Most of the Projects undertaken by coke, are far away from the center of operations.

The problem with our strategy.

Local replenishment is not always possible. A place with water scarcity, might not have provisions for different projects, especially when it is in India, where land is scarce and density of population is quite high.

UNRESOLVED ISSUES