Advantages of Remaining in the EU

Withdrawal from the EU Would Save the UK a Lot of Money

In spite of subscription dues and other ‘secret tariff’ charges charged by the UK people owing to red tape, waste, bribery and other causes, the UK loses ridiculously huge sums of money in the EU. For eg, a net contribution of £ 8.6 billion of the overall £ 731 billion in public expenditure was paid into the EU budget by the UK in 2014/15 (‘UK Budget’, 2015). The sum of the money is significantly smaller than the UK allocation, which is £ 5.2 billion and £ 3 billion respectively, to the construction of roads and railways. It even surpasses the allowances of £ 4.9 billion (“UK Budget”, 2015) for jobseekers.

Moving out of the EU would, therefore, mean that there would be more funds available for extensive development. It would also ensure that infrastructural projects such as railway and roads receive more funds for development and improvement. The funds can also be useful for making more internal investments to ensure there is continued improvement of the GDP and the overall economic growth of the UK. A study by the UKIP MEP, Gerard Battern has showed the total annual cost of the UK to EU membership is around £65.7 billion, which includes membership fees and “hidden tariff” costs (Batten & Party, 2006; Batten, 2008). Therefore, this implies that the EU membership is a very expensive affair to the UK that if avoided can accelerate the economic growth and development prospects of the UK.

It would Open Doors to Possibly Other More Practical Alternatives than the EU

Over the years, Britain has established successful trading relationships with major economies such as the USA, Switzerland and even Japan; countries that are outside the EU zone. Additionally, it has been argued that, in the past years, the economic growth is of the EU has consistently been on a downward trend with its share of the world’s GDP being forecasted to decrease from 26% in 1980 to 15% by 2020 (Jones, 2007). The euro is also projected to be of lesser value than the sterling pound (Baimbridge and Whyman, 2008). It is also more advantageous for the UK, on the basis of these figures, to pull out of the EU and pursue some better alternatives for improving its economic prospects. Furthermore, the UK can do exceptionally well on its own without being a member of any trading block in consideration to its well established trading relationships with other countries. Conversely, with the relatively strong and stable economy of UK, which is not pegged to the EU membership, the UK can still continue to attract more investors because of its economic potential. Expert projections also indicate, by 2020, the UK’s will better off than its current position seven globally among the top 10 largest economies (“Top 10 GDP Countries”, 2005). Thus, this makes the UK a very attractive option for investors and thus, can stand, independently and possibly acquire the hegemony status.

Detachment From the EU will Most Likely Boost the Nation’s Global Trade and Investment

The UK has always focused on trade and investment as its main source of development and national income (Jones, 2007). It is arguable that remaining in the EU will boost the UK’s trade chances in international as opposed to being outside the EU block but this could, however, be far from the truth. The fact that the UK’s small size, unlike its European counterparts, does not necessarily mean that its economic growth and development will decline if it pulls out of the EU. Prosperity of an economy in the modern world of business depends on the country’s output, state and its overall contribution to the outside world as opposed to its physical size. The UK is highly internationalised to the global trade than regional trading and investing (Jones, 2007). Moreover, the UK trades more with the United States than with Germany and France combined; countries that are within the EU. The UK, therefore, would open up to more trading opportunities outside the EU zone since it will be able to avoid the trade protectionism policies imposed by EU such as the high bloc taxes and other regulatory costs that have a negative impact.

Opting out of Membership of the EU will Lead to Reinstatement of Lost Jobs and also Prevent the Decline of Britain’s Economy

A relatively large number of industries in Britain have been affected by the directives of the EU (“EU Directives”, 2011). These industries include fishing, postal services, manufacturing and farming. The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has led to an overall loss of employment to about 115,000 people from the coastal communities of Britain. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been an obvious waste of resources that has led to an increased prices of commodities (“EU Directives”, 2011). Additionally, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive of the EU is likely to cause loss of more jobs if implemented because private equity markets and hedge fund have already started relocating to other countries to escape the stringent rules of the Directive (Kamal, 2012). Thus, this is likely to cause a decline in the financial services sector, which contributes about 12% of the GDP as well as about 15% of income tax receipts to the Britain’s economy (Kamal, 2012). Therefore, a walk out will enable the UK to institute its policies that can protect the economy from external shocks.

Independence in the Law Making Process and VAT Control

Pulling out of the EU will enable the UK to regain its sovereignty and be reunited with its voters (The Economist, 2012). It would lead to the UK’s taxpayers having more faith in their government and its ability to make its laws. Britain would have a chance to operate on their laws free from the restrictions and directives of the EU. Such as the European Arrest Warrant. Britain would also have the power over their VAT that is currently under the control of the EU; hence, making it more flexible to adjust to prevailing economic conditions such as the inflation rates (The Economist, 2012).

Disadvantages of Leaving the EU

Compromising Free Trade

Being a member of the EU enables Britain to benefit from the EU market where it gets access to over 500 million consumers that are within the EU member countries (The Economist, 2012). Free trade with these states enables the UK to gain a substantial market for its goods and services, which enables it expands economically as well as better off its trade payment balances. Leaving the EU, therefore, implies that the trading with other EU members will attract taxes and other trade restrictions. For this reason, being in the EU, therefore, is imperative than being a non-member. For instance, according to The Economist (2012), the UK has sold goods worth more than £400 a year, which represents about 52% of its entire product sales. Therefore, on the basis of these statistics it is evident that the EU provides the largest market for the UK’s products and services and thus an exit will be detrimental to the UK’s economy. Moreover, the EU‘s plans to create one of the world’s biggest free trading block with the US is undergoing and, therefore, if the negotiations bear fruits, the UK will be on the losing end to find a new major trading partner.

Loss of Major Investors

Opportunistic investors in the UK are likely to exit if the free trade benefits the UK gets from the EU zone cease because they will be obliged to incur the trade restriction costs that they had previously tried to avoid (The Economist, 2012). Therefore, if the costs becomes too heavy for their investments, the investors will possibly exit from the UK to another nation that is a member of the EU so that they can continue leveraging from the free trade arrangements of the EU integration. Thus, this would have a very big impact on Britain’s economy and perhaps result in a downward trend on the economic gains of the country.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it is evident that a UK’s pull-out from the EU has both advantages and disadvantages to the UK’s economic growth and development. However, because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, it is justifiable to say that a pull-out is a better option since the disadvantages can be overcome. For instance, loss of free trade benefits is single most significant disadvantage that the UK will be faced with in dealing with the remaining EU members. However, the UK can seek other lucrative opportunities and trade partners such as the U.S., Switzerland, Japan and other emerging economies. Therefore, the UK’s departure from the EU region, as opposed to being negative, is a more favourable choice for the global growth and advancement of the UK’s economic prospects.

Literature Review

Niven (2010) describes that Robert Kaplan of Harvard and David Norton coined the Business Scorecard (BSC) in 1992 to measure intangible assets that played a vital role in increasing their financial figures. Kaplan and Norton believed that for managers to improve on their management of intangible assets; they had to incorporate the measurement of their value into their management programs. After the formulation of the business model several companies adopted it and 15 years down the line, it was further adopted by thousands of other public, private and nonprofit companies. The concept was further expanded to include the communicating, describing, and implementation of the strategy. The four BSC perspectives include the perspective of learning and growth, the customer perspective, the perspective of the business process, and the financial perspective. In order to merge the initial and the developed structure, three factors were highlighted by Kaplan and Norton.

Balanced Scorecard for Performance Measurement

Initially, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) contained the financial incentive as the backbone for success but has however been supplemented with 3 other metrics which include the customer, learning and growth and the internal process. Niven (2010) illustrates that the three drivers were later on proposed by Kaplan and Norton as other fundamentals for achieving the shareholders long term values. In the past, BSC did not advocate for the nonfinancial measures as a method of motivating, measuring, and evaluating the company’s performance. Improvement of intangible assets leads to an increase in the financial output of the company. An example includes employees’ training leads to enhancement of their service delivery and the services further leads to customers’ satisfaction.

Strategic Objectives and Strategy Maps

Brown (2007) demonstrates that in many companies the adoption of the right metrics is important in the realization of the balanced scorecard. The past metrics entailed customer retention, yields, customer retention, employee satisfaction, and potential leads. However, companies that entirely depended entirely on these general metrics ended up dissatisfied.

In order to avoid such scenarios, the companies should not begin by selecting the metrics. Brown (2007) explains how companies should start by stating what they want to achieve from their strategies and the organizations should employ the 4 BSC perspectives to describe their objectives. The financial objective was formulated to increase the shareholders wealth while supporting other objectives like the productivity, risk management and growth in revenues. The customer objectives described the satisfaction level, retention and increase in shareholder value.

The companies lacked specific objectives that outlined worth in the customers perspectives. The proposed value, quality, functionality, purchase experience, price and service, were the fundamental factors that formed strategy. This strategy differentiates the organization from its existing rivals. The process perspective objective reflects how the company would offer differentiated value while meeting its financial objectives, so as to improve its productivity. Nowadays, strategic objectives are formulated in quotes so as to express the customers and employees voice in the organization. Brown (2007) explains that after the formulation of customer and employees objectives, it was now simple to select the metrics that measured the respective strategic objectives. At this point, the metrics were now aligned to the organization’s strategy.

The Strategic maps begin from the casual relationships brought about by interactions of the strategic objectives. Pham-Gia (2009) gives examples of the casual relationships of the strategic objectives include: trained employees lead to reduction of process defects; the enhanced processes lead to minimized customer lead-times: the improvements in quality constitute to greater customer satisfaction which additionally lead to loyalty and high revenues in the long run. Therefore, the objectives are interrelated in terms of cause and effect relationships.

The strategic map is formulated on the basis of BSC measures and objectives interrelations. In the contemporary times, all of the BSC projects formulate the strategy map where the strategic objectives are created first, followed by the selection of metrics for every objective. Form the strategy map and the balance score card, the learning and growth perspective creates the weakest interrelationship. Under the employees’ generic measurement, the metrics lacked a link between the workers capabilities and the strategy. Pham-Gia (2009) contrary explains some writers had identified that human-resource development led to the improvement of the financial performance.

From the gap that existed, it followed the creation of strategic human-capital and the strategic job family. Pham-Gia (2009) further explains that the developments led to the formation of organizational capital and the information capital. The extensions were later incorporated as part of the organization’s intangible assets.

The Strategy Management System

Pham-Gia (2009) depicts that the strategy management systems were developed as a measurement tool for managers so as to monitor motivate and control their strategies. The strategy management systems include the boundary systems, diagnostic systems, internal control systems, belief systems and the interactive systems.

The strategy management system was developed to transform the balanced scorecard from being a diagnostic system to a more interactive system. Many of the managers use the existing management systems like the project management system, revenue system, budget and henceforth, incorporate them interactively. Through the use of the strategy management systems, it enables interactive based systems that are customized so as to incorporate the balanced scorecard and the strategy maps in implementing their strategies. (Tonchia & Quagini, 2010).

Tonchia & Quagini (2010) argues for the achievement of strategy execution, five management and leadership processes need to be implemented. The change need to be mobilized by the leadership from executive. The strategy is later supposed to be translated. The company is then aligned with the formulated strategy. The employees then need to be motivated to make strategic decisions during their daily operations. Lastly, the strategy is then governed to ensure a continuing process. Today, the company’s strategy is linked with its operations. The comprehensive management system has simultaneous coordination’s between all organization staffs. Processes that are operated at different departments like budgeting, HR communications should be coordinated so as to promote strategic alignment.

Analysis

Customer Perspective

            The nursery volunteers can learn that for the success in horticulture farming, customer value-packages need to be implemented. The small project can take advantage of independent developments and innovation activities that can highly propel the business. Tonchia & Quagini (2010) points out some of the innovation activities include horticulture breeding and the horticulture technologies. The new breeds can help the start-up horticultural business to start at an upper hand as compared to other farms.

            Majority of horticultural farms operate using the cost leadership strategy which can only provide a short term solution. The customer perspective incorporates the food-safety standards and quality demands which can be maximized to achieve the customers’ expectations. Smith (2013) adds that some of the safety standards include clean vegetable handling processes, clean food packaging, right quantity of the vegetable products and timely handling of the customer queries. The customer perspective should be co-joined with the business internal processes so as to achieve its strategic objectives. The customer perspective can be enhanced by focus strategy or product differentiation so as to achieve maximum satisfaction. The product differentiation can be adapted through plantation of different vegetable varieties or plants interbreeding which can result to unique output and capture a diversified market.

Internal Business Process Perspective

            The volunteers can learn on the importance of the horticulture internal operations like if the business commodities and services conform to the customers’ expectations. The business accounting and costing systems should be aligned with customers’ expectations in terms of affordability. Smith (2013) argues if the business rates its products too high or too low, the customers can perceive the business as incompetent or offering substandard commodities.

             The business should adapt efficient operational services so as to be profitable in the short and long run. The business can further the use of volunteers as compared to hired staff who can increase the costs of operation. Smith (2013) confirms that only specialized agricultural personnel can be consulted from time to time to promote the efficiency. The business can also decide to venture into specialization where they can decide to produce only a particular type of vegetation. Advantages of specialization include the realization of economies of scale and minimization of costs which can be achieved henceforth. Through the realization of the above advantages, the benefits can then be reciprocated to the customers as lower prices and improvement of the horticultural produce.

Financial Perspective

Through the adoption of the horticulture farming, the nursery volunteers can incorporate the traditional financial and non financial incentives to achieve its strategic goals. One of the financial metrics includes the profitability. Kammerer (2009) demonstrate that in order for the small business to achieve its strategic goals, the volunteers would first have to formulate and implement their profitability objective. The financial objective is important because it provides the sole energy and feasibility of the business. However, if the business does not meet the set criteria, the business can then incorporate the non financial objectives to spearhead its sustainability.

One of the non financial metrics that can be used includes the volunteers’ personnel development. The nursery volunteers can be trained so as to effectively implement their acquired knowledge. The training would assist the agricultural volunteers to efficiently plan and execute their duties effectively. Kammerer (2009) adds on the financial metrics, the nursery volunteers can learn about the budget keeping, profitability, costing of the horticultures, benchmarking, how to project their sales, which can promote efficiency when learned. The financial metrics assist the nursery volunteers to plan and efficiently allocate the limited resource to the activity that is urgently or inadequate in operation. The combination of the non financial and financial metrics can assist the volunteers to plan on the stakeholders’ demands as well as the internal operation processes.

The Learning Process Perspective

            The learning perspective is concerned with the agricultural volunteers training and adaptability to the business set of values. In this category, the optimum focus is on the volunteers’ development. The horticultural industry is continuously changing through the introduction of better agricultural systems and methods, discovery of new green house pests and management. Through the use of some grant and donation funds, the volunteers can use the metrics to evaluate the best channel to promote the new training. Kammerer (2009) confirms that in any case the success of the business depends upon the development of the agricultural volunteers.

            Kammerer (2009) points out learning have a wider scope than training; therefore, the business can employ the use of tutors and mentors from the industry, to motivate the volunteers. The learning process also assists in communication among the workers which can foster quick decision making and better handling of problems.

Conclusion

            Through the merging of the traditional and modern balance scorecard in the management factors, the modern balance scorecard currently constitute of the non financial metrics as part of strategy implementation. The traditional financial metrics alone is inadequate in the achievement of employee satisfaction. The agricultural volunteers can also incorporate non financial metrics so as to achieve business and customer satisfaction. The customer and the learning process perspectives are added focuses which can help the horticultural business achieve its set strategies.

            The predominant trigger of families of homelessness in NYC is a shortage of affordable housing and immediate consequences such as evictions and overcrowded housing. Other causes are domestic violence, job loss, and dangerous and hazardous living conditions. NYC there are many adults who suffer from mental illness and addiction disorders and mostly other severe health defects and issues (Burt, 2010).

            NYC has seen a major rise in cases of homeless especially by children in 2014 and 2015 especially due to lack of affordable housing crisis (Libal, 2015). Effects of Bloomberg era of elimination of housing for the homeless families and children. The State has failed in the area where it refused to act quickly to restore desperately needed permanent housing resources for families with children.

            The state in NYC is opposed to efforts to enhance rental housing and assistance for families without housing and in turn, it has proposed an inadequate housing plan that has not solved the problem. Homelessness has had a huge effect on African Americans due to racial and ethnic inequality where they end up lacking jobs. However, the most severe impact that homelessness has placed is on children and families.

Empirical Data

            New york has experienced homelessness for a very long time. People in Newyork have the chance that they either have been homeless or know someone who is homeless or have shared a sidewalk with a person who is homeless. The city has 8.4 million people where more than 52,000 are homeless men, women, and children sleep in the shelter for the homeless. More than 32,000 homeless people sleep in subways and the streets. These numbers show that in every 152 residents of New York 1 is homeless (Alterman, 2015).

            As of 2015 homelessness was had hit especially to children. The Coalition State of the Homeless 2015 established that children are the most hit by homelessness in NYC. Analysis established that one in every 43 NYC children spent a night in the municipal shelter and NYC has 2.3 % of its city population are under 18 years (Alterman, 2015). I have 17 African American kids and 1 in 34 Latino kids, were children who were homeless.6.0 percent of NYC African American population are under the age of 18 years.2.9 percent of this used NYC shelters that were compared to 1 in 368 white children that amounts to 0.3 percent (Libal, 2015).

            The number of homeless children in shelters in NYC increased by 12 percent whereby it reached 25,459 children by January 2015. By January 2015, the number of homeless families soared by 14 percent, hitting 14,524. The number of single adults that slept each night in the shelters rose by 12 percent to 12, 724 by January 2015, which included both women and men (Alterman, 2015). Shelters for homeless families with children generally declined by 1 percent in the past year of 2014.In 2015, the number of children in the shelters stayed there for more than 432 days especially in January (Libal, 2015).

            It is estimated that 1 in 72 NYC families spend at least one night in the municipal shelter and 1 in 31 African American families use the system. The Capital that story tracker released a report in 2015 stating the state of homelessness in NYC. It called on the government to deal with the state of homelessness sin NYC. It reported that 116,000 people inclusive of 42,000 children stayed at the city shelter, and this number included African American (Libal, 2015).

            A report carried out in 2015 by Newyork municipality established that homeless mothers in NYC have experienced domestic violence (Libal, 2015). One in five parents who are homeless has been in foster care when they were children. It is estimated that 90% of homeless people are black and Latinos, but it is good to note that 53% of people in New York are black or Latino. The homeless have been in New York since the 1800 until today, but the number keeps growing day by day due to high standards of living and poverty lives in the city.

            Statistics shows that a large majority of homeless people in NYC live with mental disorders where four out five are men. NYC unsheltered homeless population is located in the central business district of Manhattan where 60% live there permanently (McAllister, 2010). In NYC, the homeless shelter population has risen in the past year that is 2014 where it increased by 13 percent averagely using nightly census of 60,670 people in 2015 January.

Discussion and Debate

            There has been debate whether the government should help the homeless or not in New York. Many have argued that it should help most families who live in the streets have mental disabilities, and, therefore, cannot be able to work for their families and they need medical services to enable them to make a living.

            New Yorkers have experienced a widened gap between rents and incomes. This affordability gap affects the poor and low-income earners in NYC. Between the year 2011 and 2014 monthly apartments for rent were at $1,000 in 2014 and 2015 medium apartments rent went high by 3.4 % due to inflation (Alterman, 2015).

            Some people may view helping the homeless as using resources of the government badly instead of redirecting such resources to other areas or different projects. However the homeless have their rights and freedoms that must be guaranteed .Therefore, the government of America should ensure that every citizen of New York has proper shelter that is those that sleep on sidewalks and subways are taken to the shelter or provided with affordable housing facilities.

            The most issue that led to homelessness in NYC is poor policies by the former mayor and the state failed to reverse quickly and act with the flawed Bloomberg–era policies. This policy had established that there would be an elimination of all permanent housing assistance that was to help the homeless who had children and children, in general. Under this policy, the City increased the rate of homelessness families to around 3,000 families in every night cluster, and this represented one-quarter of homeless children (Furgang, 2014).

            The current mayor upon taking office pledged to reverse the failed policies of the previous state and address homelessness (Furgang, 2014). This is where the current mayor in 2014 introduced the new rental assistance programs that would help the homeless. However, there are policy disputes with governors of NYC administration where it refused to approve the new programs for the rental assistance programs.

            The implementation of the rental assistance programs was also hampered by private property owners who stated that the state imposed rent were low, and they felt flawed by the Bloomberg –era programs. Due to such delays and inadequate allocation of resources in the city, the city was only able to move only 1,000 homeless families including children to permanent housing facilities (Furgang, 2014).

Policy Formulation

            The homelessness situation in NYC needs bold action from the state where it needs to stop derailing and withdrawing state authorization in delivering housing based relief to NYC children who are suffering in municipal shelters. The state must also do more and addressing the state of homelessness in NYC that mostly affects children. The state must strengthen rental aid services to prevent high vacancy rates, and can create and distribute public housing units to families of children who are homeless. In NYC, the state must guarantee that the new housing units are aimed at homeless people. State policymakers would pay the state’s part of the deal to build housing units to help homeless families and children and others with special needs (Estrine, 2010). If these steps are taken, then NYC would experience a reduction in the number of children who are homeless. This would mean that by the year 2019, the number of homeless children would reduce by 85%. The Mayor of NYC has introduced policies for 2015, and this means that the number of homeless families and children will reduce (Alterman, 2015).

Conclusion

            Homelessness in New York is high due to poverty and lack of affordable housing. The elderly, children, and women have affected every person. The government has formulated policies to deal with the menace especially when it comes to housing and ensuring proper health care service is provided to the homeless. The most affected people in NYC are children especially due to their parent’s lack of affordable housing, and this affects their health, their right to education, and their general safety.

Corporate Sustainability Report of Coca Cola Company

The Coca Cola Corporation is the largest beverage firm in the country, with the primary purpose of refreshing its consumers with sweet beverages. The company’s inventory contains $16 billion in products like Fanta, Diet Coke, Coca Cola Nil, Powerade, Minute Produced and Del Valle (Coca Cola Company, 2013). Through selling sparkling water and ready-to-drinks and juice drinks to consumers, the business has achieved worldwide popularity. The company’s sustainability structure is broken into three parts: Me, We and Earth. It is the mutual mission that shows that the organisation works together with partners to bring value to the neighbourhoods and clients they represent and make a meaningful impact. “Me” seeks to enhance the business and consumers’ personal well-being (Coca Cola Company, 2013; The Coca-Cola Company, 2015a). The business sells reduced or even no calorie drinks on the market, which lets customers remain fit and safe. Coco Cola frequently organises services for physical education for the people where they serve. Transparent detail about the nutritional content of the items on the front side of the bottle is often given (Coca Cola Company, 2013).

Through the “WE” concept the company builds a stronger community by helping woman, charitable contribution and workforce. It expects to empower about 5 million women entrepreneurs globally by 2020. Coca Cola offers about 1% of its income to the charities annually; moreover the company also follows the rights and standards that are levied on the human resource (Coca Cola Company, 2013; The Coca-Cola Company, 2015a). Thirdly, it also protects World from external and internal disaster. For protecting the environment, the company should use 100% water for manufacturing its products; it also improves the efficiency of the water by 25% as compared to the baseline of 2010. Coca Cola has reduced carbon footprint by 25% over the years and also source the main agricultural ingredients sustainably (Coca Cola Company, 2013).

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

GRI is defined as an international network of members, who concentrates on promulgation and development of the appropriate set of indicators (Deloitte, 2015). The indicators are used by the organizations that are used for measuring and reporting the environmental, social and economic performance. There are about 3000 members, who are from non-governmental and business organizations (Deloitte, 2015). It is observed that about 70% of the reporting organizations operating worldwide use the framework for reporting the sustainability efforts (Deloitte, 2015). The GRI reporting framework is defined to ensure that the quality of the report and boundaries are efficient.  

Deloitte and its member organizations are involved in developing GRI and it has worked efficiently since its inception. There are several members of Deloitte who have offered sustainable training after coordinating with the GRI trainers. The trainers have developed several engagements that aim at assisting the organizations with the GRI reporting (Deloitte, 2015).

Sustainability Reporting

Sustainability is at heart of Coca Cola Company. The company has successfully worked towards building a healthier and stronger community apart from being the most renowned bottling company. The four stakeholders, mentioned in the sustainability report are discussed henceforth:

Women: The company aims at taking initiatives, which aims at empowering 5 million women entrepreneurs globally with the help of our value chain by 2020 (Coca Cola Company, 2013). Coco Cola has assisted artisans, farmers and owners of micro distribution channels for starting new business. The company has helped women around the world to operate small neighbourhood stores and earn their living. In the small stores the women have the opportunity to sell Coco Cola products. In Philippines, about 86% of the stores are operated by the women (Coca Cola Company, 2013). In Africa, about thousand of women operate in Micro Distribution Centers (MDCs) and in the developing countries, about half of the women are farmers. Hence, it can be identified that women occupies a significant position in the business. Women will play a important role in contributing towards doubling the business by 2020 (Coca Cola Company, 2013).

Women are regarded as the main pillars of a community and also of Coca Cola as their contribution is appreciated. This group of earner invests large amount of money in their child’s education and health. The company aims at exploiting the entrepreneurial potential of women and makes their business more sustainable.

Figure 1: Woman economic empowerment

(Source: Coca Cola Company, 2013)

The above figure identifies the fact that about 66% of the world’s work are done by the women and they earns about 10% of the global income. However, they reinvest about 90% of the income in their community and families (Coca Cola Company, 2013). The critical position that women play in the society and the economic obstacles they face, has encouraged them to work with the comoany as distributors or even entrepreneurs. The 5by20 initiative of the company has gained momentum over the years (Coca Cola Company, 2013). The initiative is taken with the help of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and government. The collaboration encouraged women to get access to three vital economic enablers such as loans, business skills training and financial services and assets; it also includes mentoring and peer networks. 5by20 programs actually concentrate on six segments of the value chain such as distributors, suppliers, retailers, producers, artisans and recyclers (Coca Cola Company, 2013).

Community: Each bottle of Coca Cola explains the value of water to the community by preserving the quality. At the global stage, the organisation has taken many measures to save water. The company’s primary aim is to return water safely to the community, which they have used while preparing the beverages. Till date, Coca Cola has used about 52% of water i.e. 81.1 billion and returned about 160 billion to the community with the help of wastewater treatment (Coca Cola Company, 2013). The company has also undertaken water projects have grown out of source water vulnerability assessment (SVAs) that is conducted by the bottling plants. The main aims of the projects are given below:

1) Improve access to sanitation and water.

2) Supply water for productive uses in the community, where the company operates.

3) Educate and spread awareness regarding issues pertaining misuse of water; it also includes the water policy.

Hence, the company has invested about $260 million in the community for undertaking different water projects. It is recorded that about 1.82 million people are benefitted from water sanitation and access projects that are undertaken at the global level (Coca Cola Company, 2013). Coca Cola has planned to invest in about 100 projects in collaboration with United Nations Development (UNDP) so as to replenish water sources around world. The company also aims at supporting Every Drop Matter, which is a partnership between Coca Cola Africa and Eurasia. The program aims at assisting the nations of Africa and Eurasia to achieve Millennium Development Goals. It had also met the challenges that are related to sanitation, water supply, climate changes and water resource management (Coca Cola Company, 2013). Coco-Cola has invested about $1 billion over the last few decades for adopting new initiatives for preserving water.

Environment: Every bottle is the commitment of the company that considers change in climate. The concern is basically based on scientific consensus that is related to the global change in climate (Gilligan and Hird, 2008). The change in climate is occurring due to the emission of human made green house gas. The main aim of Coca Cola is to reduce carbon footprint to about 25% by 2020. In order to accomplish the objective, the company has altered the manufacturing processes, delivery fleet, packaging format, ingredients sourcing and refrigeration equipment. During 2013, the company created a long term partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and announced a number of initiatives that are related to protection of an environment (Coca Cola Company, 2013).

In order to accomplish the goal, the distribution fleet and bottling plants are monitored. During 2010, the value chain of the company emitted about 59 million metric tons of greenhouse gas, within which only 5.2 million metric tons were produced from manufacturing (Coca Cola Company, 2013). The main goal is quite ambitious and is regarded as the most progressive climate related commitments from the company. For ensuring success, the company collaborates with the suppliers and partners for forming energy-efficient and climate protection initiatives across the system. The responsibilities of the system include the following:

1) For improving sustainability of packaging through optimization of design and use of renewable and recycled materials such as PlantBottle.   

2) Increase the energy efficiency of cooling equipments, which are used by the company.

3) The source of key ingredients is sustainable enough to protect the environment from any challenge.

4) Fuel-efficient modes of product delivery is adopted and incorporated by the company.

5) Improve the energy efficiency within the manufacturing system.

6) The use of hydrflourocarbons is examined so it is not phased out in the cold drink equipments.

7) Increase the usage of clean energy (Coca Cola Company, 2013).

Farmers: The company has also concentrated on purchasing most of the products such as fruit, sugar, tea, corn, coffee and other ingredients per annum. During 2012, the company collaborated with WWF for developing goals, which are achievable and bold. The ingredients that are outsourced include beet sugar, cane sugar, coffee, tea, soy, pulp and many more. Sustainable sourcing generally ensures continuous supply of high quality and safe raw materials and along with that delivers sustainable business value for the supply partners (Coca Cola Company, 2013). Hence, sustainable sourcing is important for improving the economic, environmental and social affects as it marks the footprint of agriculture. The activities adopted by the company are in accordance with the rules and policies that are developed by GRI. It may also be reported that, in keeping with the GRI studies, the organisation has scheduled its CSR operations.

Shareholders: The shareholders form an important part of the company as majority of the shares have strong holdings. Three types of stocks compose the capital stock of Coca Cola, namely Series A shares owned by FEMSA, Series L shares held by the public and Series D shares held by the firm itself. Apart from that there are several shareholders who have significant share in the company as the amount of equity is high. Hence, the company aims at providing transparent information to the shareholders through the annual reports. The annual reports consists information pertaining to business model, strategies and operation. This would help shareholders to consider when they are utilising the right methods of making beverages in the commercial process. However, the message of Chairman and CEO gives emphasis on the overall performance of the company during a particular year. The financial as well as operational excellencies and weakness are depicted in the message. Therefore, shareholders often get an analysis of the results of the company, which allows them to determine whether to participate in the company’s stock.  This indicates towards the fact that from message of CEO or chairman to the financial statements all are necessary for the shareholder to take an investment decision.

Government: The main aim of the company is to grow its business and not the system of carbon emissions, which are related to manufacturing system of the company. The company has helped the government to reduce manufacturing emission that is discharged from the plants. It harms the community and the environment as a whole. Hence, Coca Cola has helped the government to take initiatives against the reduction of emission in the community. The global manufacturing emissions during 2012 were 1.2 million metric tons (Coca Cola Company, 2013); it was lower than the previous year. Nevertheless, the total emission was 3% higher than that of 2011 and presently the emission was higher than the baseline of 2004. The manufacturing sites had emitted about 5.48 million metric tons of gas during 2012 and it has increased by 3% as compared to 2011; it was 15% higher than the baseline of 2004 (Coca Cola Company, 2013). However, the company is giving its full efforts to bring it down to the baseline by 2015. The upward trend is both unacceptable and disappointing and thus the company is working effortlessly to reduce the emissions with the help of a number of measures that includes expansion and use of clean energy (Coca Cola Company, 2013). 

During September 2012, the US has recognized Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which aims at refreshing the customers of organisations. The plants aims at capturing methane gas from landfills and convert it to burning fuel. These plants generate about 48 million kilowatts of energy annually, which have resulted in reduction of emission by 20,000 metric tons of CO₂ per annum (Coca Cola Company, 2013). The company are working efficiently for limiting the emission of CO₂ from the corporate data centres. Coca Cola upgraded about 30 air handlers that are available in the data centres. The improvement is expected from reduction of CO₂ that was estimated to be 650 metric tons per annum, which is equal to 90 cars on road (Coca Cola Company, 2013).

Conclusion

The sustainable activities undertaken by Coca Cola Company comply with the policies that are formed in the GRI report. The corporate social responsibility activities not only help the company to contribute towards its success but also serve the community and its people efficiently. Coca Cola aims at empowering the women entrepreneurs so that they can earn their livelihood. It also helps in reducing carbon emission in the society by modifying the manufacturing process. Hence, it can be stated that Coca Cola has adopted successful CSR activities, which have helped the company to gain good reputation in the society, where it operates.