Understanding Global Corporate Responsibility

                           Understanding Global Corporate Responsibility

   Corporate social responsibility promotes a vision of business accountability to a wide range of stakeholders alongside investors and shareholders. Key areas of concern are the wellbeing of the employees, the community, civil society, environmental protection both now and in the future (“Corporate social responsibility (CSR) | Current issues,” 2013). Today, CSR is one of the most critical aspects of the business. Most companies use it to not only attract customers but also to run in society harmoniously. It is worth noting that large companies have a responsibility to integrate social responsibility with their business activities to protect the reputation of the company in society.

Coca Cola Company

The company has adopted positive CSR policies and implements the programs that help improve its reputation. The company is committed to creating value for the society it serves and the planet at large, and sustainability is the company’s way of shared value. Sustainability is in the company’s DNA as a global strategy executed in all the markets globally. The company’s bottling plants are recycling wastewater, treating it with strict standards, and returning it to nature for reuse. An estimated 126.7 billion liters of water used in the manufacturing process were returned to communities and nature through treated wastewater in 2014. These combined efforts put Coca Cola on track to be the first food and beverage service company to replenish its water and uses it back to communities and nature. The company objective by 2020 is to safely have an amount of water equal to what it uses in the production return to nature and communities (“A Sustainable Journey,” 2016). The company is also concern with the health and safety of its customers. In 2013,100 out of 400, beverage products introduced exhibited reduced, low, or low calorie, which shows their commitment to the CSR.94 percent of company-owned facilities comply with coca-cola workplace rights.

The ethical issues facing the company have been numerous. The American pan beverage (Panamco), coca-cola’s main bottlers in Latin America, has been criticized for having a negative attitude towards workers union. There are serious allegations that the bottling company hired paramilitary mercenaries to assassinate the workers and union leaders. The union of workers Colombia stated that eight coca-cola workers died, forty-eight went into hiding, and sixty-five received death threats by militias hired by the company management to terrorize workers. The workers in Colombia work in an environment full of fear. There are intimidations and use of force to achieve targets that are much higher than their ability. Weakened unions have enabled the company to manipulate workers to low wages and exposing them to long working hours. However, the company has taken steps to address these ethical issues toward improvement. To regain lost glory and improve corporate social responsibility, the company has mitigated and improved the relationship between the management of coca-cola and the workers union. The resolution has been made to adopt the code of conduct on the bottling practices. The company is committed to allowing workers to have a free and independent union to represent them in day to problems. Besides, the company is ready to show social responsibility through compensation to families of the killings and give assurance that nothing of the sort will ever happen in the future.

VISA Inc. Company

Visa Inc. is a global payments technology company that connects businesses, consumers, governments, and financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories to secure and fast reliable electronic payments. The company is making a positive social impact as a global leader in payments. The company has the opportunity and responsibility to joins its partners and clients together with other stakeholders to connect the world. In so doing, it helps empower people, businesses, and communities to thrive. The company corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy concentrate on four priority issues (“Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report,” 2018). First, the company empowers people and economies. It empowers, micro and small enterprise, unbanked and underserved consumers, financial capability and literacy and community support. Secondly, the sustainability priority issue touches on securing commerce and protecting costumers by initiatives such as cybersecurity, consumer privacy, transaction integrity, and payment security. Thirdly is the investment in the workforce through employee learning and development, employee benefits, employee safety, and diversity, and inclusion. Lastly, the sustainability strategy priority issues focus on operating sustainably and responsibly by environmental sustainability, corporate governance, ethics and compliance, responsible sourcing, engaging with governments, and human rights. There have been benefits achieved through CSR that touches on the customers and the environment. On the aspect of the customers, the company empowers individuals and businesses to enable them to use secure, convenient, and affordable payment and other financial services to help meet daily needs and long-term goals. The company is proud of contributing to the growth of worldwide financial networks, implementing financial inclusion initiatives, providing free, award-winning literacy programs, and using their talent and assets to strengthen local communities. This is a CSR achievement, which benefits its customers. Concerning environmental sustainability, as the company uses electronic payments network to connect cardholders, merchants, financial institutions around the globe, the company is alive to the importance of understanding environmental footprints of its payment ecosystem. The company puts efforts to decrease its environmental and move towards 100 percent renewable energy.

The ethical issues facing the company revolves around reported cases of corruption among few self-serving senior managers who bend the rules and leave people afraid to speak(“Visa’s Dirty Secrets: Ageism and Ethics,” 2020). However, the corporate mandate influenced by stockholders is now driving policies to tame this errant behavior, which taints the ethics of the company. The company commits to the highest standards of professional and personal conduct and always seeks to act with utmost hopelessness and transparency in all of its activities. They have implemented a robust governance structure, regularly monitor its corporate governance policies and practices to ensure it meets the dictates of applicable laws and regulations and rules the listing standards and investor expectation. Besides, it has a comprehensive code of business conduct and ethics for how we conduct everyday business activities around the world. The code of conduct and ethics applies to everybody in the company and must be stick to by everyone. Lastly, the company strives to uphold the highest standards for integrity, compliance, and corporate governance.

                                                             References

A Sustainable Journey. (2016). Retrieved 4 February 2020, from https://en.coca-colaarabia.com/our-company/a-sustainable-journey

Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report. (2018). Retrieved 4 February 2020, from https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/corporate-responsibility/visa-2018-corporate-responsibility-report.pdf

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) | Current issues. (2013). Retrieved 4 February 2020, from https://www.iisd.org/business/issues/sr.aspx

Visa’s Dirty Secrets: Ageism and Ethics. (2020). Retrieved 4 February 2020, from https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Visa-Inc-RVW6415806.htm