Beverage Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example

The United Nations Global Compact is the largest ever platform for companies to spearhead and implement responsible corporate policies and practices. The beverage industry too needs to manage and govern their businesses across the world without diverting their focus from important CSR issues as they are likely to play a decisive role in the growth of their businesses.

Water, Energy Conservation and Material Recycling – A Major Environmental Issue

 Currently, no industry or company can ever ignore environmental factors while formulating their business strategies. All beverage industries consume huge water in their processes and its judicious use is of paramount importance to sustain future operations and as an effective sustainability strategy. Water resources must be preserved and for that integrated wastewater recycling initiative is a fundamental necessity. Another important area for environmental preservation is energy conservation and its management. There is a need to reduce carbon footprint by reengineering manufacturing, distribution, and packaging operations within the beverage industry. The beverage industry consumes an enormous amount of packaging material causing enormous pressure on the environment. Fresh use of packaging material needs to be reduced through recycling in line with food safety principles. The beverage industry must incorporate environmentally friendly and sustainable infrastructure for their future growth as an important objective to fulfillment of CSR.

Human Rights Enforcement

Respect for human rights is significantly important while implementing CSR. Workplaces need to be transparent, and safe, spearheading inclusive growth for all employees. Employees must be provided with freedom of association and the principle of collective bargaining must be followed.

Empowering Labor Laws

Any child or forced labor should be done away with. Discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, creed, or caste should be discarded in its entirety within the company. A trained and empowered workforce can play a significant role in the company’s growth providing a much-needed competitive edge over rivals.

CSR Issues with the Beverage Industry

Issues

Environment

Human Rights

Labor Laws

Anti-bribery and Anti-Corruption Practices

Areas

Waste water recycling, Energy conservation, and Material recycling for sustainable practices

Safe Workplaces and transparent environments provide inclusive growth.

No child labor or forced labor. No discrimination based on gender, creed, and ethnicity

The strict code of conduct and ethics for employees at all levels. Never resort to bribery at any level at any cost.

Anti-bribery and Anti-Corruption Practices

 The UN Global Compact also prescribes ethical business practices among businesses. A company that operates across the world with impressive brand equity it becomes increasingly important to follow a strict code of ethics across the globe. Corporate integrity is a prime driver in the process of sustainability. Business growth should come through fair business practices without violating local laws and rules. Companies should never resort to any kind of direct or indirect bribery to influence any government officials at any level. Any such act will pose a significant risk to the company not only in the country where bribery happens but also across the world. Such incidents may tarnish the brand image immensely putting the company’s existence in jeopardy. The strict code of ethics must be enforced among company employees at all levels and strict vigil must be done so that no violation to this account takes place.