FIJI WATER HARVARD CASE ANALYSES ON CSR - Essay Example

Your full full February 01, Case Analysis Answer The case is about a U.S. based water company, which is distributing bottled water in many countries all over the world. The company emerged as the most successful bottled water company in the United States and Australia in its initial years of business. However, it faced a backlash in the UK market when in 2008 the British conservationists, environmentalists, and some government officials started raising voice against the Fiji Water company. The company started facing certain challenges regarding lack of demonstration of corporate social responsibility or corporate citizenship.

Two of the main issues that the company was facing were objections about the carbon footprint and the usage of more energy to distribute packed water to required locations. In response to these issues, the company launched a carbon negative campaign claiming that its bottled water has no carbon footprint. However, with all the efforts towards ensuring people that the company adheres to the principles of corporate citizenship about the corporate social responsibility of the company, the critics are still raising concerns about the way the company operates its business activities.

Answer 2:Bottled water companies imply that their water is clean as compared to tap water (Ruby). However, in this case study, the CSR issue is that packed water not only produces harm to the environment but also requires a lot of energy for production and transportation. The conservationists and environmentalists are continuously raising voice against the production and distribution of packed water because they think that tapped water has very less amount of carbon footprint as compared to packed water.

As Arndt states, “one of the biggest arguments to support the ban on bottled water is the damage being done to the environment by the plastic bottles” (1). Moreover, they also think that the world is already facing fuel shortage and in such situation, using energy on producing bottled water cannot be justified. Every company needs to resolve these environmental issues by taking appropriate actions in order to demonstrate its corporate social responsibility. Answer 3:The circumstances surrounding corporate social responsibility issues for Fiji packed Water Company include the concerns for green environment and the current water and fuel crises all over the world.

The company was going very successful in right through its start until 2008. However, from 2008, the downturn started for the company when people started raising concerns about the corporate social responsibility of the company. Although Fiji Water Company has taken a number of steps to ensure critics that its operations do not have such impact on the environment as they claim, but the concerns regarding packed water do not seem to wipe out at least in the near future. Apart from all issues, consumer satisfaction level is still high for bottled water (Levallois, Grondin, and Gingras 135).

Answer 4:The objective of the management of the company is to demonstrate its corporate social responsibility as much as it can to put down the negative claims of the critics. To demonstrate corporate citizenship, the company has taken a number of steps, such as, launching carbon negative and green environment campaigns, using renewable energy for production purposes, using carbon-efficient modes of transportation, implementing recycling programs, and restoring degraded surfaces by planting new trees.

All of these steps support the management’s objective of protecting the green environment and decreasing the claims against consumption of bottled water.Works CitedArndt, Erik. “Making Sense of the Bottled Water Ban.” Ezinearticles.com, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. Levallois, P., Grondin J., and Gingras S. " Evaluation of consumer attitudes on taste and tap water alternatives in Québec." Water Science and Technology 40.6 (1999): 135-139. Print.Ruby, Juanita. “Bottled Water Versus Tap Water.

” Ezinearticles.com, 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 01 Feb. 2013.