I.

Summary of case facts

Coca-Cola had made a type of bottled water called Kinley. During production
of the bottled water the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML) performed
some tests on the product. In these tests the PML found that the bottled water
revealed evidence of pesticide residue. This information had gotten to the
public, so Coca-Cola decided to stop production of the product and eventually
this incident was forgotten.
Due to Coca-Cola saving most of their consumers by quickly removing the
problem product many other suspicions grew and brought later sanitation
tests. A later test showed that Coca-Cola and Pepsi products in India
contained residue of pesticides.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi called these accusations baseless. Pepsi had done
their own test on their products and found no traces of pesticide residue. Coca
Cola and Pepsi had threatened legal action and denied the validity of the
claim. Word about the pesticides had spread to many consumers in India, and
they believed that the findings were true and agreed with parliaments move to
ban the sale of Soft Drinks
II. Statement of problem
Coca-Cola India got some bad publicity from the Center for Science and
Environment (CSE) stating: 12 major cold drink brands sold in and around
Delhi contain a deadly cocktail of pesticide residues. The pesticide residue
was 30-36 times higher than global standards and was found in three samples
of twelve PepsiCo and Coca-Cola brands. The pesticides include lindane,
DDT, malathion, and chlorpyrifos. These four pesticides have been known to
cause cancer, damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, birth defects,
and severe disruption of the immune system.

This is very bad for Coca-Cola, because the amount of people consuming
Coca-Cola in India was dramatically increasing each year. Now, due to this
dilemma there may be a substantial decrease in the amount of bottles CocaCola will make the following years to come.
Many allegations have been made about Coca-Cola having separate
standards from western countries and India. The allegations imply that there
are no standards in India. If people believe that Coca-Cola is toxic in India
then consumers will not be purchasing the product.
III. Alternative Solution
There are a couple alternative solutions that Coca-Cola can make to get
through this situation. One solution they could try would be to do the same
thing they had done when there had been pesticide residue in their bottled
water. That solution was to do nothing and let it ride out until people had
forgotten. This is probably not a very smart solution to go with.
Another solution would be to do numerous tests at the factory where the
supposed contaminated sodas were found. If after doing numerous tests and
no pesticides are found then they may want to take legal action against the
business that made the false accusations. Also they may want to make a
public announcement that the accusations previously made were false, and
the company that made the false accusations had been sued.
One solution may be to do a checkup on a couple factories and the factory
where the contaminated sodas were found. Then explain to the consumers
that the accusations were false.
If Coca-Cola had done their own tests and found a couple traces of pesticide
residue they would need to clean up the factories and possibly set a standard.
Then they would have to do a recall on many products surrounding the area.

Finally they would need to let the consumers know the truth and explain the
new regulations or standards that have been set. This may not be the best
solution due to a lot of consumers no longer buying coke; however, it would be
an honest solution.
IV. Recommendation
I would recommend that Coca-Cola India and Coca-Cola US come together
and figure out the best solution. I think they should do numerous tests to
several factories around the area where the contaminated sodas came from.
If the tests show up false, where there are no contaminated sodas, I would
recommend taking legal action to the business that made the false
accusations. Then they should let the consumers know what had been done
on this Issue. Finally they could use the money they got from suing the
business towards hiring people to do routine checkups at the factories. This
will insure consumer satisfactory.
If the tests show up true, of having pesticide residue, I would recommend
Coca-Cola fold and do a massive recall of products. Coca-Cola would then
need to set a higher standard and regulations for the sanitation of the
factories. Finally they would need to let the consumers know that they
guarantee their product is safe. They should not mention whether the
pesticide residue was true or false, but they should let the consumers know
that they had increased the standards and regulations in their factories to
secure consumer loyalty.