The Question To Be Answered: Choose two of the four organisational theory perspectives and discuss how and why they provide us with alternative ways of understanding and analysing Coca-Cola and its relationship with its organisational environment. Draw upon the required textbook and Coca-Cola readings, and your own research to answer the question. Total Words: 2000 words Harvard Referencing Style Answering the Question: You must focus explicitly on the key issues identified in the question. You must substantiate your research with references to scholarly sources, i.e. peer reviewed journals. You must consider at least two of the four perspectives (Modernist, Symbolic Interpretivist, Critical Theory, Post-Modernist). 1. You must make use of the required readings(below).They have been selected because they provide the essential material required to answer the question. You will lose marks if you fail to use them. Required readings for the Coca-Cola Case Study: 1. Gopinath and Prasad, “Toward a critical framework for understanding MNE operations: Revisiting Coca Cola’s exit from India, Organization 20(2), pp.212-232 2. Ciafone, A., 2012 “If ‘Thanda Matlab Coca Cola’ Then ‘Cold Drink Means Toilet Cleaner’: Environmentalism of the Dispossessed in Liberalizing India” International Labour and Working-Class History, v.81, pp.114-135 3. Moses, C.T., Vest, D., 2010 “Coca Cola and PepsiCo in South Aftrica: A Landmark Case in Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethical Dilemmas and the Challenges of International Business” Journal of African Business v.11, pp.235-251. 4. Gill, L. “‘Right There with You’ Coca Cola, Labor Restructuring and Political Violence in Colombia” Critique of Anthropology Vol 27(3), pp. 235-260. 5. Barkay, T., “When Business and Community Meet: A Case Study of Coca Cola” Critical Sociology 39(2), pp.277-293. 6. Ravi Raman, K., 2007, “Community – Coca Cola Interface; Political-Anthropological Concerns on CSR” Social Analysis 51(3) pp. 103-120 7. Regassa, H., & Corradino, L. (2011). Determining the value of the Coca Cola–A Case Analysis. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 17(7). (Please use the above readings as references that are to be included into the essay) (Other references from other sources are to be included as well aside from these) Presentation/Structure of your answer/essay: Introduction: In this section you must provide an overview of your answer to the question; provide answers to the key what and why questions of your argument/answer. These should take the form of direct responses to the key issues raised by the question. Your argument should be informed by a critical analysis/engagement with the content of the essential readings. Please keep in mind that in all sections of your response you must move past description to analysis, this means providing answers to the why questions that emerge from your key statements. Exploration of your argument: In this section of the essay you need to ac ...

1. The Question To Be Answered:
Choose two of the four organisational theory perspectives and
discuss how and why they provide us with alternative ways of
understanding and analysing Coca-Cola and its relationship with
its organisational environment. Draw upon the required
textbook and Coca-Cola readings, and your own research to
answer the question.
Total Words: 2000 words
Harvard Referencing Style
Answering the Question:
You must focus explicitly on the key issues identified in the
question.
You must substantiate your research with references to
scholarly sources, i.e. peer reviewed journals.
You must consider at least two of the four perspectives
(Modernist, Symbolic Interpretivist, Critical Theory, Post-
Modernist).
1. You must make use of the required readings(below).They
have been selected because they provide the essential material
required to answer the question. You will lose marks if you fail
to use them.
Required readings for the Coca-Cola Case Study:
1. Gopinath and Prasad, “Toward a critical framework for
understanding MNE operations: Revisiting Coca Cola’s exit
from India, Organization 20(2), pp.212-232
2. Ciafone, A., 2012 “If ‘Thanda Matlab Coca Cola’ Then ‘Cold
Drink Means Toilet Cleaner’: Environmentalism of the
Dispossessed in Liberalizing India” International Labour and
Working-Class History, v.81, pp.114-135
3. Moses, C.T., Vest, D., 2010 “Coca Cola and PepsiCo in

2. South Aftrica: A Landmark Case in Corporate Social
Responsibility, Ethical Dilemmas and the Challenges of
International Business” Journal of African Business v.11,
pp.235-251.
4. Gill, L. “‘Right There with You’ Coca Cola, Labor
Restructuring and Political Violence in Colombia” Critique of
Anthropology Vol 27(3), pp. 235-260.
5. Barkay, T., “When Business and Community Meet: A Case
Study of Coca Cola” Critical Sociology 39(2), pp.277-293.
6. Ravi Raman, K., 2007, “Community – Coca Cola Interface;
Political-Anthropological Concerns on CSR” Social Analysis
51(3) pp. 103-120
7. Regassa, H., & Corradino, L. (2011). Determining the value
of the Coca Cola–A Case Analysis. Journal of the International
Academy for Case Studies, 17(7).
(Please use the above readings as references that are to be
included into the essay)
(Other references from other sources are to be included as well
aside from these)
Presentation/Structure of your answer/essay:
Introduction:
In this section you must provide an overview of your answer to
the question; provide answers to the key what and why
questions of your argument/answer. These should take the form
of direct responses to the key issues raised by the question.
Your argument should be informed by a critical
analysis/engagement with the content of the essential readings.
Please keep in mind that in all sections of your response you
must move past description to analysis, this means providing
answers to the why questions that emerge from your key
statements.

3. Exploration of your argument:
In this section of the essay you need to accomplish two tasks.
First, you must explore the key perspectives showing how each
perspective’s theoretical and metatheoretical approaches lead
them to provide different insights into organisations and their
relationship to their environment.
Second, having demonstrated an understanding of the
perspectives and their theoretical approaches to understanding
the relationship between an organisation and its environment
you then need to discuss how these understandings lead to
different understandings about Coca-Cola and its organisational
environment. You should draw upon the required Coca-Cola
readings and additional readings on Coca-Cola you find. As
you will discover by the required readings, each is influenced
by a different perspective. For each of the required readings
you should be able to identify and discuss which perspective is
being applied to analyse Coca-Cola and its relationship to its
environment. You will want to choose the readings most
relevant to the perspectives you have chosen to focus on in your
essay.
You can address the above, two tasks sequentially; beginning
with an exploration of the how and why of each of the chosen
perspectives (ontology and epistemology), and second: an
exploration of the positions advanced by two of the perspectives
(modernist, symbolic interpretivist, critical theory and
postmodernism) in relation to how organisations and the
environment is conceived, identified and written about in
relation to the Coca-Cola case study.
The two alternatives outlined above will enable you to present a
clear direct and disciplined response to the question.

4. The whole response must be informed by an engagement with
essential readings. You must draw upon and evaluate academic
debates and arguments. This is not to be viewed as an exercise
in which you simply discuss Coca-Cola or make up a response
off-the-top-of-your-head nor is it one in which you focus on
description and ignore analysis. While you should draw upon
examples from your readings of Coca-Cola this should be done
to illustrate differences in perspectives both theoretically and
practically as they relate to understanding organisations and
their relationship to their environment.
Conclusion:
You must conclude with your general answer to the question. It
should reiterate the key argument/answer to the question
provided in the introduction and indicate to what extent it has
been supported or challenged by your analysis of the debates
and arguments of other authors.
Please note !
A key point to remember in answering the questions is not to be
overly descriptive. In answering the question you will need to
develop an argument. An argument requires ‘expressing a point
of view on a subject and supporting it with evidence’ (see
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/argument.html) The
basic components of an argument include:
· Making a claim (informed by relevant organisational
perspectives and/or theories)
· Supporting your claim with evidence
· Recognising and engaging with counterclaims
“The Bottom Line”

5. Philosophy 201
Week 4, Individual Project
1
“The Bottom Line”
Philosophy 201
Week 4, Individual Project
11
“The Bottom Line”
Patrick Donahue, Student ID# 13245002
American Intercontinental University
February 1, 2015
Abstract
Is it true that the “bottom line” in business is profit and profit
alone? All businesses have to turn a profit if they are expected

6. to continue. Small business owners make profit because it’s
their livelihood, big business are in it for profit because they
have a responsibility to their shareholders and board members
and employees. Unfortunately they very rarely share the profit
with employees, paying them just above minimum wage for
their work. This leads to the fact that most households require
two incomes to pay their bills and live a somewhat sustainable
life. So yes, business is in it for profit, including the so called
“non-profit” institutions.
According to Fortune 500 magazine, the bigger the business, the
bigger the profit. This come as no surprise, after all nobody
owns a business to just barely get by in life. With life comes
responsibility, usually in the form of bills, children, mortgages,
child support, and the list continues on. We have been
programed, so to speak, that in order to have a comfortable life
and be successful we must earn money, fact is that minimum
wage really doesn’t get us there. So you either get another job
that pays better, if you have the marketable skills to do so, or
like the elite few, you break away from the “norm” and start
your own business.
Starting your own company has many advantages, such as
freedom from the 9 to 5 life, the possibility of making a decent
living, and possibility of having a more financially secure
future. In order to accomplish this, you must earn profit.
Without profit your company won’t be successful and you will
find yourself out of business quick. Oh and one more important
fact, should you hire employees, well chances are they are not
going to work for free. Also you’re probably going to have to
offer some sort of health and dental plan, perhaps a 401K plan
with matching funds, Workman Compensation, and that other
nasty word TAXES. So the point is, if anyone says they are in
business for the love of what they do, I say that’s B/S, it’s all
about profit and the bottom line.

7. Now let’s take a good look at where some of the profit goes.
Can you guess where? That’s right the “fat cats” pocket. Take
for instance the following:
According to Fortune 500, top 500 list, Wal-Mart leads the pack
at #1 with their Executive Vice President, Mr. Neil Ashe, and
2014 paycheck per year at $843.54K. Followed by the
Company’s Executive Vice President, President and Chief
Executive Officer, at only 47 years old, who was paid a
staggering $954.41K, in 2014. Remember this does not include
the benefits package, stocks, and bonuses. Where does all that
money come from PROFIT?
Wal-Mart, typically pays its employees -3% below market,
while similar employers like the Kroger Company, Home Depot,
Inc., and CVS Pharmacy, typically pay -2% below market.
Below is the pay scale of what Wal-Mart pays its employees:
(www.quora.com/ Wal-Mart/compensation/wages)
Cashier - $7.50 – $10.69 Overnight Stalker -
$7.80 – $13.10
Sales Associate - $7.59 -$12.66 Pharmacy
Technician - $8.85 - $14.75
Now let’s take a look at another “Big Ticket Item”:
Chevron Corporation, you guessed it, oil, Texas T, the crude
man. Now anyone who has been to any gas station lately cannot
argue that the oil companies aren’t making a huge profit.
However,
lately there has been a little relief at the pump due to the price
of crude per barrel dropping, but how long will that last. In
2014, along with posting record profit the “fat cats” wallets got
larger, all from profit. John S. Swanson, Chairman of the Board
and CEO earned 1.77M, in 2014. (http://fortune.com/company)

8. Ok, we can argue all day, but you know and I know when it
comes down to the “bottom line” of business, it’s all about
profit, making a dollar, getting rich.
Now if you recall in the Abstract portion above, I also made a
second claim regarding the same statement as being fact for
Non-Profit Organizations. So let’s begin:
John Seffrin, CEO, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA –
earned $2.1 million in 2014, as head of ACS, one of largest
voluntary health organization fighting cancer. His base salary
was $587,477 on top of nearly $1.5 million in deferred
compensation. (http://www.thefiscaltimes.com)
Roxanne Spillett, president, Boys & Girls Clubs of America,
Atlanta, GA - $1.8 million. Not only is this organization tax
exempt, but they are partially funded by the government. Her
base salary in 2011 was $455,829 with an additional $116,000
bonus and $1.2 million in deferred compensation and
retirement. Today, 2015, she is asking for a base salary of 1.5
million. (http://www.thefiscaltimes.com)
And this next one I was surprised at, because I did not know it
was a Non-Profit position, and the dubious honor goes to:
Roger Goodell Is the highest paid executive in the U.S. and
almost certainly in sports. As NFL commissioner his paycheck
for 2012 was $44.2 million. This without a doubt makes him
highest-paid leader of a non-profit organization. (New York
Times, Feb. 14, 2014), (http://www.thefiscaltimes.com)
This little tidbit infuriated me as it should you too.As an
American multi-national corporation which accepts millions of
dollars in government funds, pays its top executives more than a
½ million per year. All as a non-profit organization and
enjoying tax exempt status. And the kicker to this truth, they

9. only pay their employees less than federal minimum wage. 22
cents an hour to be exact. What Scrooge from Christmas past
could this be, you might be asking?
Welcome to Goodwill’s Charity Racket.
Due to a Depression-era loophole in the federal labor law this
business is perfectly legal, what is worst is they exploit people
with disabilities. Under Section 14 (c) of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938, employers can apply for a special wage
certificate that allows them to hire people with disabilities at a
subminimum wage. Nationally, more than 300,000 workers are
subjected to the law. Goodwill uses the special minimum wage
exemption to take advantage of 7,300 of its 105,000 employees.
They pay their disabled employees as little as 20 to 22 cents per
hour, and get away with it.
The bottom line or short answer is pure, unadulterated corporate
greed.
In 2003, R. Lee Waits was CEO of Goodwill Industries-
Suncoast Inc. His annual salary was $530,693, making him, at
the time, the highest paid CEO of a non-profit organization.
Well it received a lot of bad press and people raised their voices
in concern for the misuse of the outdated law and how it
encouraged companies like Goodwill to misuse and abuse the
disabled worker as far as equal wages are concerned. Well
things gradually settled down, and Goodwill re-evaluated and
tweaked their pay structure of upper management.
In 2015, Goodwill’s President and CEO earned a total of
$339,283. Broken down that’s $166,287 base pay, and a cash
bonus of $172,996. Now that’s still a pretty good chunk of
change for helping out the world, but it’s a far cry the ½ million
plus paycheck of yesteryear.
(http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Goodwill-President-and-
Chief-Executive-Officer-Salaries)
Also: (http://www.Huffingtonpost.com/the-worst-corporation-
in-america)
Although priest earn money from collections to pay their bills,

10. housing is provided to them by the community, for other
incidentals like food, laptops etc., it’s paid for by a community
fund. The clergy request the funds and its purpose and the funds
are then given to them. If they are planning to go out for dinner
as an example, they request the funds from the community and
normally they provide $40.00. Should they require more, they
plan ahead and if reasonable and within the community budget
their request is fulfilled. The one true president, of a non-profit
organization is the Pope. He does not earn a salary, and has no
worldly possessions and has taken a vow of poverty. In fact,
even his soul belongs to God Almighty. He lives in a small
apartment alone in Vatican City, Rome, has a staff to cater to
his every need and anything he wants is provided by donations
made to the church. Even his food is provided by his flock, after
all who wouldn’t want to feed the Pope. So if the Pope wanted a
CD player, he could have one if he so desires. However he must
either donate or leave it to the next Pope upon his death. After
all he can have no worldly possessions. As for his travel
expenses, hotels and meals while traveling, they are paid by the
church, through contributions and speaking engagements. After
all he is the ambassador to the world and his duties are to meet
with foreign nations and their government and forge peace and
spread the word of God. Upon the Popes’ death a bag of gold
and silver coins are placed in his coffin, 1 coin for each year he
served as Pope.
Ok, you got me. He gets gold and silver when he dies, that’s
payment. My question to you, where is there a 7-11 on the way
to heaven?
Definitions:
1. Utilitarianism - The ethical theory proposed by Jeremy
Bentham and James Mill that all action should be directed
toward achieving the greatest happiness for the most amount of
people.
2. Categorical Imperatives – In the ethical system of Immanuel
Kant, an unconditional

11. moral law that applies to all rational beings and is independent
of any personal motive or
desire.
3. Moral Relativism - The ethical standards, morality, and
positions of right or wrong which are culturally based on a
person's individual choice.
4. Moral Absolutism – The ethical belief that absolute standards
exist, and moral questions can be judged. The belief in right and
wrong regardless of the context of the act.
5. Ethical Relativism – The position that there are no moral
absolutes and no moral right and wrong.
6. Moral Objectivism – Is the position that moral truths exist
independently from opinions. There several degrees of moral
objectivism, they are, Moral Universalism, Moral Realism,
Moral Absolutism. Moral objectivism does not dictate that an
specific moral truths exist, nor does it imply that any or all
moral truths are known.
7. Deontological Ethics - Moral theories that guide and assess
our choices of what we ought to do, in contrast to (aretaic
[virtue] theories) that guide and assess what kind of person (in
terms of character traits) we are and should be.
8. Teleological Ethics – The theory of morality that derives duty
or moral obligation from what is good or desirable as an end to
be achieved.
Definitions were retrieved from:
(http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org) AND
(http://www.britannica.com)
CONCLUSION:
Can businesses have ethical standards, despite the fact that
businesses are not moral agents?
NEEDS TO BE ANSWSERED…….

12. References
Wal-Mart, 2015, Wage and Compensation chart, retrieved
1/31/2015, from www.quora.com/ wal-mart/compensation/wages
Chevron Corporation, 2015, retrieved 1/31/15, from
http://fortune.com/company
John Seffrin, 2015, retrieved 1/31/15, from
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/ Insanely-Overpaid-Nonprofit-
Execs
Roxanne Spillet, 2012, retrieved 1/31/15, from
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/ Insanely-Overpaid-Nonprofit-
Execs
Roger Goodell, 2012, retrieved 1/31/15, from (New York Times,
Feb. 14, 2014), http://www.thefiscaltimes.com
Goodwill Industries, Inc, 2015, retrieved 1/31/15, from
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Goodwill-President-and-
Chief-Executive-Officer-Salaries
The worst Corporation in America, 2015, retrieved 1/31/15,
from (http://www.Huffingtonpost.com/the-worst-corporation-in-
america)
Essay Definitions, 2015, retrieved on 1/31/15, from
http://www.allaboutphilosophy.orgAnd
http://www.britannica.com