Coca-Cola Implementation and Monitoring of Student Institutional Affiliation Strategy .One of the world's most powerful multinational corporations is The Coca-Cola Company. In the beverage sector, it has succeeded in dominating the market for many years. The tactics it employs have helped the business maintain its status as a household name. A further benefit is that the company has the greatest proportion of drinkers. Almost everywhere in the world may be found the company's products. Latin and North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Europe are among the continents where its beverage drinks can be found. With more than 500 different soft drinks available for purchase, the companys consumers.
Company`s Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of an organization tells more about the company itself. It reveals more about the leadership and the strategy of the company towards success also depend on the organizational structure. The Coca-Cola Company has not had one structure all through. In 2016, the company announced to introduce a new corporate design. The purpose was to ensure that the structure accommodates all its markets in other continents. It is standard for companies to change their organizational structure as they grow and therefore Coca-Cola is not a special case. So far, the Coca-Cola has adopted a decentralized structure. The new decentralized structure now reflects an international company where different operational head the various operational groups around the globe. The Asia Pacific Group, Latin America group, Europe, Africa and Middle East Group, and the North America Group have presidents of operations reporting to the central headquarters in Atlanta, USA. The company has 12 members on the board of directors drawn from various corporations with the chairperson of the board being Muhtar Kent.
Coca-Cola’s Organizational Culture
Like structure, the organizational culture of a company is essential in strategy implementation and monitoring (Cohen, 1973). The culture an organization adopts will reflect the manner in which the implementation and monitoring of the strategy of the organization will be conducted. The Coca-Cola Company has a strong organizational culture that emanates from the values that the company holds. Coca cola`s culture is all inclusive in which the company entrusts its future on seven core values. The values include leadership, diversity, accountability, integrity, quality, and passion for serving. When the company talks about diversity, this has been evident from the worldwide team of employees that work in various regions and departments of the company. Coca-Cola incorporates a vibrant, diversified workforce with different talents from all over the world. About leadership, Coca-Cola has adopted the best managerial leadership from experienced individuals with a vast experience. Its board of directors consists of highly skilled individuals drawn from reputable firms. Evidently, the company`s values match what the organization continues to do.
Coca-Cola Control System
In light of implementing and monitoring a strategy, it is paramount that a company`s control system to be active. A control system gathers and uses the information to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of various resources within the organization. The resources can be either human resources, financial resources or even the physical resources. When a company`s control system is used to evaluate financial resources, it focuses on the budget and inventory controls. While assessing the human resources, the control system focuses on its personnel (Hitt, 2017).
Other than the help of the organizational structure, perfect implementation and monitoring of a strategy depend on the control systems within the organization. An organizational control system is the means used by company executives to evaluate the performance of the organization. Through a control system, the CEO can identify areas that need to be amended thus taking action to address those apprehensions through strategies. The types of controls that can help executives create organizational control systems include output, behavioral and clan control. A company needs to have measurable results that can help it to understand how progressive they are moving. Such quantifiable results are achievable through an output control system. Rules and procedures, on the other hand, are the means in which behavioral control can be achieved in the organization. Behavioral control works on controlling people`s actions to achieve the desired results. Finally, clan control focuses on reminding employees the shared norms, values, traditions and expectations so that the employees can work in line with the objective of the company.
In the Coca-Cola company, control has been achieved through strict product and manufacturing policies. The company has a cohesive quality control program known as the Coca-Cola Operational Requirements (CORE).The quality control program acts as a control to ensure that the company manufactures quality products while maximizing all safety requirements. The Coca-Cola website is one of the output control mechanism that helps the company to measure the results of consumer consumption of their beverage. Through the contact and feedback mechanism provided on the website, customers can direct their issues to the company, and the management`s role is to ensure that they address those issues by setting the right strategies. The Coca-Cola Company has made use of behavioral control mechanisms. The company expounded its safety measures back in 2013 to ensure that its employees uphold safety and hygiene in their workstations. Coca-Cola utilizes clan control by reinforcing their shared values to ensure that the employees are passionate about the organization and will use their creativity and innovation to help the Coca-Cola Company achieve its goals.
The Coca-Cola Company ensures control of the company through ensuring that they only budget for the objectives the company has set out. Such a control system is a sure way to ensure that the company meets strategies outlined. From Coca-Cola’s annual report and 10-k filings, the company`s budgeting is goal driven. The company does not budget for any activity outside their functional objectives or even actions not in the annual objectives. Hence, the company is in a position to implement a strategy.
In its control system, Coca-Cola has also invested in its brand. Having a market share in over 200 countries has not been a break for the company; As such, the company keeps reinventing its brand so that it can continue growing. Coca-Cola is also controlling its functional departments by ensuring that each unit works towards their strategy, which in turn can propel the company to greater heights. Coca-Cola also has policies and procedures to ensure product safety and compliance regarding quality. The company makes unannounced audits in the manufacturing plants situated all over the world. Through unannounced inspections, the manufacturing facilities are cautious to avoid falling below the quality mark set by Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola also ensures that it in line with appropriate control systems necessary for strategy implementation by use of a supplier’s management program. The program identifies potential risks, then afterward the risks are assessed. In such a manner, Coca-Cola can strategize on the number of products they are going to produce for the consumers. Furthermore, they can predict if they are in a position to penetrate more markets when they are sure that suppliers are capable of supplying ingredients consistently.
The suggested grand strategy falls in line with the current organizational structure of Coca-Cola, its culture, and control system. The model of the grand strategy clusters, as suggested in case 3 can be operationalized since it matches what the values of Coca-Cola company are, the design the company has adopted and the policies and procedures the company uses in its control system. In the strategy suggested, there is the need for Coca-Cola Company to penetrate the market further. Concurrently, the organization values diversity. As such, it can make use of diversity to penetrate into more markets. The fact that Coca-Cola has drawn its board of management with skillful expertise means that the grand strategy clusters can be easily implemented. A strategy needs people who can overlook how it is being applied to ensure it turns out successful. The Coca-Cola Company has such leadership that can ensure the strategy is executed. The model of the grand strategy cluster also matches Coca Cola’s control system. Coca-Cola has continued to ensure safety and health of its products through keeping suppliers abreast. Through such controls, the suggested strategy can thrive since on the other hand quality will be sustained thus making it easy for the company to penetrate the market where it is known for quality (Dransfield, 2001).
Conclusion
It is evident that the grand strategy clusters are the appropriate strategy for Coca-Cola Company. The company`s organizational culture, the organizational design and the control system of the company align well with the strategy. The company has the right people at the leadership to ensure that the strategy is fully implemented. The recent adoption of a new organizational structure where different president of various regions has been incorporated in the decision-making process means more for the company.
References
Cohen, K. J., & Cyert, R. M. (1973). Strategy: Formulation, implementation, and monitoring. The journal of business, 46(3), 349-367.
Dransfield, R. (2001). Corporate strategy. Oxford: Heinemann.
Hitt, M. (2017). Oxford handbook of strategy implementation. New York: Oxford University Press.
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