Question:

The Coca-Cola Company is truly global, and its main product is recognised
and consumed worldwide. The Company organises and structures itself in a
way that reflects that fact. At the same time, the Company looks to meet
the particular needs of regional markets sensitively and its structure also
needs to reflect that fact. This Case Study illustrates the way

The Coca-Cola Company is truly global, and its main product is recognised and
consumed worldwide. The Company organises and structures itself in a way
that reflects that fact. At the same time, the Company looks to meet the
particular needs of regional markets sensitively and its structure also needs to
reflect that fact. This Case Study illustrates the way in which the Company has
built an organisational structure that is robust and yet also flexible enough to
meet these particular requirements. The Coca-Cola Company is the world's
largest beverage company and is the leading producer and marketer of soft
drinks. The Company markets four of the world's top five soft drinks brands:
Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. The success of The Coca-Cola
Company revolves around five main factors: A unique and recognised brand -
Coca-Cola is among the most recognised trademarks around the globe :-
Quality - consistently offering consumers products of the highest quality ;
Marketing - delivering creative and innovative marketing programmes
worldwide; Global availability - Coca-Cola products are bottled and distributed
worldwide; Ongoing innovation - continually providing consumers with new
product offerings e.g. Diet Coke (1982), Coca-Cola Vanilla (2002).

Although Coca-Cola is a global product with universal appeal, the Company

actually operates in local environments around the world, with each country
having its own unique needs and requirements. So while Coca-Cola is probably
the only product in the world that is universally relevant in every corner of the
globe, the Company feels that its responsibility is to ensure that with every
single can or bottle of Coca-Cola sold and enjoyed, individual connections are
made with their consumer. That can only be achieved at a local level. The
challenge facing The Coca-Cola Company today is therefore to continue to build
an organisational structure that will deliver a global and local strategy.
Organisational structures need to be designed to meet aims. They involve
combining flexibility of decision making, and the sharing of best ideas across
the organisation, with appropriate levels of management and control from the
centre.

Modern organisations like The Coca-Cola Company, have built flexible

structures which, wherever possible, encourage teamwork. For example, at
Coca-Cola Great Britain any new product development (e.g. Coca-Cola Vanilla)
brings together teams of employees with different specialism. At such team
meetings, marketing specialists clarify the results of their market research and
testing, food technologists describe what changes to a product is feasible,
financial experts report on the cost implications of change. The Coca-Cola
Company has a corporate (Head Office) segment that is responsible for giving
the Company an overall direction and providing support to the regional
structure. Key strategic decisions at The Coca-Cola Company are made by an
Executive Committee of 12 Company Officers. This Committee helped to shape
the six strategic priorities set out earlier. The Chair of the Executive Committee
acts as a figurehead for the Company and chairs the board meetings. He is also
the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and as such he is the senior decision maker.
Other executives are responsible either for the major regions (e.g. Africa) or
have an important business specialism e.g. the Chief Financial Officer.

As a company whose success rests on its ability to connect with local

consumers, it makes sense for The Coca-Cola Company to be organised into a
regional structure which combines centralisation and localisation. The
Company operates six geographic operating segments - also called Strategic
Business Units (SBUs) - as well as the corporate (Head Office) segment. Each of
these regional SBUs is sub-divided into divisions. Take the European Union,
SBU, for example. The UK fits into the Northwest Europe division. This
geographical structure recognises that: markets are geographically separated;
tastes and lifestyles vary from area to area. As do incomes and consumption
patterns; markets are at different stages of development. At a more local level
the management of The Coca-Cola Company involves a number of functional
specialism. The management structure for Great Britain illustrates this. The
structure of Coca-Cola Great Britain combines elements of centralisation and
decentralisation. Divisions and regions operate as business unit teams, with
each Director reporting to the General Manager, i.e. Division President.
However, there is a matrix structure for each function e.g. the Finance Director
in the GB Division reports to the GB President, but also to (dotted line) the
Finance Director of North West Europe Division. In addition, functions within
the Company operate across geographical boundaries to share best practice. To
take another example of local decision making at a regional (local) level the
various SBUs are responsible for region-specific market research, and for
developing local advertising, e.g. using the languages of the countries in which
The Coca-Cola Company operates. The way The Coca-Cola Company works
reflects the many countries and cultures in which it does business. It owns or
licences nearly 400 brands in non-alcoholic beverages serving consumers in
over 200 countries.

An essential part of the organisation's structure therefore focuses on ensuring

that individual products are given the best possible support in regional
markets. Within the Company, different teams concentrate on particular
products and use their specialist knowledge of the brands and consumer needs
to support the sales and promotional effort. In some cases a product is
developed solely for local consumption and an example of this is the product
Lilt, which is only available in Great Britain and Ireland. Every organisation has
not only a structure but also a culture. Important aspects of culture at Coca-
Cola Great Britain (which reflect the culture of The Coca-Cola Company as a
whole) are an emphasis on teamwork, and empowerment. Coca-Cola Great
Britain sees its employees as its most important asset. Motivated employees
provide the engine that drives the Company's growth. Organising people into
teams (e.g. marketing, sales or product teams) encourages people to feel valued.
Within a team they are encouraged to contribute ideas and to be innovative. If
they feel that something could be done better they are encouraged to voice that
opinion.
By creating a friendly, innovative culture, Coca-Cola Great Britain is able to
depend on a high quality workforce that helps it to maintain brand leadership
in Great Britain and in every other market in which it operates. Trust is at the
heart of every relationship, whether it be: customers' and consumers' trust that
the Company will provide the highest level of service and attention to their
needs, bottling partners' trust that the Company is operating in the best
interests of the Coca-Cola system employees' trust that their contribution is
being valued in an open culture. Open communication channels provide the
means to support a culture based on relationships. Coca-Cola has a number of
communication channels, including: monthly leadership team meeting
(involving function heads) weekly department team meetings monthly employee
team briefing session’s consultative employee groups for each region (with
representatives meeting in a European Council) surveys to monitor employee
views and feelings.

Q1. Taking references from the case study, discuss different Organizational
Structures used in Coca Cola.
Q2. Explain all the factors that play an important role in determining the structure
of Coca Cola.
Q3. Every organisation has not only structure but also a culture. Analyse the
culture of Coca Cola considering its core characteristics. (40 Lines)