Organizing Work Paper (Coca-Cola)
Linda Black, Brian Gatlin, Alieu Savage, & Pamela Sparrow
Management - MGT/521
6/19/2014
Dr. Constance Townsend-Jordan
Organizing Work In 1886, a pharmacist John Pemberton, invented a mixture er of flavored syrup with carbonated water to form what is now Coca-Cola. In 1892, the Coca-Cola Company was founded. Today, the Coca-Cola Company is truly a global organization selling over 1.8 billion units a year. "Our Roadmap starts with our mission, who is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions. To refresh the world. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness. To create value and make a difference" (The Coca-Cola Company, 2014). First we will explain the current organizational structure of Coca-Cola. We will present a brief SWOT analysis. We will recommend if Coca-Cola current organizational structure should be changed or remained the same. We will defend its suggested recommendation. Lastly, we will explain why the current method is successful. Coca-Cola current organizational structure is hierarchal with global groups. Ok to indicate “we”--- better to indicate “the paper will…..”
Current Structure
Coca-Cola current organizational structure is firmly established on centralization. "Centralization is the degree to which decision making takes place at upper levels of the organization" (Coulter & Robbins, 2012, p. 272, para. 1). Coca-Cola is a multi-national organization with five continental divisions: Eurasia & Africa Group, Europe Group, Latin America Group, North America, and Pacific Group. There are an executive committee and president that are responsible for Coca-Cola's overall strategic direction; ,the president of each continental Coca-Cola operations, and the vice presidents control sub-divisions based on regions or countries. There are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in Coca-Cola's organizational structure.
SWOT Analysis
The Coca-Cola Company has clear strengths and opportunities, as a result, of its organizational structure. Coca-Cola is the largest independent bottler in the world in production, marketing, and distributing of nonalcoholic beverages. "We are a global business that operates on a local scale, in every community where we do business. We are able to create global reach with a local focus because of the strength of the Coca-Cola system" (Coca-Cola Company, 2014). Coca-Cola retains one of the world's most widely known brands. Coca-Cola capitalizes on its opportunities to pursue stronger marketing initiatives, entering into new emerging markets and creating new product flavors supports a stable long-term planning strategy. Although there are definite strengths and opportunities for Coca-Cola there also are obvious weaknesses and threats.
The weaknesses and threats are still apparent; however not as strong a force as it seemed in 2012. Coca-Cola's weakness is introducing new products into the market that results in failure. Increasing concern amongst consumers for being more health conscience presents a challenge not only to Coca-Cola. "The Horizon Foundation claims that Coca-Cola spends a majority of its ad dollars promoting unhealthily sugary drinks that are the leading cause of childhood obesity" (Melser, 2013). Coca-Cola has responded by introducing new brands like Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Smart water, Vitamin water, and Dasani. Competition is still highly competitive, with key competitors like Cott Corporation, National Beverage and PepsiCo. Even though, Coca-Cola has its challenges it organizational structure is stable.
Recommendations
We recommended that Coca-Cola current organizational structure remains the same. Coca-Cola is being a multi-national organization has to have a structure that is just as robust as it business. Coca-Cola keeping its Separate International Division Structure allows Coca-Cola to address
