The Coca-Cola Company
Coca-Cola is an American-based multinational corporation that manufactures retails and markets nonalcoholic beverages. Its headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia. Invented in 1886 by John Stith Pemberton, the company operates a number of franchised systems of distribution. Coca-Cola deals majorly syrup concentrates. Since its setup, the company has successfully acquired other businesses such as the Minute Maid and Indian based Thumps Up among many others. For some time, between 1982 and 1989, Coca-Cola used to own a movie studio called the Columbia, until they sold it to Sony at a cost of three billion dollars. 2005 Annual Report revealed that the company sold their products in more that 200countries worldwide. This led to the realization of about 15 billion dollars profit. In 2010, the Coca-Cola became the first brand that had ever topped 1 billion euros in the yearly UK grocery sales. Additionally, the company also trade in stock, with their stock ranking very high in the international stock market.
Coca-Cola Code of Ethical Conduct
- Integrity
Integrity in simple terms means doing what is right, even when no one is around to watch you. In the Coca-Cola Company, integrity stands as a fundamental principle alongside collaboration, accountability, diversity and passion among others. The company believes that by acting with the utmost integrity as an employee, the company will earn a lot of trust in the entire market. Therefore, the Coca-Cola company expects all its workers to comply with the code and laws, irrespective of the wherever they are. Integrity ranges from delegation of duties to handling of Company’s assets (Cola, 2009).
- Relationship of the Company with the Governments
For this reason, many countries such as USA and UK consider the act of bribery as a criminal offense which can lead to a number of strict penalties. The company, therefore, holds that should any of its workers be involved in the act of bribery with the government, a number of sanctions would be laid on him/her. These would include sucking, imprisonment and fines. However, at a narrow exception, a gift to the government may be allowable. The Coca-Cola Company encourages the personal participation of the workers in the political processes of various states. However, it should be done in a way that’s consistent and abiding to the laws of that country, as well as the Company’s guidelines.
- Relationship with the Suppliers, Customers, Consumers and Competitors
Coca-Cola greatly values its interaction with the suppliers, customers and consumers. In their code of ethical conduct, the company states that the above mentioned party should be treated with high level of concern and humanity. “Treat these groups of partners in the same capacity and manner we, as the company, expect to be treated” (Cola, 2009). On the issue of competition at large, the company’s code of conduct warns its workers to take great caution with its competitors. This goes beyond to touch on the issue of gathering the information on the competitors’ activities. The Coca-Cola Company has successfully come up with competition laws and guidelines which are specific to a given nation.
The Coca-Cola Company vs. the Pepsi Company
Pepsi can be considered as the most outstanding competitor of the Coca-Cola Company due to a number of similarities. First, these are all multinational corporations that deal with the manufacture, supply and retail of non-alcoholic beverages. Secondly, owing to the fact that these two companies are dealing in the same line of product, therefore, it means that any issue that affects either of them also affects the other competitor. For instance, these two companies might find it quite challenging to address matters such as integrity, relationship with the various governments and so on and so forth.
PepsiCo firmly holds that international trade and relations promote peace and coexistence in most countries all over the world. As a multinational, the company recognizes their responsibility for the legitimate interests, policies and laws of most governments of the world. Therefore, they state that they will always strive to obey all the applicable laws that have been set to govern their host countries (PepsiCo, 2008). They recognize being good corporate citizens of their host countries as their primary objective. Moreover, in their Code of International Conduct, PepsiCo states that they discourage offering of unplanned gifts to the third party such as the government. To them, this is regarded as bribery to the host government so as to be favored at the cost of other potential competitors like Coca-Cola. It’s for this reason that the company states: “We’ll always strive to observe the Pepsi’s Policy on Bribery at all times” (PepsiCo 2). It’s, therefore, evident that both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola share same thought on the issue of relating to the host government.
The PepsiCo are committed to the perpetuity of their free enterprise and all the regulatory and legal frameworks that support it. They, therefore, recognize the need for the legislation that protects the market and the industry from unfair trade, unethical and deceptive business deals. For the above stated reason, the Pepsi Company stipulates in their code that all deals that involve the customers, suppliers, consumers and competitors will be handled with in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the industry at large. They will strive to avoid any deceptive and unfair practice by presenting their products and services in a very forthright and fair manner. Additionally, all their competitors, customers and suppliers shall be treated with a lot of objectivities, fairness, and honesty. Selection of their suppliers shall be purely done on the merit basis. They withhold that their competitions shall be done with a lot of integrity. Never should any of the PepsiCo workers comment on their competitors’ products. The company will always strive to comply with the competition laws (PepsiCo, 2008).
As one of the world renowned multinationals, PepsiCo is always mindful of their image in the global arena. They will strive to walk the talk of upholding integrity by acting as they state in their code of conduct. Therefore, the PepsiCo has a strong emphasis on personal integrity among the workers. Additionally, the company holds that long-term test of integrity among the workers are the best measure of their commitment to the company. Above all, PepsiCo respects dignity of all their employees as well as their rights. The unique factor that has been attributed by the PepsiCo’s Code of Conduct is that their major strive to encourage an inclusive culture in an attempt of promoting integrity among its workers (PepsiCo, 2008).
It is very clear that these two MNCs that are of the same competitive capacity, through their consultant crew, have done more than enough research. In such cases, you will rarely find two competitors with the same scope of customers, sharing the same lines of thought about the issues. It is a common culture that, while one company is busy working on the potential threats, the other company is, on the other hand, busy working on spotting the former’s shortcomings and banking on them. Should both the Coca-Cola and PepsiCo address the above issues on integrity, relations with host governments, suppliers, and competitors with a lot of concern, their reputation on the global market will rate high. Additionally, their trust from the various stakeholders will grow to a greater level. In case they overlook such critical issue, then they stand to fail in a number of ways. First, they will always be at war with the hosting government over breach of the legislations of the land. Additionally, the company may possibly lose their market should they fail to show concern for the consumers, customers and the suppliers.
For Coca-Cola Company to remain compliant to the addressing of the above issues as well as remaining relevant in this competitive market, they are entitled to do a number of things. Feasibility study forms the core of success of almost all the projects. The company, therefore, should invest heavily in the feasibility study as a way of ensuring efficacy of their code of conduct. It’s obliged of the company to use techniques such as Strength Weakness Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) and Political Economic Social and Technological (PEST) analysis techniques to address most of the issues. This will always encircle the concerns that have been raised in the Code of ethical conduct. The above mentioned tools have been scientifically proven and used in the implementation of a number of programs. PEST merely entails assessing the political, socio-economic and technological trends and patterns of the target country (Morrison& Morrison, 2011).
Before investing in a country, Coca-Cola should send its team to go and do a cross-sectional analysis of the state. Otherwise, they may be considered as political moles. SWOT, on the other hand, entails striving to bank on your strengths and opportunities while striving to contain your weaknesses and to identify your threats. This analysis will greatly help Coca-Cola in implementing their comprehensively drafted code of ethical conduct. Although these are the technique that Coca-Cola is using, they are still lagging to be termed successful in their day to day implementation of the many policies gazette in their code of conduct. Proper assessment and auditing could be the best way of improving the efficiency of the above techniques at the implementation phase of policy making (Morrison& Morrison, 2011).
Coca-Cola, as a multinational company, is always on toes to keep up with the technological advancements that are going on in the global arena. Otherwise, they stand a chance of being ousted by their competitors. There have been a number of programs geared towards embracing the technological advancement by the company. First, the companies through its managers worldwide have strived to major on the use of Videoconferencing as a way of embracing technological advancements. To keep their clients well informed of their developments, Coca-Cola has used the internet to run and manage their adverts. This has consequently contributed to their sale and active interaction with its clients.
However, in their drive for technological advancement, Coca-Cola are under threat of challenges such as Spamming, Cybercrime and; Cyberspace Censorship by a number of countries. Cyberspace censorship is a common practice in most countries in the Middle East. This has in turn led to the loss of market to a number of businesses. Additionally, when the company concentrates on the online promotion, they are likely to lose in the conservative group who still holds that internet is not the best way to go. Therefore, as much as the company is recommended to go a bit online, it is with profound concern that they should also try to minimize their online activities, considering these potential challenges. They should strive to come up with ways that will integrate both analog and digital forms of communication.
In order to lobby the hosting governments towards their side, Coca-Cola Company has come up with a number of strategies. Most of these are geared around collaborating with either these governments or their institutions. Over years, a number of governments have partnered to sponsor a number of programs and projects. In the long run, they usually sell out their image to the public upon successful completion of such projects and programs. Such lobbying techniques are appropriate and acceptable in business since they help in the development in a number of aspects.
In conclusion, Coca-Cola Company has used huge amount of its resources in benefiting the global community. A survey done in the United States reveals that, Coca-Cola is topping the list of the most admired companies. This is because of their activities in the global community. The Company has continually strived to give a portion of their revenue back into the community. The Coca-Cola Foundation is the Company’s charity organization, whose goal is to support a number of the community development projects. This is usually done in an attempt of reciprocating for the community’s overwhelming support. Over decades, the Coca-Cola Foundation has helped in the construction of schools, hospitals and other infrastructures. Such developments in turn, continue earning them a name in the global market (CSRwire, 2013).
References
Cola, C. (2009). Code of Business Conduct. Atlanta: Coca-Cola Plaza.
Morrison, J., & Morrison, J. (2011). The global business environment: Meeting the challenges. Hound mills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
PepsiCo. (2008). WORLDWIDE CODE OF CONDUCT. New York: PepsiCo.
The Coca-Cola foundation gives back $36 million to raise living standards worldwide. (2013,Jun 20) CSRwire Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1369815740?accountid=1611
