Coca Cola Company is a multinational American beverage company that specializes in production and retailing of non alcoholic drinks as well as syrup. The company has established a bland name from the well known logo “coca cola” coined together by John Smith Pemberton a pharmacist in 1886.
The mother company is located in Atlanta Georgia in USA. Currently, Coca Cola holds more that five hundred different brands in the market. Being a multi national company, it has many branches world wide. Its operations are defined by franchised distribution where the company produces the coca cola syrup which is then sold to bottlers’ worldwide.
It is notable that Coca Cola Company is listed in the New York stock exchange. The company has been known to conduct various acquisitions. Among the famous acquisitions include Minute Maid acquired in 1960. In 1993; the company acquired Thums Up an Indian company dealing with a type of cola brand. In 2007, it acquired Fuze beverage a company owned by Castanea partners.
Coca Cola Company distributes coca cola products to many countries world wide. These goes to the tune of more than 200 countries. From company’s revenue amount, to about 1.5 million dollars, according to the 2005 annual report. By 2010, the report indicated that the revenues had risen to 1.6 billion dollars and this revenue came from the company’s products under the brand name coke (August, 2008).
The successes of the company lie on its mission statement which is acting with integrity around the world. This mission statement enabled the company to pursue other goals such as offering quality products worldwide. In this company, the business code of conduct is used to guide all the operations. This involves directing employees conduct to the relation of the company’s subsidiary world wide.
Like mentioned here above, the company’s mission statement puts across the companies aims and objectives. This includes maintaining the integrity in all its undertakings. In this line, therefore, the company’s business code of conduct is set among others to direct how the employees operate and relate within the company. This involves how they carry out company’s business. Coca cola’s code of conduct also aims to guide for the management as well as direct the board of directors.
With the employees, Coca Cola’s business code of conduct guides how employees conduct themselves not only as mere employees but the representatives of the company. The code of business conduct outlines the responsibility that workers have on each other as well as to the company, governments and consumers, suppliers and customers (August, 2008).
The business code of conduct stipulates that employees should work with honest and integrity while observing the law and being accountable for one’s actions. The code demands that employees get to know the business code of conduct. In addition, every employee is expected to adhere to the law as well as obey the code at all times. As such, employees are expected to improper behaviors by use of first-rate conclusion at all period and place.
Employees are expected to consider their actions and always seek guidance whenever one has doubt. At such a time, the code stipulates that, an employee should ask himself whether what he/she is about say or do is in line with the code. By asking this question, an employee will be able to know whether the action or utterance is ethical or not (smith 1952).
If after asking oneself these questions and still fail to get a solution, coca cola’s code of business conduct stipulates that the employee should seek clarifications from local ethics officer. This is after consulting the manager and the legal counsel. If then this does not still produce desired results, an employee is advised to seek help from ethics and compliance office.
With the managers, the company’s business code of business conduct stipulates that managers at all time should be role models to the rest of employees. As per the business code of conduct, managers should make sure that the employees under him fully comprehend their duties as stipulated in the code as well as in other policies of the company. In addition, coca cola’s code of business conduct requires that managers take time to discus with their employees the significance of the code by reinforcing on the same during discussions.
Coca-cola’s code of business conduct stipulates that managers need to create a favorable environment where employees are free to express their concerns over the company. When employing new employees, the code requires that manager evaluate the said employee with the code as the reference point. In this line, the companies code of business conduct puts it to the managers that at no one time should they require their employees to work at the expense of business code of conduct (August, 2008).
The managers as per the code of conduct are always mandated to protect the code from distortion and violations. Faced with any issue on the code, managers are expected to provide full attention and only answer if one is sure that the answer is the best and in line with the code. Incases where employees bring out an issue that need be investigated under the code, a manager is expected to seek assistance from the company’s legal counsel (Zyman 2009).
In coca-cola company, the business code of conduct is used to safe guard the company’s operations. The code guides all its activities from general to specific activities. This involves the company’s financial records to keeping the company’s non public information. As such, both the employees, managers and the board of directors are expected to safe guard and ensure that the company’s financial and business records are accurate at all time.
On the other hand, the code stipulates that the company’s assets be used appropriately and in the manner intended. In doing this, one is expected to use common sense while using a company’s assets. Incases where one intends to use company assets, the code requires that such a person provides in writing his intention annually to the local ethics officer (Cory, 2000).
The company’s non public information should always be kept secrete. The code of conduct stipulates that all information that range from contracts, pricing to marketing plans should be kept as a company’s secrete (Duska, 2007)
With the changing nature of the company’s line of production that could involve advancing into different or diverse production, a change of the code of ethics is always needed to represent the new scenario. As a company’s C E O, modifying the code would involve restructuring the already existing codes of ethics to meet the new situation, and this might involve also introducing entirely new guidelines and expectations. Such new guidelines can be implemented by discussing them to the employees.
With introductions of new codes of conducts, resistance by the workers is always expected. This is in line with people’s tendency to accept changes for the managers. Changes in codes of business ethics mean that they need to change if not alter their administration style. This is in order to impact the new ethics to the employees. If a company has an inbuilt organizational culture, acceptance of new code becomes easier as each takes responsibility according to his/her position (Frederic 2002).
As such, the effects of the code on the organization is that an organization’s goals and objectives are met easily as every body must strive to work in line with the code of conducts and thus be able to pursue the organization’s goal easily.
In summary then, we have seen that an organizations code of ethics will differ according to the temperament of the activity carried out by the company. Every member of the organization has a role to play in the organization and such roles, and their expectations are clearly defined in the code of conduct.
Reference list
August W. Giebelhaus (2008). "Coca-Cola Company". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council.
Cory, Jacques (2000). Activist Business Ethics. Boston: Springe
Duska, R. (2007). Contemporary Reflections on Business Ethics. Boston: Springe
Frederic, R. E. (2002). A Companion to Business Ethics.. Massachusetts: Blackwell
Smith, A ( 1952) An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p. 55
Zyman, Sergio ( 1999). The End of Marketing as We Know It. New York: HarperBusiness
