Introduction
Leadership and strategy articulate the dilemma arising from senior management and propose a creative solution to the problem (Emerald Publishing, 2023). This kind of leadership strategy significantly impacts various aspects of the organization. It mainly affects decision-making, which is the most crucial function of management (IQualify UK, 2020). Management decisions are helpful during turbulent external environmental challenges that are likely to arise. The analysis mainly focuses on leadership and strategy in the Coca-Cola company.
Managing Stress and Inspiring Employees
To help individuals manage stress and anxiety, a leader should provide them autonomy and authority over personal decisions. The emphasis switches to what is truly important in a high-risk, high-stakes, and highly insecure setting. The leader’s role should be stability; they should be informed of what is going on and how the situation is evolving on the ground and be prepared to intervene when difficulties arise (Developers, 2022). It is more crucial than ever in times of crisis to excite and inspire others. Authentic leadership during such circumstances entails numerous critical dimensions, such as presence, relating, sense-making, action, and service.
Motivational Strategies for Success
The company employs various strategies to achieve the desired goals. Motivational strategy is an essential strategy that aids the organization (Wp, 2019). The motivational strategy aims to boost the morale of employees. Alongside motivational strategy is the developmental forum. The forum offers various opportunities, including teaching and functional development, which enables employees of the organization to build relevant skills. Financial rewards are also a brilliant way of motivating employees. Financial rewards push employees to perform better, inspire them, and drive innovation. Employees receive monetary rewards that give them morale. There are also leadership behaviors that are imperative to the culture of the organization.
Decision-Making During Crises
A motivational strategy is helpful to the organization’s decision-making during turbulent external environmental challenges. During a crisis, the organization relies on employees to perform better. The employees are well motivated and are therefore not hesitant to observe various measures that are put in place to curb the situation at hand (Arun, 2023). A motivation strategy also spurs innovations, which are helpful during crisis moments. There is likely to be a change in how the organization operates, and innovation ensures that the most efficient ways are developed.
Preparing Future Leaders
Coca-Cola company takes into account the identification of future leaders. The organization further employs a strategy of helping future leaders to think to navigate an uncertain future. The future can be uncertain and requires leaders to be prepared when it happens. The company has various ways to ensure that future leaders think (Havard Business Publishing, 2019). There are lessons on how to tackle challenges of scale and the role of talent development in building the workforce in the future. The organization also considers success and lessons learned from Coca-Cola’s innovation and experiments in leadership development.
Culture of Success and Transformation
The presence of future leaders provides options for the organization in case of any turbulence. There are enough personnel equipped with enough knowledge to tackle any challenges faced. The leaders are further equipped with the knowledge of the uncertainty of the future, thus making it easier to make decisions faster. The leadership of the Coca-Cola company instills a culture of success that fuels transformation and growth in the company. Through a thriving culture, employees work towards the organization’s objectives. The company also employs a strategy of persuasive distribution. It has enabled the development of a robust global footprint with a local touch of the market worldwide. The company approximates partners to 225 across more than 200 countries (The Coca-Cola Company, 2023). Success culture aids in the company’s decision-making in case of environmental crisis. The employees are determined to grow, which makes it easier for the organization’s leadership to run smoothly.
Building Relationships for Better Leadership
The company has put in place relationship-building strategies among its leaders. Leadership aids in shaping and defining the world of insurmountable challenges. The company’s leadership is not hierarchical; it focuses on creating a clear and compelling vision for the organization to inspire people to achieve the vision (Bradt, 2021). Through building relationships, the leadership and employees are free to work together, thus making decisions more effortless. When an environment such as COVID-19 occurs, the management can easily communicate with the employees with various strategies that can aid the organization.
Change Management and Organizational Improvement
Change management efforts aid in boosting productivity, culture, or quality of a company’s products. When an organization lacks change management, its performance is affected, and competitors catch up with the product and service dealings. The author identifies various steps involved in change management (Strategic leadership at CocaCola, 2023). The organization needs to establish a sense of urgency. The next step is to form a powerful guiding coalition. The institution must communicate its vision and empower people to work on it. The organization then creates short-term wins, consolidates improvement, brings more change, and finally institutionalizes a new approach. Change of management is a decision-making making during a crisis. During a crisis, only products with efficient quality will likely remain. Change management is one factor that improves quality, productivity, and culture.
Beatriz Perez and Strategic Leadership
The analysis also highlights Beatriz Perez, the SUP and Chief Communications, sustainability, and strategic partnership officer. Beatriz has various functions, which include leading digital media strategy and building brands. The leader maintains an essential relationship with institutions such as NASCAR and American partnership. She learned to drive a Coca-Cola delivery truck to see the business from the ground. Through such leadership, deciding which departments to lay off people in a crisis is easier. The leaders have a glimpse of what happens on the ground, therefore making the most effective decisions.
Mission, Vision, and Long-Term Goals
Coca-Cola follows various steps of strategies that are put in place. The institution developed a mission and a vision to guide its employees. The company aims to thrive in the next ten years and beyond (StudentGuiders, 2022). The mission is helpful in decision-making because various stakeholders believe that they have to ensure the company thrives in the next ten years and beyond, even in the emergence of any environmental crisis. The company also aims to refresh the world, create value, make a difference, and inspire moments of optimism and happiness. The institution’s vision lies in various aspects, including people, portfolio, partners, planet, and profit profitability.
Competition and Market Positioning
The company further employs different strategies. The competition narrows down because they own other beverage brands, which are their competition. The organization reviews and evaluates business plans and performance to further improve earnings and analyze its competitive position in the market. The organization also makes decisions that realign business models to match various company objectives. Making decisions that align with the company’s goals is imperative in ensuring that the organization hits its target despite a crisis such as COVID-19.
Operational Structure for Efficient Decision-Making
The operational structure of the Coca-Cola company is also an important aspect to study. The structure includes four geographical operating segments: Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin and North America, and Asia Pacific (Organimi, 2022). The company is controlled by the top–down the hierarchy, with decision-making residing with the company’s upper management and flowing down the organizational hierarchy. The mode of decision-making is essential because it ensures that decisions are fast. In the case of eternal environmental challenges, decisions should be fast to ensure the organization remains relevant. The structure is also segmented into various regions, thus making it easier to make decisions because there are representatives in multiple areas.
CEO’s Role and Strategic Decision-Making
The organization provides a detailed analysis of the tasks and role of the Chief Executive Officer. The responsibilities of the CEO include those which can be delegated to other employees and others which are only completed by the CEO. The strategy was incorporated during the era of Robert Goizueta as the CEO of the Coca-Cola Company (Strategic Leadership at Coca-Cola, 2023). Goizueta made an effort to change the company and align it with new trends in the industry. Aligning the company to new trends assists in decision-making because the company’s competitors have no advantage over Coca-Cola.
Risk-Taking and Visionary Leadership
Goizueta is a risk taker as the leader of the Coca-Cola company. There are two types of leaders: managerial leaders who do not like taking risks, and their goals are based upon the past and necessity. We also have visionary leaders who like to change people’s thinking and are mainly concerned with the organization’s future. Strategic leaders, on the other hand, are a combination of managerial and visionary leaders (BlaHead, 2021). Risk-taking leaders can make bold decisions, including pursuing innovation, taking calculated risks, staying focused, and emphasizing resilience. Goizueta changed the formula of Coca-Cola to a sweeter formula due to competition from Pepsi—the act of bailing out Columbia Pictures from bankruptcy and selling it to Sony for a more significant profit.
Women in Leadership
Women were also incorporated into the organization’s leadership. In the previous eight years, the global proportion of women in leadership has escalated. The strategy is centered on women’s considerable contribution to household purchasing decisions (Olabode, 2022). In addition, the corporation collaborated with several programs to expedite the growth and advancement of female talent into positions of increasing responsibility and impact. Women’s issues will be separated from the diversity program, a worldwide women’s initiative will be formed to develop female leaders inside the firm structure, and a female leadership council will be formed. Incorporating women into leadership is essential for decision-making because of women’s role in purchasing household items. In times of crisis, women leaders can offer great advice to push the company forward.
Marketing Strategies
Coca-Cola Company employs leadership strategies that aid in marketing. Coca-Cola offers a product strategy that includes a wide variety of products. The company offers its soft drinks globally and includes a marketing mix of different varieties. The company also offers a pricing strategy whereby the price of its products remains fixed for longer. The price of the products neither increases nor decreases significantly due to competition from other beverage-producing companies. The company also employs promotion strategies to remain relevant in the market. The company spends up to $ 4 million annually to promote its brand (The Coca-Cola Company, 2023). Marketing strategy is vital in decision-making because it ensures the organization remains relevant despite an external environmental challenge.
Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior is also an essential factor in the organizational decision-making of Coca-Cola company. There are various decision-making approaches, including the vision-led, plan-led, and consensus-led approaches. The company has a board of members elected by the shareholders to assume responsibility for protecting their interests and ensuring its success. The elected personnel make most decisions unless they need consultation from stakeholders and have various roles, such as overseeing senior officers of the company and guiding and advising them (Borrego, 2022). Choices made by the board members are the way to go because they include people with management understanding, making them efficient for the company, mainly in times of crisis.
Differentiation Strategy
Coca-Cola employs a differentiation strategy, allowing companies to take on an innovative approach to its products and charge premium prices. The company focuses on trademarks and patents to ensure its product remains unique. Coca-Cola Company achieves differentiation through special packaging, branding, and advertising (Animitevabg, 2022). An example of the strategy is when the company decided to print cans and bottles bearing 250 of the most famous names in each country. The strategy not only generated income but also managed to generate an incredible global impact. The differentiation strategy enables the organization to maintain its marketable share even during turbulent times. The strategy also enables the organization to maintain product differentiation, allowing it to cater to various consumer needs and preferences, thus reducing the company’s exposure during a crisis.
Recommendations
Because Coca-Cola is a global supplier and evaluates all aspects of international trade, conflicts, and potential obstacles, ensuring that the corporation’s leaders are skilled at avoiding and resolving difficulties that may impact the company’s outcomes is critical. This would lay a solid foundation for reducing and eliminating any concerns inside and outside the corporation. As a result, developing a program to teach leaders, build trust, and resolve particular issues for the benefit of the entire business is the solution (Havard Business Publishing, 2019). The program’s premise is the development of the ability to resolve relational and task-related disputes.
When it comes to dealing with disagreements, even the most capable and experienced leaders may struggle. The problems may arise within the Coca-Cola firm as a result of rivalry between divisions or branches. Furthermore, difficulties may arise on a task-related level if persons disagree on a specific goal or a strategy to help attain the stated aim. This is why the program focuses on providing leaders with skills and information for dispute resolution. When there is a crisis, conflicts can have an impact on how the organization operates.
Conclusion
The Coca-Cola Company has a functional plan that contains specific targets for various sections of the firm to achieve its objectives. Marketing, finance, operations, and human resources are among the divisions of the organization. The marketing plan has already been detailed in the analysis, so the focus of this section is on the expansion strategy (Studysmarter, 2023). Coca-Cola is highly reliant on its bottling partners throughout the world, necessitating the company’s improvement of logistics and bottling processes in order to expand. Coca-Cola efficiently communicates with consumers by joining social networks, participating in popular culture-related activities, and gaining knowledge about the newest consumer trends. The expansion strategy aids in brand awareness, thus improving brand awareness and recognition in new markets. It helps the company to maintain its market share and brand loyalty.
Coca-Cola employs a hands-off approach to leadership. The leader delegates responsibilities to their employees while providing little or no direction. Coca-Cola also uses the transactional technique. Leaders use this strategy to create goals for their teams, giving staff orders and processing paperwork to help them reach those goals. Employees are rewarded when their performance is excellent, but they are punished when their performance is subpar (Jahan, 2021). The approach can be a constructive way of decision-making and gives more power to employees and teams, empowering them to make decisions in real-time during turbulent external environmental challenges.
Coca-Cola company adopts cross-cultural leadership. The type of leadership works in such a way that the head of each country working for the company comes from the native employees (Mankins 2022). Cross-cultural leadership aids in having leaders who understand their community; therefore, in case of an external environmental challenge, the organization can deal with its customers. Leadership in multinational companies affects decisions made in a company. Coca-Cola company has strategies and leadership styles that aid in decision-making. During turbulent external environmental challenges, most companies that do not have efficient leadership and strategy face difficulty and may even collapse. Having good strategies saves all the risks.
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