Human Resource Processes at Coca Cola

 Introduction

Human resource planning is the bridge between human resource management and strategic plan of a company. Human resource planning identifies human resource trends and identifies the human resources current and future needs of a company. Human resource planning assist company managers successfully meet future human resource demands with the right people in the right place and time that they need them. Years ago companies only had to worry about the development and sales of their product and possibly one or two competitors. Now in the social media world we live in companies need to put more effort into other marketing area of their business. “The need to carefully monitor strategic workforce planning activities will become even more acute in the coming years” (Melo, 2015. P. 201) Top talent is key in running a successful business. Unfortunately recruiting and hiring top talent is not the only barrier. The key to a successful company is to retain their talent. In this group assignment we will dive into the human resources processes of The Coca Cola Company, which has been in business since 1886.

 The Coca Cola Company

According to Theworldofcola.com the history of Coca-Cola originated in 1886 when a pharmacist in Atlanta, Dr. John S. Pemberton started tinkering flavored syrups. He brought it to a pharmacy and this is where it was mixed with carbonated water and quickly became popular with all those who tasted it. This led to the creation of a unique soft drink, which could be sold at soda fountain shops. Business Strategy Hub mentions in their Coca Cola SWOT Analysis facts that, “94% of the world’s population recognizes the brand instantly by 

its red and white Coca-Cola logo as per Business Insider. More than 10,000 soft drinks from Coca-Cola are consumed every second of every day on average”.

Supply Analysis 

In most organizations, just like in Coca Cola’s case, supply and demand play a very important part in the company’s income and marketing proposals. The market price of Coca Cola’s products are defined by both supply and demand for their products. Analyzing the supply and demand for Coca Cola’s products frequently is imperative to guarantee they are able to produce the effective amount of products needed by their consumers. 

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Supply analysis is defined as, “a detailed review of the inputs and outputs of a process that is employed to assess how the available quantity of a product is affected by changes in demand, input factors and production techniques. Supply analysis is often used to make key policy decisions by manufacturing business managers since it gives them insight into how shifts in production are likely to influence market supply” (Business Dictionary, 2019). The supply analysis is the correlation among price and quantity supply. The supply curve that we have created below is a generic example of what the Coca Cola’s supply curve which is usually a positively sloping curve may look like. The illustration shows how the price and quantity demanded are connected. P1 is the price of the product and Q1 is the quantity supply. When P1 increases, the quantity supply also increased. This illustration also shows that as the price goes up, the manufacturers are prepared to supply more to be able to make more revenue. Price maybe be possibly one of the main factors that impact supply.

There are many factors that may impact the supply of Coca Cola’s products. Besides price, cost of production is another factor. If the cost of production increases, then the supply of the product would decrease. The next factor that plays a factor in the supply curve is technology. Technology is constantly changing. Enhancing production to more efficient and cost less will allow companies like Coca Cola to supply more products at the same or even less of a price.

Demand Analysis 

Demand analysis defined by dictionary business dictionary is, “the study of sales generated by a good or service to determine the reasons for its success or failure, and how its sales performance can be improved” (Business Dictionary, 2019). A demand curve is a graph that indicates the demand for a product or service that a customer is willing or able to buy with a price given. Below is an example of a typical demand curve that we have created to show how and when the price of a certain product/ service is at one point and the quantity of the product/service is located at another. If the price increases (P2) then the quantity decreases (Q2). Therefore, the higher the price in the product, the less of the demand the product will have.

There are many factors that may affect the demand of Coca Cola’s products. First of all, there is a variety of substitute goods. According to Marketing91, they have given examples of Coca Cola’s competitors which include, Pepsi, Fanta, Mountain Dew, and a few others. The price of relative goods such as the prices of competitors products can change the price and demand of Coca Cola’s products. If the competitors drinks are the same or even slightly lower than Coca Cola’s, then the demand for Coca Cola’s will lower as well. Below is an example between Coca Cola and Pepsi for price and Quantity demanded. Now, there are other influences that affect Coca Cola’s demand. Preferences and taste are a huge factor for consumers. If consumers think soft drinks taste the same and have no preference, then price plays a factor to Coca Cola’s demand in products because consumers will buy the cheaper product no matter what brand it is. But there are consumers that think regardless of price, the consumers will strictly buy Coca-Cola’s products due to the great taste they provide in their products. Consumers income also plays a role in the demand of Coca Cola’s products. Coca Cola would be considered a normal good, so the increase in income leads to an increase in demand. Time is also extremely important when looking at demand for any company. Coca Cola has seasons that they tend to sell more than others.

     Adapting to the supply and demand of consumers and producing the correct supply is crucial for Coca Cola as they do not want a product surplus on their hands or even worse, they could lose sales and revenue for the company. The amount of a product or service that is expected by consumers is the demand needed. On the other hand, supply needed is what the Coca Cola will be able to offer. As we saw, price can greatly affect supply and demands relationship within Coca Cola’s analysis of both. Supply and demand should be equal at all times which is the equilibrium point.

Gap Analysis

 Coca-Cola is one of the leading American multinational corporations that manufacture and distribute nonalcoholic beverages around the world. The company has strength the core of the company by partnering with sport hydration brand BODYAMOR and has expanded its portfolio by merging with Costa Limited in 2019. Coca-Cola (2018) The Company is responsible for 165 products that are distributed worldwide. The company is also responsible for replenishing 155% of the water used to communities. In order to keep up with the demand and supply the company has invested $125 billion dollars within the company technology in order to connect to the market faster. Coca-Cola has been able to stay on top of the market since May 8, 1886 through innovation and a investing in the suitability of the communities. (Indeed, 2019) In order to keep up with the trend of the market and remain competitive it’s imperative for Coca-Cola to create shared opportunity with growth potential internally. The company also has transform into many international markets and must be able to connect globally to customers, employees and shareowners. (Coca-Cola, 2018)

      With over 62,600 employees worldwide the company uses job analysis to determine the skills and requirement for each position within the company. Human Resources seeks individual that have the specific education requirement that matches the job description that best match the candidates. Coca- Cola was forced to refranchise in different territories causing a reduction of employee by 38% in 2017. Overtime the company has had to increase staff to handle the newly acquired operation in Latin America, Cambodia, Guatemala and United States but has since reduce workforce due to productivity initiative. The company employee budget make it around 20% of the company earning which has significant reduce since 2007 which was around 33.6 % of the company earnings. The company has the task of keeping up with issues concerning social, political, diversity, human and workplace rights, environmental trends and engagement. As a result, the company has developed a Priority Issue Matrix that includes Responsibility supply chain management, employee wellness development and engagement, operational health and safety, human rights, diversity and opportunities, women economic empowerment, water stewardship, responsibility sources and community engagement. (The Coca-Cola Company, 2013)

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There is also a need for Coca-Cola leaders, staff members and stakeholders to be able to gauge the challenges, and establish new goals. The key to being successful is gaining the knowledge which will require partnering with other sources. This will allow the company to obtain better data results and inclusive collection of data to draw up a comprehensive plan. The company will need to analyze its current business process and review its performance levels based on mid-level, executive and international employees.  According to Coca-Cola “Our company culture is curious, empowered and inclusive believing in making progress rather than worrying about perfection. These behaviors are encouraged throughout the organization and in the many ways we engage our employees, from recruitment to ongoing learning and development, encompassing every role.” (Coca-Cola Company, 2013)

The future state of Coca-Cola is to implement a strategic mission that employs a diverse employee talent and seek to have 50% driven by women in order to promote diversity and inclusion. (Coca-Cola Company, 2013) Identifying the gaps in order to separate themselves from the competitor is crucial. Creating position that have longevity, higher base salary, annual incentives, long-term incentives, benefits and training can have an impact on employee remaining with the company. In addition, with combating employee retention the company must also consider employee flexibility. In order to support the entire organization and encourage innovation and career opportunities the company will also need. 

Strategic Development Plan 

“Once the corporate and business unit strategies have been established, then the human resource (HR) strategy can be developed” (Melo, 2015, p.200) Coca-Cola has an assortment of over 3,000 drinks in different variations ranging from diet to regular and sparking.

According to the website Coca-Cola ranks among the world’s top 10 employers with more than 700,000 employees. Due to the high demand of the product Coca-Cola employees take on many roles in the production, development and creativity areas of the company. The company demands forecast the staffing needs. It is imperative that the company focuses on job analysis, which will guide them in forecasting their staffing needs and challenges. The job analysis will assist the company in developing the criteria for hiring and also the training modules for their employees.

Recruiting

With an employee base of 700,000, human resource within Coca-Cola is an important factor when seeking, hiring and retaining talent. With Coca-Cola’s complex product line their human resources looks for external as well as internal employees when recruiting for the multiple service lines. When looking internally, Coca-Cola is always on the lookout for new talent, be it in experienced hires, the Coca-Cola graduate program, or the University Talent Program.(JobTestPrep 2017) Coca-Cola is determined to hire the best of the best. They seek out to hire highly competent and qualified people who can think strategically towards the goals. The recruitment at Coca cola starts with the job analysis and design so that their responsibilities and the levels of proficiencies needed for each function can be done. The company has created a clear job description and job responsibilities for all the positions the need to fill. This information is crucial for the selection and recruitment at Coca-Cola The recruitment process at Coca Cola is done by advertisements. Solicitations are posted primarily on online job boards as well as newspapers, and on the company website. Once an application is received that meets the companies criteria the applicants are invited for interviews which contain a variety of other elements such as group exercises, psychometric tests, situational exercises or playing out roles and presentation. The exercises are conducted in order  to test the candidates ability to communicate in a group setting.

Succession planning and knowledge management

“Succession planning involves identifying key management positions that the organization cannot afford to have vacant” (Melo, 2015, p.207) according to Melo succession planning helps in the transition when an employee leaves their position. It is common for the new employee to work side by side with the employee that is leaving. This allows seamless transition for the new employee to be trained by the departing employee. According to their LinkedIn page part of Coca-Cola’s talent strategy in succession planning and career development is to “coach line managers in career development practices to support their own development and/or that of their people. Conducts need analysis to create learning and development plans” (LinkedIn, 2019).

Employee development and retraining

Coca-Cola prides themselves in being one of the best companies in the world who offers outstanding benefits packages to their employees. They also offer a vast variety of career development opportunities for their employees including Coca-Cola University, which is a learning program for their high performers. “Using the Peak Performance System, our performance management and development system, in tandem with more than 100 global people development forums, associates and their managers regularly discuss development, movement and succession plans around the world”. (Colacompany.com, 2018) Once the employees have been hired into the company, they go through employee training, which teaches them the techniques and procedures of how and why the work is done, the guidelines and directions that are followed by the employees. This process assures that the employee has a seamless transition from their previous employee to the Coca cola culture where equality is emphasized and the employee initiative is highly instilled. The employees are also trained on various equipment that they may use in the course of their careers pertaining to their job description. 

Work/ organizational change

Incorporating new policies and approaches, the company appoints the assistance of their change management team. Change management is a systematized tactic which targets the shifting of a companies core managing teams or individual employees from their current or past approach or processes to a more suitable future state. Coca Cola has products in over 200 countries; with such a base the management has the role of responding to changes in both local and international markets and with changes of legislation by the government and modifications in the economy whether locally or internationally.

Summary

With over 64,000 employees, Coca-Cola has a responsibility to establish strategies to sustain their current growth and development domestically and internationally.  The company can choose to implement an OSM (office of strategy management system) that aligns with the organization objectives that can create individual focus, realize synergies, manage process alignment, communicate, manage strategic initiatives and also create competency development programs that provide incentive for employees annually. It is essential for a company this large in size to be able to communicate corporate strategy from executive level down to entry level employees.  In addition, the HR director has expressed the need to “employ as many nationals to support its international businesses as possible.” He has also expressed the need for expatriates that can bridge gaps between operations due to the fact that Coca-Cola is a global operation.  International exposure is critical at all levels within the organization and recruiting 

References

• Bhasin, H., Onyango, A. O., & Doherty, H. (2019, January 10). 11 Top Coca cola competitors – Competitor analysis of Coca cola. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.marketing91.com/coca-cola-competitors/.
• Coca-Cola History │ World of Coca. (2017). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/about-us/coca-cola-history/.
• Coca-Cola Who We Are. (2018). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/careers/who-we-are-infographic. jobTestPrep. (2017). Coca-Cola Assessment Centre & Interview Preparation. Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.jobtestprep.co.uk/coca-cola-assessment.
• Coca-Cola (2018) 2018 Business & Sustainability Report retrieved on October 7, 2019 fromhttps://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/private/fileassets/pdf/2019/Coca-Cola-Business-and-Sustainability-Report.pdf
• Coca Cola SWOT analysis 2019 | SWOT Analysis of Coca Cola. (2019, March 19). Retrieved from https://bstrategyhub.com/swot-analysis-of-coca-cola-2019-coca-cola-swot-analysis/
• Indeed 2019 Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC retrieved October 7, 2019 from https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Coca–cola-Beverages-Florida,-LLC
• Mello, J. A. (2015). Strategic human resource management. Stamford, CT, USA: Cengage Learning. 
• The Coca-Cola Company hiring Talent Management Business Partner in Atlanta, GA, US. (2019). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/talent-management-business-partner-at-the-coca-cola-company-1091872620.
• The Coca-Cola Company (2013, April 24) Coca-Cola Named among ‘Top 50 Companies for Diversity’ retrieved October 7, 2019 from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/press-center/company-articles/coca-cola-named-among-top-50-companies-for-diversity
• What is supply analysis? definition and meaning. (2019). Retrieved October 13, 2019, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/supply-analysis.html. 
• What is demand analysis? definition and meaning. (2019). Retrieved October 13, 2019, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/demand-analysis.html.