MGT499-CASE3

Running Head: COCA COLA’S MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT

Coca Cola’s Mission and Vision Statement

ANNETTE TYLER

DR. WOOD, KERRI

MGT 499

16 May 2020

Coca Cola’s Mission Statement

When assessing the mission statement of an organization, there are five criteria that are used to ascertain is a mission statement is god or not. The mission statement of a company is compared to these criteria, and any deviation from these criteria implies a mission statement in question is not good. These criteria are informative nature of mission statement, simplicity if mission statement, longevity, brand persona, and memorable mission statement. If a mission statement does not have any of these elements, it is not yet complete enough to be called a good mission statement.

Coca Cola’s mission statement is stated as, “To refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit, to inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions, and to create value and make a difference," mission statement retrievable from https://en.coca-colaarabia.com/our-company/mission-vision-values From an analysis of this mission statement, it is informative. The use of the word 'refresh' in the mission statement informs customers what the company does and offers for customers. This word shows that the company produced products which refresh customers after maybe long working hours, during a family meeting or when friends converge together. The general idea behind the mission statement is that in any case, once body and spirit need to be refreshed. Consuming anything from Coca Cola is the optimal solution.

Assessing the simplicity of this mission statement, the mission statement is simple enough for employees to memorize it. The mission statement is only one sentence long, and hence employees can memorize it as they discharge their duties. Moreover, the mission statement uses relating phrases like body, mind, and spirits, which all lies within an individual. This mission statement, therefore, guidelines employees when discharging their duties. They tend to follow this mission statement and compare it with what they are doing. From their actions, they determine if final results will refresh the body, mind, and spirit of end consumers.

In an assessment of the longevity criteria of a mission statement, a mission statement should be able to remain valid through the lifetime of a company even as a company establishes changes in its operation. For the mission statement of Coca Cola, it stands out as a timeless mission statement. The mission statement can remain valid when a company wishes to introduce a beverage product in the market, drop a certain line of production, or even decide to merge certain lines of output. Therefore, provided that the company will remain to produce beverages for refreshment, the mission statement will remain relevant throughout the company's lifetime.

In terms of brand persona, a mission statement should be able to introduce what makes it different from direct competitors and what makes a company stand out as unique. This is, therefore, the personality of a company. In my opinion, coca cola's mission statement does not have a brand persona. This is because the mission statement is very general in nature, and being more specific could embedded brand persona in the mission statement. The mission statement does not identify whether it refreshes people through soft or hard drinks. In these criteria, this mission statement does not qualify to be a good mission statement.

A good mission statement should have an emotional appeal and should not be boring. For Coca Cola, the company mission statement meets this criterion. This mission statement is not boring, and linking once internal feelings to their immediate external world makes it have that emotional appeal to customers in the marketplace. Therefore, it connects with customers and events and hence a good mission statement.

Coca Cola’s Vision Statement

When assessing the quality of the vision statement, there are certain criteria that are followed, just like the case when assessing the quality of the mission statement. There are five indicators that a vision statement in comrade with them to assess if a vision statement exhibits these indicators. Indicators of a quality vision statement are future orientation, uniqueness, short enough, believable mission statement, and a challenge that an organization with to overcome (Kirkpatrick, 2016). Comparing the mission statement of Coca Cola with these indicators can help determine if the vision statement of Coca Cola can be referred to as quality or is just a mere statement that doesn't meet quality criteria.

The vision statement of coca-cola states that "Our vision is to craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love, to refresh them in body & spirit. And done in ways that create a more sustainable business and better-shared future that makes a difference in people's lives, communities and our planet” visions statement retrievable from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/purpose-and-vision. From this vision statement, in-depth analysis can help assess is a quality mission statement or has to be improved. Take, for instance, the consideration of elements of the future in the vision statement. In this vision statement, it embraces that it must remain in suitable business relations in future with its customers. Therefore, comparing this vision statement to the future orientation indicator, then this is a quality vision statement.

In terms of the uniqueness of the vision statement, in my opinion, this vision statement is unique in its way. The vision statement is all-encompassing in what Coca Cola is and why it exists. Mentioning of beverages in the vision statement makes it stand out as unique. Comparing the vision statement with a mission statement, it is more specific and has a brand persona in it. Moreover, the mission statement is not similar to any vision statement of direct competitors in Coca Cola’s industry of operation.

By assessing the challenge indicator of a quality vision statement, coca cola's vision statement meets this indicator. A good mission statement should create an emotion of what the company changes itself to do better. For Coca Cola, the company challenges itself to remain to produce what customers like in the marketplace. It is not easy to understand what customers want, and to produce exactly what they want takes an effort of a company. Coca Cola, therefore, challenges itself to produce nothing else rather than what customers want and the way they want to. The company to remain relevant, producing what customers want, it does intensifiers research to learn about its customer's behaviors to meet their needs at all time.

A vision sateen should be short enough for employees to memorize it. However, in my opinion, coca cola's vision statement is not short enough. It is not a precise statement one can grasp by reading it for the first time. One must recite it several times to be able to memorize it. Subsequently, the vision statement is not that long. If one can be able to memorize the two sentences of the sentence, it becomes easy to remember it, most importantly for staff when they are delegating their mandated duties.

The fifth criterion or indicator rater of a quality vision statement is nature to be believed because it is achievable. When companies develop a vision statement with a challenge that cannot be achieved, it becomes less believable by customers and staff. Coca Cola subjects itself to a simple challenge that the organization can realize through its lifecycle. This is meeting the needs of customers. This is possible in the condition that the company is knowledgeable about customer’s behaviors (Karam & Alexander, 2018, June). The company’s vision statement if believable enough because the company has proved itself since it was established. It has remained competitive and relevant to be consumer’s priority in more than a century (UNCU & ÇALIŞIR, 2019).

Coca Cola’s Core Values

The vision and mission statement are not the only two documents that are drivers of success in an organization. Core values are another driver of success in an organization. The core values in an organization can be defined as cultural behaviors that are accepted as ethical and goo to be exhibited by the staff of an origination.

There are some core values that are embraced to be exhibited among staff working for the company. Accountability is one of these core values embraced in the company. The company requires everyone to attend their duties with due diligence. This is to ensure that the company remains grounded to operate in line with its mission and vision statements. The second core values embraced in the company is collaboration. The company encourages its employees to collaborate to foster teamwork among its employees. Through collaboration, the company belies it establishes good relations with its customers and foster reliable teamwork among its premises of operation. The company is also guided by integrity as a core value. Everyone who is employed in the organization is expected to remain honest towards the company and remain loyal to the duties they are mandated to discharge. This way, the company is able to avoid fraud cases, which are associated with negligence of integrity by staff at a different level of operation in the company. Coca Cola is also guided by passion as core values. It encourages its staff to ensure they do whatever they are assigned with passion and the highest level of precision. This is perceived as the only way the company can be able to produce quality and avoid wastage of time resources by staff.

REFERENCES:

Kirkpatrick, S. A. (2016). Build a better vision statement: Extending research with practical advice. Rowman & Littlefield.

Karam, E., & Alexander, M. (2018, June). Exploring customer engagement marketing (CEM) and its impact on customer engagement behaviour (CEB) stimulation. In 10th SERVSIG Conference (pp. 208-213).

UNCU, G., & ÇALIŞIR, G. (2019). FROM PAST TO PRESENT; EVOLUTION OF THE LOGOS: APPLE, SHELL & COCA COLA CASES. Social Sciences, 14(5), 2623-2640.

https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/purpose-and-vision

https://en.coca-colaarabia.com/our-company/mission-vision-values