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Coca-Cola Company Change
Lauren Gebbie, Noah Marine, Gabriella Peck, Jonathan Petion, Noah Rimmer
School of Business, Liberty University
BUSI 240: Organizational Behavior
Professor Boyce
November 8, 2021
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Coca-Cola has dominated the beverage market and distribution since its creation in 1892.
Since its inception, Coca-Cola has been able to create a plethora of soft drinks, and multiple
subunit companies to increase Coca-Cola's impact on the food and beverage industry. Since the
founding of Coca-Cola, the company has faced many challenges within the organization as well
as external issues. The company has been accused of racial injustice within the workplace, and
many corporate failures. In the past few years, Coca-Cola has promised to improve within these
issues, but several Coca-Cola factories around the globe are still affected by these issues. The
company should seek to change corporate policy or add nondiscriminatory training in order to
maintain a positive work environment.
Coca-Cola is an international company in the soda production industry. Products include
Coca-Cola drinks, Fanta, and Sprite. The original Coca-Cola drink was first mixed in 1886, by
pharmacist John Smith Pemberton. It was created as a medicine, but Pemberton sold it as both a
soda and a medicine. He sold his company to Asa Candler, who founded the Coca-Cola
Company in 1892. The original drink recipe contained traces of cocaine, which was not removed
until 1903. During the temperance movement, Coca-Cola was marketed in many Christian
publications as an “Intellectual Beverage and Temperance Drink” (Hutt, 2001), promoting that it
is a refreshing, non-alcoholic drink. This was the start of Coca-Cola's image as a pure and
wholesome company. Ironically, it was not until after this that cocaine was removed from the
product. Today, Coca-Cola is “a symbol of all things good, decent, and honest about America”
(Hutt, 2001). It is recognized around the globe as wholesome, and undoubtedly American.
Coca-Cola operates in the soda production industry. This includes regular soft drinks, diet
soft drinks, sparkling water, energy drinks, sports drinks, and others. The soda production
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industry is very competitive, but Coca-Cola continues to thrive. While PepsiCo has the lead in
the industry, about 2.5 times bigger than Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola is staying competitive. The
company's market share has grown rapidly in the past 5 years. Though the soda production
industry is full of competition, it produces high profits and the employee to revenue ratio is very
high (Hiner, 2021).
The Coca-Cola leadership worked very hard in 2020 to keep their employees and
customers happy. They successfully adapted to working remotely along with all the other
challenges presented by the pandemic. The board stresses how much effort they put toward
maintaining high customer satisfaction (Coca-Cola HBC, 2021, pp. 76-77).
Coca-Cola worked hard during the last year to stay updated on what their employees
needed. The company recognizes that “[their] employees are one of [their] most important
stakeholder groups” (Coca-Cola HBC, 2021, p. 91). There were additional engagement surveys
held throughout the year to better know how the company could help their employees. Keeping
their employees healthy and happy was a top priority during the pandemic and regular surveys
helped the company understand the needs of their employees (Coca-Cola HBC, 2021, p. 91).
Coca-Cola has also implemented a new tool in order to engage employees all over the
company. They introduced “Red Talks”. Red Talks is a program where employees record videos
of themselves telling stories about their projects and roles at Coca-Cola. This allows employees
to share ways they solved problems or learned from their mistakes, and other employees can
watch and learn from the experiences of others. It has been a very successful project and
continues to unite the company, promote peer learning, and strengthen the culture of the
company (Coca-Cola HBC, 2021, p. 40).
For Coca-Cola to improve their company, there needs to be a change within the
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organization. Three things that need to change include addressing and improving complaints
made about unequal pay due to race, modifying employee training for both new and current
employees, and an increase of community among employees to help with motivation. In 1999,
1,500 African Americans sued Coca-Cola for racial discrimination (Center for Ethical
Organizational Cultures Auburn University). The lawsuit continued to grow with 2,000 current
and former employees making accusations of Coca-Cola practicing discrimination in several
areas such as performance evaluation, pay, and promotion (Center for Ethical Organizational
Cultures Auburn University). Improving employee training will also benefit the company, for
new or existing employees. Although Coca-Cola has already established employee training, there
is always room for change if it means a beneficial outcome. Improving their training in any way
will improve the company as a whole. Lastly, an increase in community interaction could
increase employee motivation.
After performing a SWOT analysis on the company Coca-Cola, there are several
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the organization. Three strengths of the
company include brand equity, strong marketing strategies, and customer loyalty. Coca-Cola has
created strong brand equity since their establishment in 1886. Coca-Cola is the world’s most
popular and best selling soft drink in history (Coca-Cola Company). Coca-Cola also holds the
title for the best-known brand in the world (coca cola history). Another strength of the company
is their marketing strategies. Some of Coca-Cola’s marketing strategies include their logo,
packaging, and advertising (Tasneem, Kibria and Kibria, T). Coca-Cola has also established
strong customer loyalty due to their favored taste and message behind the product.
Three examples of Coca-Cola’s weaknesses are their competition with PepsiCo, a lack of
healthier products, and water management. PepsiCo is Coca-Cola’s biggest competition, which
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has been a challenging competitor to the company. Coca-Cola also has a lack of healthier
options, which is a major weakness because several of Coca-Cola’s products have high amounts
of sugar intake. Water is the main ingredient in Coca-Cola’s products, which can be detrimental
because water can be a limited source.
Two opportunities include expansion and new products. Coca-Cola is a multinational
beverage corporation, although there are opportunities to expand to countries, such as Cuba and
North Korea. Releasing new products is always an opportunity for Coca-Cola to expand more
healthier options.
Two examples of threats are the high competition and raw material sourcing. There is
high competition against Coca-Cola from several beverage companies, not only PepsiCo, which
is a major threat. Coca-Cola also faces the threat of raw material sourcing because water is the
main ingredient in the company's products.
The ethic, racial, and employee issues that Coca-Cola has been challenged with
throughout the past several years have shaped their company’s policy and the public’s view of
the corporation. The company has faced multiple racial issues in the past and still struggles with
allegations of discrimination today. In a survey conducted in 1999, it was discovered that the
corporation had racial discrimination charges that negatively affected the company’s production.
Around 2,200 African-American employees received lower pay, poorer performance evaluations,
and fewer promotions than their white counterparts (Business and Human Rights Resource
Centre, 1999). Coca-Cola was forced to pay a one hundred and ninety-two million dollar
settlement, which was the largest settlement in a race discrimination case at the time. The
company promised to proceed forward with equality throughout the corporation and a fair
working environment. Unfortunately, in the past year, Coca-Cola has been accused of racial
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discrimination in several training videos that the company claimed were “misunderstood”. The
instructor told workers to be “less white” and said she was communicating to be less arrogant,
less defensive, and more humble (Bremner, 2021). Robin DiAngelo, the course instructor, also
wrote the book “ ”, which discusses her view about hostility associated with whiteWhite Fragility
people when discussing their race. Coca-Cola has been under attack due to the allegations that
the company is racist, and arrogant (Bremner, 2021). Coca-Cola has been accused of racial
discrimination throughout the years and has made successful and unsuccessful attempts to
promote equality in the organization. Combating this issue is possible through training that is
focused on promoting equality through the workplace, with multiple instructors from different
races and genders. This group of people can create a training environment that is safe, and
considered multiple viewpoints on the same issue.
Another ethical issue within the company is the lack of union support for the employees,
and cases of unfair dismissals and disciplinary actions. There was a strike at their plant in
Bluefield, West Virginia, in recent years. Around 175 union workers went on strike after the
company required them to pay more for Healthcare and offered a twenty percent lower raise than
other facilities’ employees. Ken Hall, a union president, said that “it is disgusting to see a
company attempt to treat a group of their employees like second class citizens. There is no
justification whatsoever to pay these employees, who perform the same work as employees in
other parts of the state, substantially less while trying to require them to pay considerably more
for their benefits” (Jenkins, 2021). Coca-Cola resolved the issue with the factory workers this
previous year, three years after the workers brought the issue to be corporate. The addition of a
stronger union and more representation for workers can help any future issue that may be
presented. This could help an issue get to corporate faster and more effectively then other
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methods. The treatment of union workers in the last years has been less than adequate, and is in
need of change.
The three changes that need to be made to Coca-Cola are first, having a performance base
raise, second, encouraging anonymous tips or surveys available in the Human Resources office,
and third, minimizing relationship conflict during task conflict. To start, implementing a
performance based pay raise will ensure employees will be rewarded on how well they perform
and not their race or ethnicity. Secondly, employees will be encouraged to place anonymous tips
if they see racial discrimination taken place. The company can then evaluate the situation and
investigate the issues that are taking place. When they negotiate and deal with the conflict, Coca-
Cola will separate the relationship conflict from the task conflict. Task conflict focuses solely on
the issues or problem at hand. Relationship conflict focuses on the person and targets self esteem
and self enhancement (Mcshane & Glinow, 2015). Separating these two ensures that employees
are not being disciplined on their character but their actions.
Lastly, there are three additional changes that are going to be implemented: self
perception improvement, the use of contact hypothesis, and helping to develop a global mindset.
Perception improvement is a way to change the employees' views on not only people, but the
world around them, through meaningful interactions with one another. This is based on the
contact hypothesis that when people interact with one another they will not be biased (Mcshane
& Glinow, 2015). Lastly, making sure employees have a global mindset. “A global mindset refers
to an individual's ability to perceive, know about, and process information across cultures”
(Mcshane & Glinow, 2015, pg. 105). This helps the employees show empathy towards each other
when interaction takes place minimizing the potential ways of stereotyping.
Measuring success is one of the most important steps in the process of improving a
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company. An accurate measurement is what proves whether company changes have been
successful or not. The most accurate measurements are found in the financial outcomes that are
derived from the implementations. From a Christian worldview, one has to make the argument
that when one runs a business the way God intended it to be run, treating every employee
equally, God will bless you because you are doing things the way he intended. When it comes to
the ethical and racial issues that Coca-Cola has actualized, after implementing the necessary
changes, one of the best ways to measure the success of said implementations is through
employee satisfaction surveys. In his article titled, “Global Product Development Projects:
Measuring performance and monitoring the risks”, Thomas Paul Taylor explains that, “The
measurement of performance requires a performance measurement system, with the critical
element being a balanced set of financial and non-financial [Key Performance Indicators], which
in this article are defined as quantifiable metrics that help an organization measure the success of
critical factors” (Taylor, 2019). Enacting employee satisfaction surveys is the perfect example of
what Taylor calls a ‘Key Performance Indicator’, or a KPI. These surveys will look for specific
buzzwords and phrases that will prove the success of the implementations, such as words that are
synonymous with change, improvement, and progress. By running an employee satisfaction
survey, it is possible to determine if the changes did in fact make a difference to the employees.
Another example of a KPI that can be used is to conduct performance reviews. If the
efforts to solve the racial and unethical issues concerning the employees have been successful,
the employees’ production and workrate will naturally improve. The employee's performance
and efficiency in the workplace is truly the most coveted thing an employer could ask for. Moshe
Sharabi proves this concept in an article of his. The very name of the article is, “Improving
employees’ work centrality improves organizational performance: work events and work
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centrality relationships” (Sharabi, 2010). Work centrality is essentially the degree that an
employee values his work at; so, if Coca-Cola improves in its’ treatment of employees, thus
improving employees’ work centrality, Coca-Cola will ultimately be more productive and thus,
will make more money.
Another aspect to look for when it comes to measuring the success of a new change or
implementation is the time aspect, the aspect of figuring out how long it will take to accomplish
your goals. It is unrealistic for Coca-Cola to achieve perfection with the treatment of its
employees in the first week or even month of the new implementations. Coca-Cola must stay
dedicated to their implementations. They must continually assess the employee satisfaction rates
and continually adapt to the circumstances. If Coca-Cola makes these changes, within one year
the company will see a huge revitalisation in its employees and how they view their workplace
and company.
These implementations align with a biblical worldview by making sure everyone is loved
and cared for, along with being treated equally. John 7:24 says “Do not judge according to
appearance, but judge the righteous judgement”. Then in Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind
in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. God
tells us here that man was all created by the same creator, in the same image, with the same
purpose on earth. The only way man’s plan will work is if it aligns with God’s plan. These
changes ensure people in the workplace get treated with the same grace, love, and forgiveness
Christ gave for us on the cross. This plan will not only make the workplace in Coca-Cola a more
comforting environment to work at, but it will also give the opportunity for people to find out
more about Christ through the actions and words of their peers.
Coca-Cola’s strong following and company image keep their customers happy, but
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without the support of their employees, a company cannot survive. With the history behind Coca-
Cola, it is not hard to see that they will continue to persevere. With the company’s strengths,
weaknesses, and current overall status, the brand is famous enough to work through any conflicts
it may encounter. To summarize, Coca-Cola has a responsibility to treat all of its employees
equally. In the world today, people and companies have lost their jobs and reputations for things
far less offensive than what Coca-Cola has done. With such a company like Coca-Cola however,
it is to their benefit that they have done such a good job changing with the times and staying as
big as they are. Making these changes to support their employees will ensure the Coca-Cola
Company will continue to thrive for many years to come.
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References
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. (1999, April 22). Coca-Cola lawsuit (re racial
discrimination in USA). Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. Retrieved November 7,
2021, from https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/coca-cola-lawsuit-re-racial-
discrimination-in-usa/.
Bhasin, H., Ania, Jacob, Ghosh, A., Sarah, N., Flower, . . . Khan, M. (2019, May 05). Swot of
Coca Cola. Retrieved November 06, 2021, from https://www.marketing91.com/swot-coca-cola/
Bi-gale-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu. Business Insights:Global. (2019, September). Retrieved
November 7, 2021, from https://bi-gale-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/global/article/GALE
%7CA282511818?u=vic_liberty&sid=summon.
Center for Ethical Organizational Cultures Auburn University, The Coca-Cola Company ‘
struggles with ethical crises. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2021, from
https://harbert.auburn.edu/binaries/documents/center-for-ethical-organizational-
cultures/cases/coca-cola.pdf
Coca-Cola HBC. (2021, March 18). Integrated Annual Report 2020. Scribd. Retrieved
November 3, 2021, from https://www.scribd.com/document/517486264/2020-Integrated-Annual-
Report-18Mar2021.
Coca Cola SWOT analysis 2021: SWOT analysis of Coca Cola. (2021, October 18).
Retrieved November 06, 2021, from https://bstrategyhub.com/swot-analysis-of-coca-
cola-2019-coca-cola-swot-analysis/
Hiner, J. (2021, July). Soda Production in the US. IBIS World. Retrieved November 7,
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