QUESTION $2$

Creating an effective Organizational Structure

As a global company recognized worldwide, Coca Cola Company creates an effective organizational structure that reflects its market position while meeting needs of regional markets. The company has an international divisional structure which allows its international staff to work separately from headquarter. The company divisions are distributed everywhere around the globe, each division has its own president who controls each continental division. Each president in each division has vice presidents who proceed their work regionally. The structure in Coca Cola extends from organizing internal relationships to external ones. External groups include bottling groups and suppliers and other groups with whom the company tends to strengthen its relationships to ensure that products are made into finished beverages and meet necessary quality requirements.

Fit between Coca Cola Strategy and Structure

Coca Cola organizational structure reflects the fit between different elements of the company internally and externally. To implement its plan, the company must have both strategy and structure woven together. During the last decade, the company restructured its geographical operating segments in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. This organizational change was in favor to implement the company strategy, by focusing on divisions that need to be decentralized and give the chance to presidents in these areas to take strategic decisions according to their area requirements. The strategy of Coca Cola is characterized by local manufacturing and global marketing. According to structural changes in the company, the global marketing approach has been changed to local marketing to meet varieties in customers$$ experiences and preferences.

Outcomes of the fit between Coca Cola Strategy and Structure

The primary outcome of this fit between Coca Cola strategy and structure can be seen in the degree of achieving company goals and priorities$$ we can summarize this in the following points:

$$Expand product lines

$$Raise profitability level

$$Invest intelligently in market growth

$$Achieve cost effectiveness objective using technology and large$-$scale production systems

How do managers in Coca Cola design and implement a structure appropriate to the organizational problems?

Many researchers equate organizational design with organization$$s structure. Organization design reflects the degree of alignment between company structure and its mission. For Coca Cola Company, the applied organizational structure facilitates communications, productivity and innovation$$ it provides an effective environment for employees to work in$.$ Inthe divisional structure followed in Coca Cola Company each division is separate and has a divisional manager. Each business unit is formulated along different functional lines$$ each division, for instance, may have a separate marketing function.

Question

Read through the headings on $$Structure$$ and select between a Product OR Geographic departmentalisation structure that you believe Coca Cola can use. Discuss all details of the selected departmentalising structure and explain the advantages and disadvantages in accordance with the current situation presented in the case study.