Management & Leadership at Coca cola company

8.0 Leadership Style

For effective leadership, there can be no substitute for strategic thinking and tireless, relentless execution. There can be no alternative for attracting and retaining the absolute best people to lead and creating a dynamic environment for them. And there can be no job more important than communicating effectively with your customers and all your key stakeholders. Coca-Cola achieves this by formulating a clear and compelling vision, getting their system aligned behind it, executing and constantly communicating intentions.

Let's face it; vision without execution is merely daydreaming. And execution without vision is like running in the dark - you're moving but probably not in the right direction. Coca-Cola understands that capturing new opportunities is going to require both vision and execution across the company and its wonderful system of bottling partners. That's where the company’s vision which they call Vision 2020 comes into play. It's a look at where the company and its bottling partners need to be heading in the future. The vision is centered on capturing unprecedented opportunities emerging in future within the global non-alcoholic beverage industry (The Coca-Cola Company, 2014).

The company’s vision is to harness new wealth, new beverage requirements and new innovations to accelerate growth and create the world's most respected consumer goods system. Leaders at Coca-Cola have created a clear and compelling vision for their organization, and work to inspire their people to achieve that vision. Equally important is getting the bottling system leadership and company employees aligned behind the vision.

Muhtar Kent is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company.

Mr. Kent joined The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 1978 and has held a variety of marketing and operations roles throughout his career. In 1985, he was appointed General Manager of Coca-Cola Turkey and Central Asia. From 1989 to 1995, he served as President of the Company's East Central Europe Division and Senior Vice President of Coca-Cola International, with responsibility for 23 countries. Between 1995 and 1998, Mr. Kent served as Managing Director of Coca-Cola Amatil-Europe, covering bottling operations in 12 countries (The Coca-Cola Company, 2014).

In an interview with Management Paradise.com, the CEO states, “my job is to create a climate of success for our people and inspire them to achieve the vision we have created for our business. That's really the true essence of leadership”. At the end of the day, it all comes down to execution. For The Coca-Cola Company, execution involves focusing on three core capabilities of:

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  Consumer marketing - which generates that bond and emotional connection with consumers.
  
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  Commercial leadership - which involves all the strategic actions taken with over 20 million retail customers who sell Coca-Cola brands around the world each day.
  
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  And franchise leadership - which is working with its 300 bottling partners around the world to create greater system alignment (Shetty, 2011).