The Acquisition of Coca Cola and Sunrise Beverages Corp Unifying Company Culture

UNIFYING COMPANY CULTURE

Unifying Company Culture: The Acquisition of Coca-Cola and Sunrise Beverages Corp.

Overview

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that Coca-Cola happens to be a global beverages enterprise headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. At present, the company is deemed one of the world’s largest beverage enterprises. Some of its key competitors are inclusive of, but they are not limited to, PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch InBev. On the other hand, Sunrise Beverages Corp. (fictional) is an American drink and brewing corporation headquartered in New York. At present, Sunrise Beverages Corp. distributes its products across 18 states. Some of its most popular products are inclusive of; Mountain Bear Beer, Alpha Extra Beer, and the Ambassador Beer.

The merger was in this case informed by the need, on the part of Coca-Cola, for diversification (i.e. by entering the alcoholic beverages market); and on the part of Sunrise Beverages Corp. to create value (specifically with regard to revenue and cost synergies). Sunrise Beverages Corp. has demonstrated exceptional performance in the US market and has over the last decade registered phenomenal growth. Traditionally, Coca-Cola has focused on non-alcoholic beverages. Towards this end, a merger with Sunrise Beverages Corp. would come in handy in efforts by the company to diversify its business operations. Sunrise Beverages Corp. would also have its revenues cushioned from the adverse effects of downturns in economic activity.

Unifying the Company Culture

The relevance of unifying company culture following a merger cannot be overstated. Indeed, according to Deloitte (2022), various studies have in the past demonstrated that failure to integrate culture happens to be one of the main reasons as to why a significant percentage of mergers fail. More specifically, as Deloitte (2022) indicates, “culture has emerged as one of the dominant barriers to effective integrations... in one study, culture was found to be the cause of 30 percent of failed integrations” (11). With this in mind, there is need to engage in deliberate measures to ensure that in the merger referenced in this text, company culture is unified.

1. Meeting with HR departments from both companies

A meeting of this nature would be instrumental in efforts to diagnose each company’s culture. This would be crucial in efforts to ensure that awareness is created about the culture of each of the two companies. This is more so the case with regard to the points of convergence and divergence. It is important to note that there are specific aspects of each company’s culture that must be preserved owing to their relevance to the success of the concerned company. Engagements between the HR departments of both Coca-Cola and Sunrise Beverages Corp. would come in handy on this front.

2. Definition of new company culture

Common ground in as far as shared values and beliefs are concerned cannot be established unless new culture is defined. There are a wide range of factors that could influence the new organizational culture. In this case, important factors to be considered are inclusive of; structure of the new organization, leadership approach, etc.

3. Build a unified management team

There is need to embrace inclusion from the onset. This is to say that managers (and indeed employees) from both organizations must be made to feel as if they are part and parcel of the new entity. This is especially important to ensure that the new entity is able to retain talent – especially at the managerial level. Otherwise, an ‘us vs. them’ mentality could take root and limit the success of the new organization.

4. Look at all legal pending issues

It is important to note that in this case, both Coca-Cola and Sunrise Beverages Corp. would, by action of the merger, become a new legal entity. For this to happen, there are a number of legal issues that must be addressed. Failure to iron out these issues could get in the way of the successful integration of the behaviors and attitudes of all employees. Legal issues of relevance on this front could be inclusive of those that have a bearing on HR.

5. Develop a joint mission statement

In essence, there is need to develop a joint mission statement that captures the aspirations, mandate, and motive of the newly established entity. The joint mission statement would in this case ideally reflect the combined vision as well as proposition of both Coca-Cola and Sunrise Beverages Corp. In the absence of a shared purpose, it would be difficult to unify the company culture.

6. Ensure all financial documents are in sync

It would be difficult to achieve shared ethos if both companies read from different scripts in as far as key financial aspects are concerned. Issues that should be addressed beforehand relate to dividend policy, financial planning, credit policy, etc.

7. Communication

Communication is instrumental in efforts to ensure that all existing and emerging concerns are adequately addressed. There is also need to ensure that all stakeholders from both entities are in this case constantly updated on changes of relevance in as far as the practices and values of Coca-Cola and Sunrise Beverages Corp. are concerned. This would come in handy in ensuring that members are aware of what is expected of them going forward.

8. Effective change management

A merger involves significant change for all those involved. This is especially the case on the organizational culture front. Given that employees from both entities are used to certain ways of doing things, the unification of company culture would in this case call for the deployment of various change management strategies so as to limit chances of sabotage. Such strategies could involve inviting active participation, providing training (where necessary), etc.

9. Teamwork

In the absence of teamwork, efforts to unify company culture would likely be unsuccessful. Members from both companies must work together to realize the same goals and objectives on this front. Thus, in seeking to enhance teamwork, there may be need to ensure that all members are aware of their responsibilities and roles. There would also be need to ensure that trust is built and maintained among members.