Innovation and Collaboration at Coca

Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola

Over the last 100 years Coca Cola has become an American icon, with a worldwide presence in nearly 200 countries. Despite this success, Coke has become large and cumbersome, where the company has over 300 different bottling groups around the globe. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola") This is problematic because as the company continued to grow, the size of the organization has meant that communicating and working with different distributors around the world became very challenging. As a result, the company introduced a number of different initiatives that were designed to help improve collaboration and communication between all of the various divisions. To fully understand the overall scope of these innovations requires carefully examining the different questions that were presented as a part of the case study. Together, this will provide the greatest insights as to how the company is evolving to improve collaboration and innovation as much as possible.

Describe three business problems discussed in the case study. At least one problem must be an information technology problem. Describe the management, organization and technology factors that may have contributed to each problem? Specify if the problem is a management, organization or technology problem and explain why. Describe one potential information technology alternative solution to consider for each of the three problems and explain why you chose it.

Three business problems that were described within the case study would include: scattered digital content, loosing market share to Pepsi and communication issues. When looking at the first issue, scattered digital content, it is clear that as the company was continuing to expand, the overall amounts of digital content were increasing rapidly. This is problematic because management did not provide any kind of effective leadership as to how the information would be retrieved, much less organized. This would have a ripple effect with the organization, as finding and retrieving the information became more challenging. The rapid increases in technology and the shift in the tastes of consumers using digital technology shows, that the changes that were taking place was at first viewed as fad. However, over time as the company would add more digital products, the combination of them would provide a less user friendly experience for consumers. This is because there was no way for those who enjoyed various products that the company produced, to go to specific areas of interest geared towards them. As a result, the overall user experience was somewhat awkward in comparison with other companies. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

The second issue loosing market share to Pepsi; highlights how the company lost focus. This is because as Coke was growing larger, management had no way of being able to effectively control the rate of growth. Where, the company was growing so fast that it became difficult for management to be able to react quickly to changes in demand. At which point, the various products that were sold to consumers began to quickly fall out of favor. For the organization; this would mean that the employees would have no direction as to how to most effectively make the company grow. This is because the changes that were taking place; due to the company loosing market share to Pepsi would create a lack of innovation that would feed upon itself. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

The third issue, communication, highlights how management had a lack of communication with the staff and bottlers. This would lead to communication issues throughout the company, as the organization would have trouble understanding how to respond to the needs of the different distributors around the globe. In this case, technology exacerbated the problem because there were different solutions used to run each of the different businesses around the world, which would only increase the lack of communication that existed. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

The various problems that were presented above started out as a technology problem. Because management did not have any kind of solutions for the problems meant, that it would eventually spread to the entire organization. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

One alternative solution for scattered digital content is to create a centralized system that everyone in the company will use to effectively view the different pieces of digital content. A solution to more effectively compete with Pepsi would be to seek out the different ideas from employees and distributors around the world. Where, everyone would be able to work together to create products that will benefit the consumer. To address the different communication issues, the management could create a communications officer who has the responsibility of ensuring that there is effective communication within the entire organization. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

What is Coca Cola's business model? How do Coca Cola's information systems support this business model? Use the competitive forces model and value chain model to analyze how the Coca Cola Information systems support their strategic direction. Which of the four basic competitive strategies should Coca Cola use to support its strategic business direction mot effectively? Explain why you chose or did not choose each of the four strategies.

Coca Cola is clearly using the competitive forces business model. This basically says that there are five competitive forces that will affect any business these would include: the threat of new competitors entering the industry, intense competition, the purchasing power of customers, the purchasing power of the suppliers and the threat of possible substitute products. ("Five Competitive Forces") the competitive forces model supports the strategic direction that Coca Cola Information Systems is taking the company, by providing increased amounts of collaboration. This improves the company's ability to address the various aspects of this model. In the competitive model, the information system of the program supports the strategic goals, by ensuring that communication improves. This is one of the biggest factors that was affecting the company's ability to compete. In the value chain model, the objective is to increase the value of the product at each level. ("The Values Chain") in the case of Coke, the new information system, allows the company to increase the value of the product by coming up with innovative products / ideas. The main idea of the four basic strategies is to be focusing on competition. This is because the tastes of consumers, substitute products and the possible entry of new products all reflect the intense competition that comes with the industry. Therefore, they would all reflect the large amounts of competition that currently exist. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

Describe the problems Coca Cola would have had with its information systems prior to installing an enterprise system. What management, organization and technology problems would Coca Cola face putting an enterprise system into effect? How would implementing an enterprise system change the way Coca Cola would run its business? What are the benefits and challenges Coca Cola would have to consider when implementing an enterprise system?

The information system was largely disorganized, as there was no basic standard of retrieving much less storing all of the digital content the company was producing. This would lead to various communication issues around the company, as the levels of disorganization would allow bottlers to develop their own system of organizing. The biggest problem that the company would face with implementing this system is having everyone go along with the proposed changes. Where, Coca Cola would have to reach out at every level of the organization and encourage everyone to embrace the new it protocol. Implementing this new enterprise system, meant that the company would be able to effectively identify new products that consumers were demanding, yet no product has been introduced. This improved the overall operational efficiency of the company, as it was able to become more responsive to the changes that are taking place in the marketplace. A few of the benefits that Coke would consider when implementing the changes are: increased operational performance, an effective communication medium for the entire company and an organized system for each business to use to increase its overall bottom line. Some of the challenges would include: large amounts of training involved at all levels of the company, convincing everyone that the new system is better and ensuring that the it system adapts to changes that are taking place in the world of technology. A good example of one product that was developed through the use of such an effort is Coke Zero. Where, the company was able to identify one of the problems that many consumers had complained about with diet colas, the bitter after taste. As a result, Coke and the different distributors were able to create a beverage (Coke Zero) that would have the same great taste of Coke, without the after taste. This is significant because it underscores how the use of such technology was able to help the company change focus and introduce a product that the public was demanding. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

Describe five alternative system building approaches that Coca Cola could apply to implement the online image library and digital archive system. Identify which one of the five alternative system building approaches you believe Coca Cola, applied, and explain why Coca Cola would have selected that alternative. What management, organization and technology issues would Coca Cola have considered before it implemented the online image library and digital archive system?

The five alternative systems that Coke could have considered would include: working on team level, group level, regional level or organizational level. The organizational level system was selected because it allows them to be able to effectively communicate with bottlers about changes that are taking place in the marketplace. The biggest issues that would have to be considered before implementing such a system would include: effectively organizing all the data, ensuring that the system is user friendly and encouraging all to bottlers to work with headquarters on a collaborative effort. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

Describe the differences between fault tolerant and high availability computing. Describe one business application where Coca Cola might apply a fault tolerant solution and explain why you chose it. Describe another business application where Coca Cola might apply a high availability computing solution and explain why you chose it. Describe two benefits of each system? Describe what security measures Coca Cola must apply when it links a system to the internet and the Wi-Fi mobile system?

A fault tolerant solution is when there are repeating components / systems that are designed to protect: a web site, servers or a company's it system from a catastrophic failure such as a cyber attack. Where, the system can continue to function and counter any kind of possible threats because of the repeating blocks / firewalls. A high availability system is when the it infrastructure will shut down at the onset of such catastrophic failures. Then, it will switch to an alternate system, to allow a company to continue to function. This usually takes place within a minute to two minutes of such instances. ("High Availability Computer Definition") a business application that could require a fault tolerant solution would be: for Office Communications Server Online. This system is a vital component that all the distributors use to communicate with the company; any kind of disruptions in this system would be catastrophic. A business solution that could require a high availability solution would be: SharePoint Online. The reason why this application was chosen is because any kind of disruptions to the system; would be minimal if it is allowed to function from an alternate IP address. The benefits of the fault tolerant system are: it can continue to function and it has multiple back up procedures in place. The advantages of the high availability system are: they can isolate the problem system and they allow an entity to safely operate from an alternate IP address. In the case of Coke, this highlights how the company must have multiple firewalls and security blocks in place, as they are the target for large amounts of cyber attacks. ("Innovation and Collaboration at Coca Cola")

Analyze and describe a DSS application that the Coca Cola executive might implement to supplement decision making in its analysis of relationships with bottlers. Include a detailed description of each of the components of as Decision Support System in the description of your DSS analysis. Describe what type of DSS is required for the application? Also, describe four potential benefits the DSS provides.

The application that managers could implement to improve decision making is by having Microsoft Outlook as part of the internet protocol. This is because, the application can allow them to easily gather and analyze information from different bottlers. Some of the most notable components would include: a customizable email solutions, the ability to easily integrate this data with other programs and the popularity of this application. Together, these different elements would help to improve the decision making process of managers throughout the company. An effective DSS system that would be needed is: one that would have the ability to integrate with other solutions. This is important because it could work as an effective way of collecting all of the data at one central location. The four benefits of using such a system would include: the ability to see when changes are taking place in real time, greater understanding of the markets, improved communication and the ability to respond quickly to the demands of consumers. ("Decision Support System")