Coca-Cola is an international company with headquarters in the USA. The company is one of the most successful global companies in the world. It has invested in numerous countries, including the UAE. This essay will look at the Coca-Cola Company in Dubai, UAE. The concepts and applications suggested in the paper will, therefore, be suitable for the City of Dubai. In addition, the paper will incorporate total quality management concepts to analyse the company’s operations.
Operations of the Company
Coca-Cola is a soft drinks company. It has very many different brands, but the most common include Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta brands of soda. The company has been classified under the soft drinks and beverage industry. Even though the company has invested in other ventures, the soft drinks and beverages are its highest selling, and most recognized commodities.
Quality Model
Brady (2011) argues that quality is essential for success. Not only does it determine high profits, but it also ensures loyal and satisfied customers. Quality also leads to the career development of employees, something every company can use to its advantage. It is due to these reasons and many others that Coca-Cola has vowed always to produce high quality products.
Coca-Cola has used ISO 10000 to solve some of the company’s critical issues. It suffices to mention that the company has been bombarded with ethical problems since time immemorial. Bodden (2008) reveals that the company has been criticized for selling drinks and beverages that are harmful to the human body. Their drinks have been proven to cause weight increase, which in turn, leads to other health problems.
Iverson (2013) explains that ISO 10000 supports ISO 9000. The company has used this ISO supporting standard to solve some of its challenges. For example, ISO 10001 gives codes of conduct for organizations. These codes touch on the different ways of designing, planning, implementing, maintaining and improving customer satisfaction (Iverson, 2013). In order to continually improve customer satisfaction, the company has to get constant feedback regarding their products. These comments are then incorporated into the company’s policy if necessary.
Similarly, the company uses ISO 10002 to solve some of its challenges. This ISO standard also focuses on customer satisfaction, but by analysing how a company handles its complaint. As mentioned, Coca-Cola has been accused of producing harmful soft drinks and beverages. The company used ISO 10002 to design a response strategy to this accession. First, as Bodden (2008) observes, the company made it clear that all its drinks and beverages had details on the amount of calories, sugar and other nutrients it had. This would make sure that the customer knew exactly what he or she was buying. Additionally, the company also introduced new brands, like Bitter Lemon soda to give people more choices.
It suffices to mention that the company has used ISO 10003 to solve disputes of an external nature. Using the same example of the unhealthy drinks, Coca-Cola has publicized an enormous part of its manufacturing processes. Showing people a big part of how they make the drinks ensures that the customers trust the company and the products it offers. Additionally, it also ensures that the company is transparent, without any hidden agendas.
ISO 10004 has been used to solve the challenges encountered in the monitoring of customer satisfaction with the company’s products. The guideline is used to develop frameworks for measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction (Plueddemann, 2009). One way Coca-Cola uses to monitor its clients’ satisfaction is through social media. The company has a big presence in many, if not all of the social media web pages on the internet. Additionally, the company has a website that the residents of Dubai can use to send feedback. The website is user-friendly and very interactive, making the company much more impressive to the user.
Coca-Cola has also used ISO 10005 to solve problems related to quality. The guideline gives suggestions on the things a company can do to ensure that it produces high-quality products or services. One of the ways of doing this is through revising and improving the quality plan. Plueddemann (2009) asserts that successful companies have a quality program; a way depicted of achieving the high-quality standards that the company wants to be associated with. Given that competition always raises standards, it is only natural that the quality plan has to change. When revising the plan, Coca-Cola incorporates feedback from the clients and the activities of the company’s competitors to draft a more robust quality plan.
Limitations to the Implementation
As mentioned, the company has implemented ISO 10000 standards. Even though this ISO has been described as supporting ISO 9000, it has a family of its own. The paper discussed how the Coca-Cola Company has used ISO 10001 through to ISO 10005 to improve the quality of its products and solve some of the problems the company faces from time to time. However, there are other guidelines in the family under discussion. More guidelines include 10006, 10007, 10013, 10014, 10017 and 10019. In one way or another, the Coca-Cola Company has incorporated all these guidelines.
Despite the success that implementation of ISO 10000 has had on the company, it has also had some disadvantage. Dubai is a global city indeed, but it is very cultural. The culture in the city has created numerous problems for the company, especially in regard to ISO 10000 and its family. The most common issue is the lack of customer participation by giving feedback. People in the city rarely give an opinion on the product, and how the company can improve it (Hays, 2010).
With Coca-Cola, which has been accused of making people gain weight, the lack of feedback on how the product affects the buyers makes it nearly impossible for the company to design a quality plan fit for that particular region. In the same breath, the lack of feedback makes it impossible for the company to improve their strategies. Weight gain in the region is also not condemned liked it is in other places like America and Europe. Therefore, it is not perceived as an issue per se.
Furthermore, the implementation of ISO 10000 has been made difficult by the interest in only one brand of the company’s product. As mentioned, the company has numerous soft drinks and beverages distributed in Dubai. However, as Hays (2010) observes, only the brand called ‘Coca Cola’ or commonly referred to as ‘Coke’ moves well within the economy. More people in Dubai will go into a supermarket and get out with a coke compared to any other soft drink, or beverage including those of competitors. This is a problem because it limits the already limited feedback responses, to one brand. Thus, it becomes impossible to measure, monitor and improve the other brands.
In order to solve this problem, it is crucial that the company starts interacting with the clients at a much persona level. Culture is the biggest issue. Despite Dubai being conservative, it allows its residents to access social media web pages. The company can, thus, use social media to advertise to potential clients in the comfort of their homes. In addition, the company also has to use the international standards expected by the city to improve on quality. It is true that many of the people who sample the company’s products are tourists. These tourists do not have the time to send feedback to the company as they probably do it back in their home regions. The company should also ensure that it adheres to all the standards in the ISO 10000 family. Failing to adhere to any one of the guidelines will make the whole process unsuccessful.
The company has so far done a lot of work to ensure quality. It has been credited with numerous ISO certificates over the years due to this. Additionally, the company has started incorporating the ideas of its customers into their business strategy. This has allowed it to increase profits, and at the same time helped the company appreciate its clients. Clients feel like they have been part of the company’s decision making when they are required to rate the services and products of a company. Moreover, the clients also help the company keep track of its competitors’ activities through their feedback.
References
Bodden, V. (2008). The story of Coca-Cola. Mankata, MN: The Creative Company. Web.
Brady, D. L. (2011). Essentials of international marketing. Edmonds, WA: M.E. Sharpe. Web.
Hays, C. (2010). Pop: Truth and power at the Coca-Cola Company. New York, NY: Random House. Web.
Iverson, D. (2013). Strategic risk management: A practical guide to portfolio risk management. Singapore: Wiley. Web.
Plueddemann, J. E. (2009). Leading across cultures: Effective ministry and mission in the global church. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. Web.