Comparison of the British Broadcasting Corporation and Coca-Cola Amatil - Case Study Example

HООSЕ ОNЕ LISTЕD BIG СОMРАNY АND СОMРАRЕ IT WITH АNОTHЕR ОNЕ THЕN РRЕРАRЕ АN АNАLYSIS АRОUND DIFFЕRЕNСЕS IN LЕАDЕRSHIР, ОRGАNISАTIОNАL СULTURЕ, ОBSTАСLЕS THАT MАY HАVЕ BЕЕN ОVЕRСОMЕ (АND HОW), АРРRОАСH TО INNОVАTIОN, АРРRОАСH TО ЕTHIСS & СSR, ЕTС Student’s name Course & code Professor’s name University City Date Introduction British Broadcasting Corporation abbreviated as BBC is an international public broadcaster based in London (Mayo 2015). It has been in existence since 1926 and currently has 20,950 employees (Bbc.co.uk. 2016). It has been recorded that the corporation broadcasts in 28 different languages for both television and radio presentation. Choosing of this corporation is due to the fact that besides the company being government owned, it has utilised various CSR mechanisms and innovation approaches in the packaging and presentation of the information to the public. Besides, the corporation is ranked by The New York Times as 7th best British brands. (Carlos Pinho et al 2016). Coca-Cola Amatil is a local partner for Coca-Cola Company responsible for processing and distribution of beverages in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Samoa. As discussed by Setyawati & Santoso I 2016, with the increase in the technological activities, Coca-Cola Amatil hopes to create larger market access through utilising online marketing by developing online apps that facilitate this activity. This retrospect paper seeks to analyse BBC as a firm while comparing the differences in leadership, organisational cultures, and approaches to innovation and ethics besides the obstacles encountered by both corporations and providing recommendations for adoption of various aspects by either firm. Leadership Leadership at BBC has been for years been designed to follow a strict order with various leadership categories in the management. For instance, the leadership structure at the top begins with the Royal Charter which was put in place in 2007 and is responsible for the editorial purposes of the corporation (Kerr et al 2015). BBC Trust comes in after the charter and is responsible for setting of remits and issuing licences besides setting the strategic direction of the corporation. Under the trust, is the Executive board which is mandated with operational management of the corporation (Mayo 2015). Lastly, the media regulators come at the bottom of the leadership and are responsible for regulating the broadcasting and competition within the communication arena since it is government controlled. Contrariwise, leadership at Coca-Cola Amatil is structured in in a little simpler form having the CEO at the top of the management with several directors that are responsible for various segments of the company (Ccamatil.com. 2016). Considering the leadership policies in both firms, it can be seen that leaders at BBC are more interested in service delivery than monetary value (Gustafsson & Hailey 2016). On the other hand, leadership at Coca-Cola Amatil are more career focused and are driven are interested in the amount of money the company is willing to pay. Organisational culture The BBC organisational culture has been changing over the years but the corporation still maintains one of the key elements that every organisation needs to retain the employees and customers (Kerr et al 2015). Being based in United Kingdom, the corporation has had to inculcate regional accent in order to appeal to the various segments of employees and audiences. Moreover, the management has created channels that involve micro-communication within the corporation to allow the employees chances for having their voices heard and consequently utilise the feedback from the audiences which allow for increased understanding between the management and the other publics (Sughra & Crowther 2015). The broadcasting and presentation of media content has been designed in a manner that allows various cultures to feel as part of the corporation. This as posited by Carlos Pinho et al 2014, is seen through the packaging of the media content to reflect the locale in which it is being broadcast. Through using local languages specific to certain regions, audiences and employees from such regions get to develop an attachment to the corporation since they perceive the gesture as an appeal to appreciate the specific culture. For example, broadcasting in Arabic for Muslim regions, Swahili for east Africa and other languages for specific regions. Similarly, the organisational culture at Coca-Cola Amatil is closely related to the one held by BBC in a number of ways. Though the two firms have different kinds of customers, the appeal to both employees and customers is the same. This can be seen in the manner that Coca-Cola Amatil packages the advertisement to inculcate the rich culture of the Australian people either through language or the natural scenery of the Australian states (Huhtala & Feldt 2016). The similarity in the organisational cultures demonstrate that the conceptualisation of culture can be viewed in a way that firms are responsible for combining conflicting subcultures into one and ensuring that at workplaces, no one culture presumes dominance over the other (Huhtala & Feldt 2016). In so doing, both BBC and Coca-Cola Amatil have gained ground in maintaining their employees and the customers. Obstacles that the firms have to overcome. BBC has been subdivided into two categories: television and radio. The BBC radio has been for the past two years been experiencing a decline in the number of young audiences and therefore affecting the policy on playing the new music genres in the United Kingdom (Mayo 2015). However, due to the trust charter, the management has made a move towards resolving the obstacle in such a way that the presenter line-up has been modified to include Asian, black and other minority ethnic groups in order to capture the attention of more youngsters and not just focusing on the whites. Moreover, the total expenditure by the corporation has been rising since 2013 to the beginning of 2016 (Bbc.co.uk. 2016). This has been due to the increased number of presenters that the corporation has employed and the costs on content creation. For example, the expenditure on BBC radio was £50.6m in 2013 and it rose to £52.8m in 2014 (Mayo 2015). As a way to mitigate the challenge, the corporation enforced the reduction on live coverage and other scheduled changes. This is a move aimed at save the extra costs that are used in content creation rather than cutting down on the number of employees (Bbc.co.uk. 2016). On the other hand, Coca-Cola Amatil has had to experience various obstacles including competition from other beverage companies like Pepsi that focus on the same customers served by Coca-Cola Amatil. For example, in 2012, the Pepsi energy drinks were sold more than the energy drinks produced by Coca-Cola Amatil which presented a challenge to the company (Setyawati & Santoso 2016). However, the company diversifying the market coverage through introducing new lines of merchandise like alcohol allowed the company to make more profits besides depending on the soft drinks. Moreover, the company invested more in advertisement of their drinks in order to retain the attention from the customers and therefore restabilising their market stand (Ccamatil.com. 2016). Considering the obstacles experienced by both BBC and Coca-Cola Amatil, one can see that, BBC, being a governmental enterprise, faces more challenges in expenditures rather than focusing on competition. On the other hand, Coca-Cola Amatil is more concerned with creating a competitive advantage in order to sustain its market share. Therefore, it can be concluded that a company coming up should take into consideration the level of expenditure and creation of competitive advantage in order to retain their position in the market (Ccamatil.com. 2016). Approach to innovation BBC has had several milestones in the innovation phase of the corporation. For instance, the move for digitalisation of media houses contributed to the company’s including technology in media packaging and presentation (Mayo 2015). This is seen in the way the television programs have been enabled to be viewed over the BBC website. However, the technology at the corporation, since 2004, was contracted to Siemens and later in 2011 contracted to Atos after the SIS was sold to Atos. Considering the approach to innovation at this stage, it can be seen that the technology is outsourced considering that all the systems of technology at the corporation including the website are handled by Atos. This move, according to John Linwood, chief technology officer, has saved the corporation £64 million in terms of costs (Bbc.co.uk. 2016). On the other hand, innovation at Coca-Cola Amatil is developed in house. This can be seen in the manner that the company has developed online services including online ordering systems and marketing (Ccamatil.com. 2016). As a matter of fact, one notices that though the online services have been launched, they are not as effective as they are expected to be. In the proposed venture, the company is proposed to outsource IT team that will be in charge of developing the technological innovations at the company including processing and marketing systems. In comparison, outsourcing as an approach to innovation as demonstrated by BBC is better compared to in house as experienced under Coca-Cola Amatil. For instance, the high-profile technology in the means that BBC conducts their activities either in the live coverage of events, online media delivery and technology at the corporation in general is way better as it saves the corporation £64 million yearly compared to the approach used by Coca-Cola Amatil that forces the company to incur extra costs in research and development to refine the technology at the firm (Carlos Pinho et al 2014). Approach to ethics and CSR According to Sughra & Crowther 2015, BBC is said to spend about £1.4 billion annually on purchase of goods and services and of these, a considerable significance is placed on responsible buying in relation to social issues. For instance, the corporation seeks to attain highest standards in terms of social and ethical practise. Based on the ethical policy, the corporation is committed to ensuring high ethical standards in that, the working conditions are safe and reflects that international labour organisation standards. Moreover, the corporation has put in place ten policies that the suppliers have to abide by in order to retain their contract. Among these policies, the core ones revolve around ensuring the workers are treated fairly and are not subjected to any form of abuse, either verbal or physical (Bbc.co.uk. 2016). Furthermore, the CRS at BBC is taken into consideration in the media packaging and presentation in that the media broadcast during watershed period is suitable for general viewing and does not contain nudity content (Huhtala & Feldt 2016). The CSR at Coca-Cola Amatil is similar to that of BBC in a way that, the workers are treated fairly and equally besides the company employing workers of suitable age (Huhtala & Feldt 2016). Moreover, company participates in beautification of Australia as a project to encourage environment responsibility. The ethics and CSR held by both BBC and Coca-Cola Amatil are aimed at creating suitable working conditions through respecting the workers and discouraging under age labour. Besides, abiding by ILO ethical standards by BBC should be emulated by Coca-Cola Amatil as it ensures that the firm retains high ethical standards that enhances the quality of working conditions of the workers and hence can retain more workers. Recommendation In summary, the venture for developing online app for Coca-Cola Amatil can be applied with the BBC to enhance the innovation and use of technology in delivery of services to the audience (Kerlin et al 2016). As a matter of fact, developing online apps for BBC would enhance management of the feedback from the audiences like in the case with Coca-Cola where customers are able to give feedback on the quality of the products and services offered. Besides, Kerlin et al 2016 demonstrates that, since almost everyone in Europe and other parts of the world is in possession of mobile devices like tablets, smartphones and iPad, it is possible to widen the scope of BBC by developing such apps. Conclusion Conclusively, BBC has developed a strong organizational culture that is being utilized in the leadership of the corporation in order to enhance the success of the corporation (Gustafsson & Hailey 2016). Similarly, the appreciation of culture by Coca-Cola Amatil has seen the company gaining large market share within Australia and the neighboring countries since the company inculcates the culture in the advertisement and naming of the various drinks sold. Moreover, the approach to innovation held by the corporation, that is, outsourcing and contracting, has had positive impact on the well-being of the corporation since it has saved operational costs for BBC (Huhtala & Feldt 2016). This can be emulated by Coca-Cola Amatil in order to save on costs and create more profit margins which will form part of the competitive advantage. The ethics and CSR for both firms indicate that most of the companies appreciate the individuals and respect for both culture and the environment (Sughra & Crowther 2015). Therefore, it can be seen that setting up of core policies on ethics as done by BBC should be adopted by Coca-Cola Amatil to enhance ethics amongst their suppliers. References Bbc.co.uk. (2016). BBC - BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2015/16 - Inside the BBC. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/howwework/reports/ara [Accessed 11 Oct. 2016]. Carlos Pinho, J, Paula Rodrigues, A & Dibb, S 2014, ‘The role of corporate culture, market orientation and organisational commitment in organisational performance: the case of non- profit organisations’, Journal of Management Development, vol. 33 no. 4, pp.374-398. Ccamatil.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.ccamatil.com/-/media/Cca/Corporate/Files/Results/2016/2016-Half-Year-Report.ashx [Accessed 11 Oct. 2016]. Gustafsson, S & Hailey, VH 2016, ‘Responsible leadership, trust and the role of Human Resource Management’, Responsible Leadership: Realism and Romanticism, p.133. 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Setyawati, DR & Santoso, I 2016, ‘Value Chain Analysis on the Logistics Management as the Basis for Strategy Formulation to Increase Customer Satisfaction (Case Study in PT. Coca- Cola Amatil Indonesia-Plant East Java)’, Agro-Industrial Journal, vol. 1 no. 1. Sughra, G & Crowther, D 2015, ‘Do CSR Determinants Stimulate Profits: Analysis of Retail Companies in UK’, Sustainability after Rio (Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility, Volume 8) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8, pp.123-140. Read More