Interviewing the Sales Manager of Coke Company - Essay Example

Task: Company Research Interviewing the Sales Manager of Coke Company Interviewer: How are you today sir? Sales Manager: Very fine, thank you? Interviewer: Am grateful for you making some time from your busy schedule only to be with us today, I would, therefore, like to start with you telling us how the Coke Company was founded Sales Manager: The year was 1886, when workers were busy on a construction site building the famous statue of liberty, which is one of the greatest symbols ever built in the United States. At this time, a young man by the name John Pemberton who was by then a pharmacist could not hold back his curiosity and decided to stir up a colored mixture that he took to Jacobs’ pharmacy. Carbonated water was later added to the mixture. Several people who agreed that it was something new to the market sampled the mixture and they had never tasted anything like it before. The drink then began selling at a lower price at Jacobs’ pharmacy. However, Asa G. Candler, a famous personality, transformed the invention into a real business when he started to give away coupons to people to taste Coke. Since then, the Coke drink has evolved tremendously to become the largest soft drink company in the world retailing in over two hundred countries globally. Similarly, it has taken steps in rebranding and protecting their brand from the unique bottles that the soft drink comes in. Additionally, loyal customers who compare it with no other similar product have globally appreciated the drink. Interviewer: Thank you for that very comprehensive response. The next question I would like to ask you is what product or service does your organization manufacture or offer. Sales Manager: The Coke Company deals with nonalcoholic drinks as their sole business. It has over 3,500 brands of drinks available in the market. Similarly, they have segmented their market to provide a brand the suits each segment. The company deals with a range of drinks from fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and soya based drinks. Additionally, the company has greatly diversified enhancing its capacity to meet consumer needs thus maintaining the topmost position at a global level. Similarly, the company has invested in numerous researches to come up with diverse drinking brands, as it is through innovation and new ideas that keep the firm growing. However, the market is incredibly dynamic; something pleasant can be meaningless in the immediate future. For this reason, the Coke Company has significantly invested in engineering their drinks to meet the current needs of the market. Additionally, market diversity in terms of culture, gender, age, race and religion have also played a major role in defining the available types of markets hence even making the Company to go far much deeper to satisfy the needs of these markets without interfering or going against these differences. Interviewer: What is the company’s mission statement? Sales Manager: The Coke Company has assessed the current trend globally and has considered several factors, in coming up with a meaningful vision, mission and core values. This is because they have to ensure that the corporation will be operational in future and retain relevancy. Additionally, the visualization, mission and core value act as a road map for the company hence will provide them with a competitive edge against its rivals. The mission of Coke declares the purpose and provides standards of which actions and decisions are measured. For this reason, the mission is to refresh the world, bring happiness and inspire people to be positive. Additionally, it also brings a difference and adds value. Interviewer: Could you please explain the Social responsibility and ethical policies of the company briefly. Sales Manager: Coke has greatly promoted communal responsibility; for instance, it has sponsored many youth events and organized many tournaments including football and other talent searches. Similarly, the company has also played a significant part in sponsoring the Olympics and has been associated with water projects in India, where it received a corporate societal responsibility award. The award appreciated Coke’s input in sourcing water for households in India. Additionally, the company has been on the forefront in teaching schools about water conservation and the environment at large. Similarly, readers digest has also recognized the efforts made by Coke India in environmental conservation. Furthermore, the company has also collaborated with the a number of institutions such as Rotary club and UN Habitat in making efforts to avail water to over 300,000 underprivileged families in India. Similarly, it has built over 400 rain harvesters. The company has fostered a high level of ethical standard and the conduct of its employees is up to the required standard. Additionally, to show the level of seriousness, the company has created a hotline and assigned another independent company to handle reports of unethical conduct among staff. Interviewer: How many employees does the company currently have and what is the company’s geographical coverage Sales Manager: Currently the Coke Company has employed over 139,600 people universally. Additionally, the company has its presence in over 200 countries and has been in business for years exceeding 125. This shows stability and constant satisfaction to its customers. Interviewer: I see Coke is a very big company that has so many employees but what do you take of diversity in the workforce? Sales Manager: Diversity is the giving of all employees’ equal opportunity to information in the workplace, irrespective of their cultural, religious and sexual differences. At the Coke Company, we believe that building diversity in the workplace is a key element in determining the success. Similarly, we believe that, in upholding workforce diversity, we explore individual talents and nature them to realize their maximum capabilities. Furthermore, we believe that the employees should grow with the company. Because we are a global company, it is inevitable for us not to embrace diversity at the workplace. Additionally, the company operates in a multicultural platform in terms of the market and customer base. Interviewer: What definition would you give about ethics in the workplace? Sales Manager: Ethics is a set of laid down principles used to monitor employee conduct. Similarly, it is one of the most fundamental aspects in the workplace, as it guides the moral conduct of employees at the workplace. The Coke Company has upheld an exceptionally high moral standard across all its global branches, as they believe it is ethics that primarily govern their operations. Similarly, it is the responsibility of all employees to uphold at most integrity and maintain excellent ethical standards in all their undertakings. In fact, the company has taken ethics so seriously that it has contracted an independent administrative center that handles all ethical issues. Similarly, customers can call in unanimously and report any for of unethical behavior. Interviewer: What is the ownership structure of the firm? Sales Manager: The Coke Company is a communal corporation; shareholders who buy shares of the company own it. The number of shareholders sums to millions of people. Similarly, the shareholders control the company and are entitled to make critical decisions regarding the company. Additionally, they receive dividends after the firm has received its returns on investments and attend yearly gatherings, as predetermined by the corporation memorandum of association and other relevant articles. Interviewer: What reason could you possibly give as to why a person would want to be an employee of the Coke Company? Sales Manager: The Company offers the workforces the opportunity to grow and further exploit their talents in their respective diverse fields. Additionally, it provides a pleasant setting to learn and gain new experiences that will enable associate to interact excellently in the commercial world. Similarly, because it is a global leader, in the nonalcoholic beverages, it provides the associates a global perspective of looking at transactions and business deals. Furthermore, it has been in existence for 125 years, hence showing stability, which impact positively on the employees. Interviewer: Thank you very much for your insight and information about the Coke Company; it has been a pleasure having you. Sales Manager: Thank you for having me. Am glad I could help. Company growth Coke has shown tremendous advancement since its formation. This is because of its unique products and unmatched quality. Similarly, it has commanded the nonalcoholic beverage market hence providing a benchmark for the rest of the companies, in the same industry. However, this can also be attributed to the innovativeness that the company has shown over the years by conducting thorough market research and coming up with products that suit the market perfectly well. Additionally, one of the chief indicators that the Coke Company has grown is the increase in product range and number of countries in which it is present. However, a considerable time has passed for the company to reach its current position, but it is also because of the strong vision and mission, which enable it to exist until now. Most companies lose direction and eventually collapse because the vision and mission is not effectively communicated to employees. The company owners know where they want to propel the company. However, for this reason, a number of mistakes are constantly committed. However, for Coke, the employees own the firm’s vision and mission and direct all their efforts towards attaining the collective goal. Company Website Due to the presence of Coke Company all over the world, it has several websites but all contain information about the company. However, the reason for this is classify information into regions for easy access. For instance, there is the main website that gives information about the company in general, and other micro websites that provide information about the company but in various regions. Similarly, the websites are user friendly and easy to navigate. They provide dated data about the corporation entailing its progress including the project that it is currently undertaking. Similarly, the main website has a quick search where the user can type whatever he or she is looking for and just click on search. This utility make use of the website much easier because the user does not need to know the exact location of the information what he or she needs to do is to just search and the information will come up. Conclusion In conclusion, I have personally gained a lot of insight into the operations of the Coke Company thus have in-depth understandings of how it conducts its sales across all its outlets. Similarly, this experience has significantly increased my knowledge about how global companies like Coke run their business and how it manages over 139,600 employees across the globe. However, the sales setting is very dynamic in that the customer preference is changing everyday for that reason the company needs to be more creative and innovative in coming up with new ideas to keep up with the market needs. Similarly, the company should diversify more in terms of products in order to meet the ever-growing market needs. Furthermore, growth in sale entirely depends on how much demand is created in the market and the customers must prefer your product to the competitor’s in order to increase sales. Additionally, product positioning is also a key factor to consider, when looking at sales, as customers tend to form a habit of buying what they are used to, as opposed to what is new in the market. For instance, a customer can buy Coke because it has been in the industry before any other soft drink hence making it his or her preference. Works Cited The Coke Company. Growth, leadership, sustainability. 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. Read More