Dr Pepper, Seven-Up, and Cadbury's Organizational Development - Case Study Example

CASE STUDY ON DR PEPPER/SEVEN-UP COMPANY INC Course Title Name Institution Name of Instructor Location Date Q.1 Corporate mission in a succinct and elaborate manner can be defined as an organization’s written major declaration which outlines the focal goal of the organization and how the organization shall achieve the set goals. Mission filters the relevant business ideas and suggestions from the irrelevant ones with respect to their importance and congruency with business main goal (Walker et al. 2017, p.45). It clearly states the market to be served and how it shall be served. Generally, mission provides a conduit through which all business activities as well as decisions shall be constrained to. For instance, Dr pepper/ Seven - up Company Inc mission states that the “Dr pepper/ seven - up Company Inc is a British-based but internationally focused food and drink business operating mainly in the Impulse Purchase or Informal Consumption.” The statement clearly elaborates the commitment of the company in soft drink consolidation for international market. It shows the company’s go-getting nature. Q.2 Cadbury Schweppes Group has undergone major changes and in 1984, the company settled on restructuring its production into Beverages and Confectionery. In this strategy, the company resolved to produce foodstuffs separately from beverages which according the company would boost production and increased market satisfaction. Initially, the company was primarily based in UK. However, currently, Confectionery production is mainly done in Stani, the leading Confectionery Company in Argentina whereas much of beverage production is done in Camelot, UK (Rust 2015 p.65). Despite the promise for overwhelmingly expanded production, such changes threats sales of the company in different ways. Under consumption of commodities- confectionery commodities are mostly highly perishable hence distributing them to the other global markets is met with challenges. As such, sales shall consequently diminish. Increased Cost on production- The production sites are absolutely located in typical locations hence managing each independently might be met with high management costs which in turn shall reduce returns. Threat from competitor- The Company is much likely to experience stiff competition from other senior competitors such as Nestle since it leaves a big gap in its major market. For instance, Stani Company experiences stiff completion from Nestle which, unlike Cadbury Schweppes, provides the market with both confectionery and beverages products. Q.3 Dr Pepper is undeniably a rarely known brand unlike other brands of the Dr Pepper Seven Up Company. It is served in only a miniature section of the market. To increase market coverage of the product, the company requires developing a planned change system aimed at substantially persuading the market towards the product acceptance. In doing so, the company can apply the Five Stages of Organizational Development. The company should begin by noticing the need of change by recognizing the small market served and aspiring for a larger market (Patel 2015, n.d). The company should then develop a mutual practitioner-client relationship by devising techniques that when put to use, shall realign clients’ interests to purchasing the product. Stage three is the diagnostic process where the change-seekers assesses the relevance of the selected techniques and settle on the best ones. Stage four, action plans, strategies and techniques, analyzes the selected techniques into finer details and directs the strategies to the practical clients (Voorhees 2013 p.37). The practitioner-client relationship development process should be continuously renewed to ensure that clients are always informed. Q.4 Organizational development is dependent on individual, team and organizational effectiveness. The success that has accrued to Cadbury Schweppes can be attributed to the effectiveness of its workforce, ability to work in team and aptitude of the company to manage operations strategically. To determine the best employee, the company should assess employees’ managerial skills such as skills in planning, organizing, directing and coordinating duties. The management can as well assess the employees’ technical skills such as machine-related skills, computer skills and other technological skills. Finally, it is crucial to assess employees’ interpersonal competence where factors to be considered entails communication skills, ability to work in a team and response to conflict whenever it arises (Shooshtarian et al 2013, pg29). Best employees prove to be highly organized, plan before performing duties, possess stupendous communication skills, always willing to work in team and demonstrates exorbitant technocracy. Q.5 Globalization is certainly a key drive to reducing market disparity for various industries across the globe. Contemporarily, most multinational corporations (MNCs) are operating in almost every country of the world. Microsoft Corporation for instance has offices in almost every country of the world owing gratitude to globalization. Beverages and confectionery industry is no exemption. The globally top 10 packaged food companies such as Nestle, Kraft Foods, Unilever and PepsiCo amongst others accounts for 15.2% for total international packaged food sales. On the same note, global top 10 soft drink companies such as Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle and Dr Pepper Snapple Group amongst others accounts for 52% of international soft drink sales (Pham and Worsley 2016, p. 880). This is a clear reflection that beverage companies stands a supplementary chance to globalize their and undifferentiated their markets. Ensuring Market indifference for confectionery might be a challenge just like illustrated but is as well possible. Q.6 Organizations’ core driver to indulging in business organizations is propelled by the desire to gain significant financial returns and control the market for that particular product. To meet such a spectacular desire, organizations seek for effective strategic management which would boost performance augmenting returns concurrently (Patel 2015, p.12). Consistent failure of management strategies shall appeal for business restructuring strategies such as merger, franchise, acquisition, and complete take-over amongst others. The acquisition of Dr Pepper/Seven Up by Cadbury Schweppes is aimed towards exploiting the opportunities in the marketplace. Additionally, the approach shall assist the two companies realize a robust synergy necessary in boosting purchases, manufacturing, marketing and administrating. With such an exceptional ability, the companies would be in a position to develop a stronger organization with ability to develop Dr Pepper internationally. With the approach, the two companies are looking forward to optimizing the use of employees’ skills and enhancing organizational performance. Q.7 Company acquisition has a myriad of effects on all the stakeholders and players allied to both the acquiring company and the acquired company. The management of the acquiring company is at the epicentre of concern regarding these implications. The major implication to the management is the issue of acclimatisation to the new and expanded company size which comes with new challenge of an increased stakeholder base to serve. This is because the management of the ‘mother company’ assumes the role of overall oversight and coordination of operations of the merging companies (Knight et al. 2016, p.2). Because of this, the management should be engaged and involved at all stages of the acquisition process so that they are fully ready for the renewed task ahead for them. This is essential in the light that the success of any organisation is largely hinged on its management style and culture hence failure to engage the management in the merger process is potentially fruitless. Q.8 Larger companies often pose backbreaking competition to smaller companies in the markets, even if the two ‘small’ companies come together in a merger such as acquisition or alliance. Evidently, The Coca-Cola Company is the main competitor of this merger in the soft drinks industry. The Coca-Cola Company has a large product output, mammoth consumer base and a global market outreach spanning The Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa. These attributes of The Coca-Cola Company resonate perfectly with the Cadbury’s vision for the merger. The company, however, can adopt various strategies to effectively respond to this competition, such as enhanced customer outreach and satisfaction and brand popularisation (Voorhees 2013, p.32). These are achieved through competitive pricing, improved brand availability through retailers and promotion of brands through popular sports, social events and appointment of brand ambassadors. Brand diversity is crucial to increase customer choice range thus increase consumption. Q.9 As a shareholder in the ‘mother company’, it is essential to keep abreast with the progress of the acquired company as the progress has a direct effect on any shareholder. There are various means of staying updated on progress of the newly acquired company, both from internal and external sources. Cadbury Schweppes as a company has various channels of informing stakeholders of its plans and progress. Since this acquisition is at the nexus of the Cadbury’s plans, it bound to highlight the progress of Dr Pepper in its periodicals, website and online platforms and periodical reports. These serve as important and reliable internal sources of information on the company’s progress. Other third party media outlets such as audio-visual broadcast and print media, and shareholder forums and briefings could also serve as sources of such information (Rust 2015 p.21). Q.10 Before their merger in 1995, Cadbury Schweppes and Dr Pepper were two distinct companies with different organisational cultures. The merger meant creation of an all-inclusive organisational framework to create a more homogeneous organisation with a more cognate organisational culture. Cadbury Schweppes operates on a culture of ‘equal reward for equal input in the organisation’. As a result the managers and employees are appointed only for the duties and positions they are best qualified for. Dr Pepper on the other hand thrived basically on the culture of ‘goal orientation’ (Knight et al. 2016 p. 2). This makes appointment, remuneration and appraisal/motivation the most crucial cultural issues in this acquisition. The merger necessitated integration of the two cultures to ensure organisational harmony and prosperity. This is achievable through staff training to impart new skills and renewed self-motivation within the merged organisation to improve effectiveness and soar towards the collective vision for the acquisition. References Knight, B., George, P., Skelton, P.E., Brunson, D.A. and Jirgi, J.A.N., Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., 2016. Bottle. U.S. Patent D754,002. Patel, R. J. (2015). Pre-Merger and Post-Merger Financial & Stock Return Analysis: A Study with reference to selected Indian Banks. Browser Download This Paper. Pham, Q.T. and Worsley, A., 2016. Middle-class household food providers. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 25(4), pp.863-870. Rust, A., 2015. BEPS Action 2: 2014 Deliverable Neutralising the Effects of Hybrid Mismatch Arrangements and its compatibility with the non-discrimination provisions in tax treaties and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. British Tax Review, (3), pp.308-324. Shooshtarian, Z., Ameli, F. and Aminilari, M., 2013. The effect of labor's emotional intelligence on their job satisfaction, job performance and commitment. Iranian Journal of Management Studies, 6(1), p.29. Voorhees, K.J. ed., 2013. Analytical pyrolysis: techniques and applications. Butterworth-Heinemann. Walker, D.K., Kilmer, R.P. and Armstrong, M.I., 2017. Continuing our organizational mission: A new name for a new time. Read More