: Knowledge and Technology Management (Managing Knowledge)

ANSWER

Knowledge Management Strategy of Coca-Cola Company

Introduction

In studying knowledge management, there are aspects of knowledge processes, elements of knowledge management and levels of knowledge that can be analyzed in detail to give a better understanding of the importance of knowledge management in business. Applying these aspects to real-world companies makes it more practical and understandable, and may assist significantly in coming up with best practices in knowledge management for business owners and leaders. The real-world public domain company analyzed in this discussion is the Coca-Cola Company, a publicly listed company in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Coca-Cola’s business process and knowledge process

Coca-Cola is a public company whose headquarters are based in the US. Its products have been sold in the US since 1886 and the company has expanded its market to over 200 countries worldwide. These products mainly comprise of non-alcoholic beverages. It manufactures syrups and solvents for beverages and sells them to wholesalers, retailers and bottles and can operators. These bottles and can operators must have Coca-Cola’s flagship (Coca-Cola, 2020). The finished products are sold directly to local distributors, who then sell to the final consumer. Their business process has constantly improved in a view to refresh the world and make a difference. They have also embedded the knowledge management process in their corporate culture in their search for business growth.

Coca-Cola makes use of knowledge acquisition by utilizing the services of bottling operators who already have the special skills and know-how of the business of packaging drinks. Knowledge production is seen where the company makes use of their already existing knowledge on how to make syrups and concentrates to come up with new flavors and products that are unique in the market. Collaborative work is one of the ways in which Coca-Cola utilizes knowledge sharing and transfer (Green on the Inside, 2020). More experienced workers work together with the less experienced ones to share their knowledge and learn from each other, especially in the technology-intense departments. Knowledge retention has also been practiced by maintaining cultural diversity in the workforce.

There is still room for improvement in Coca-Cola’s knowledge retention strategy. It is anticipated that as employees grow in their careers and ages, they may leave the company or retire, resulting in knowledge loss. The company should try to improve on this by emphasizing on educating and training the new employees, as well as holding knowledge cafes and town meetings to impart knowledge on the remaining employees. Coca-Cola will greatly benefit from this by ensuring that the corporate culture is not lost in the long-run.

Coca-Cola’s articulation of elements of Knowledge Management

Recently, Business Daily Africa, a Kenyan-based newspaper, reported that Coca-Cola had started a home delivery service. This was in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that saw the company undergo great losses due to reduced sales and the expiry of its stocks (Wainainah & Ngila, 2020). The unveiling reflected the articulation of the elements of KM in business. First of all, people were involved in giving the idea and making this decision. Organizational leadership must have been at the core of making such an innovative feature. Considering the complexity and design of the organization, a lot of collaboration, knowledge transfer and sharing among workers from all departments at the management level and lower levels were involved. The introduction of such a service to the company involved great minds in technology.

Embedding knowledge in the business process is an element that was well articulated in coming up with this service. The processes of knowledge acquisition, creation, validation, transfer, and sharing were put into great use during the implementation of this service. There’s no way that a company can work without people and leadership to incorporate knowledge obtained from innovation or acquisition in their business processes. It is clear that for these knowledge processes to be well embedded into the business process to have a successful delivery service, people and technology have to be involved, as well as the content that provides relevant knowledge.

The DialACoke online portal is a clear example of how technology can be used in knowledge management. Customers use this portal to make their orders for Coca-Cola beverages that will be delivered to their homes. Implementing this technology comprises taking steps such as the acquisition of knowledge by people either through innovation or content from other sources. This information is then validated and transferred from one employee to another and needs to be retained for it to benefit the company in the long-term.

Content refers to characteristics, structure, format and organization of knowledge. Knowledge can be obtained from people’s creative abilities or sources such as best practices seen on the internet. Coca-Cola has made use of such content to come up with an innovative service that will be beneficial to them in improving their income during the pandemic. Since most customers are avoiding public gatherings, which are the places where these beverages are mostly consumed, it would be appropriate for Coca-Cola to make home deliveries in the wake of the new “stay-at-home” normal.

Coca-Cola’s knowledge levels

A meta-level of knowledge is simply where a company uses its existing knowledge to increase its knowledge, use, examine, abstract, reason, or direct how it will be applied. Coca-Cola makes use of the tacit knowledge that their employees possess to create new innovative products. They focus on making maximum use of the knowledge and ideas within the company and exhausting them. This requires good interpersonal relationships among the people in the company. Since the output of the company highly depends on the employees, Coca-Cola allows them to make decisions on which technologies to use. Their sensitivity to their reputation in the eyes of the suppliers and customers matters a great deal and this makes them utilize the knowledge they already have, abstract and direct its use in a meta-level way.

This knowledge exists in three levels. At Level 0, information is already available to its users. For example, information meant for customers is readily available on Coca-Cola’s website. At Level 1, the employees of the company share the knowledge they have with its required users based on the information at Level 0. For example, the customer service staff at Coca-Cola interact with customers on the company’s website under ‘Customer Relations’, giving advisory services where needed and receiving feedback, comments and questions from customers (Coca-Cola – Contact Us, 2020). At Level 2, the employees involved at Level 1 and Level 0 obtain the relevant expert knowledge from a training consultant so that they can better manage the knowledge at levels 0 and 1. Coca-Cola’s customer service staff is well trained and qualified professionals.

Conclusion

An overview of Coca-Cola’s knowledge management strategy gives a clear picture of how the knowledge process can be incorporated into the business process to help a company achieve its purpose and vision. It shows that the elements of knowledge management can also be incorporated with each other to achieve business goals. Also, it is evident that different levels of knowledge exist in a company including the meta-level of knowledge to accomplish the business purpose.

References

Coca-Cola – Contact Us. (2020). Contact Us | The Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved 22       October 2020, from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/contact-us#

Coca-Cola. (2020). Coca-Cola System – Our Company | The Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved       22 October 2020, from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/coca-cola-          system#:~:text=Our%20finished%20product%20operations%20consist,syrups%20to    %20authorized%20bottling%20partners.

Green on the Inside. (2020). Coca Cola Knowledge Management – Free Essay Examples Database. Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://www.greenontheinside.net/coca-       cola-knowledge-management-essay-example/

Wainainah, D., & Ngila, D. (2020). Coca-Cola unveils soda home delivery service. Business        Daily. Retrieved from            https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/companies/coca-cola-unveilssoda-            home-delivery-service-2561994