How does Information Technology Management Help the International Firm Create Strategic Value?_A Case Study of the Coca-Cola

How does information technology management help the international firm create strategic value? A case study of the coca cola.

 

Coca Cola company is one of the world’s largest companies.  Products like Coke, Coke-Light, Coke Zero, Sprite etcetera is all synonymous with this company.  The story of Coca-Cola began in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia when John Pemberton, a pharmacist, mixed a fragrant, caramel-colored liquid with some carbonated water.  His bookkeeper, Frank Robinson named the mixture Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is committed to local markets, paying attention to what people from different cultures and backgrounds like to drink, and where and how they want to drink it. With its bottling partners, the Company reaches out to the local communities it serves, believing that Coca-Cola exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches.   From the early beginnings when just nine drinks a day were served, Coca-Cola has grown to the world’s most ubiquitous brand, with more than 1.7 billion beverage servings sold each day.  (The Coca-Cola Company)

As with any organization, Coca-cola has to grow with the technology available to better their distribution channels and every other aspect of their operations.  A write-up on Business Wire in May of 1999 had the following: 

 SAP America, Inc. (NYSE:SAP), today announced that The Coca-Cola Company, the global soft-drink industry leader, has completed the first phase of one of the largest global rollouts of the SAP(tm) R/3(R) solution.

This initial rollout included corporate financials, manufacturing, procurement, project management and human resources applications at the company’s Atlanta headquarters and in five European countries. With SAP R/3 as its business and information technology infrastructure, The Coca-Cola Company is making significant improvements to its business systems capabilities around the world. 

The SAP R/3 solution is the foundation for providing The Coca-Cola Company with a common system across the enterprise. This will allow employees to leverage the same data, react faster to change and make more-informed business decisions. Coke’s business benefits, as the rollout expands, will include consistent management reporting across operational units; improvements in closing the books on a global basis, and local closings; the ability to execute purchasing on a global basis and streamline costs across the entire enterprise; better vendor management; clearer views on global financial data; and, over time, a better negotiating position through improved analysis of purchasing and vendor operations.

“An important benefit of a common system will be a common frame of reference for our customers, suppliers and employees,” explained Jack Bergstrand of The Coca-Cola Company. “This will significantly leverage our learning curve and training investment.

At corporate headquarters in Atlanta, the productive SAP applications include Financials, Controlling, Profit Center Accounting, Planning and Budgeting, Project Systems for capital assets, Procurement — including the Internet purchasing component, SAP Employee Self Service and Travel and Expense Management.

The European administrative locations that went live are productive with the same applications as Atlanta, plus marketing expense control within Project Systems and workflow imaging in conjunction with Procurement and Travel and Expense Management. In manufacturing, the implementation includes Materials Management, Inventory Management, Production Planning, Production Planning for Process Industries, Sales and Distribution, Plant Maintenance and Quality Management as well as Financials, Controlling, Project Systems and Asset Management.  (Business Wire)

Coca-Cola is committed to growing with the times.  Just recently in 28 March, 2011, it was announced by Hewlett-Packard Mexico that Coca-cola FEMSA signed a 0 Million Technology Services Agreement to support Growth.  The press release below from HP explained this agreement between the two companies:

HP and Coca-Cola FEMSA will consolidate 348 locations to a single data center in Mexico and migrate business-critical SAP applications and server monitoring and management to HP Best Shore locations in Brazil and Argentina. HP Security Services will be provided from HP Best Shore global delivery centers in Costa Rica. HP Best Shore combines HP’s technology portfolio with global delivery expertise to give clients greater flexibility and cost efficiencies while minimizing risk.

HP will continue to manage Coca-Cola FEMSA’s technology infrastructure supporting its Latin American operations in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.

HP will continue to provide Data Center Services and Storage Services to manage and support Coca-Cola FEMSA’s data center environment. HP provides Server Management to host more than 650 midrange servers and Backup and Restore Services for disaster recovery. The agreement also includes international and regional telecommunications Carrier Management Services in addition to Network Management Services for the company’s LAN/WAN environment. HP also provides Enterprise Application Hosting Services for Coca-Cola FEMSA’s SAP platform and will move to dedicated support.

In addition, HP will continue to deliver Workplace Services for Coca-Cola FEMSA’s 14,500 desktop and notebook PCs, handheld devices, printers and servers as well as moving to dedicated Service Desk Services in Spanish and Portuguese for employees using these devices.

Coca-Cola FEMSA will consolidate its data center on an HP Converged Infrastructure using HP Superdome 2 servers and Integrity BL860c i2 server blades running HP-UX v3, HP StorageWorksEnterprise Virtual Arrays, HP StorageWorks XP24000 and P9500 disk array enterprise class storage systems, and HP Data Protector software for backup and recovery. Each is intended to improve reliability and efficiency in the consolidated data center. (HP News Release)

References:

The Coca-Cola Company.  Retrieved 26 May, 2011 from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/bios/bio_52.html

The Coca-Cola Company Builds Business and Information Technology with SAP R/3 To Optimize Supply Chain.  Business Wire.  11 May, 1999.  Retrieved 26 May, 2011 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_May_11/ai_54598341/

Coca-Cola FEMSA Signs 0 Million Technology Services Agreement with HP to Support Growth.  HP News Release.  28 March, 2011.  Retrieved 26 May, 2011 from http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110328a.html

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