From Sweet Refreshment to Bitter Spill: Can Coca-Cola Regain Sri Lanka's Trust?

The Coca Cola Company is one of the popular firms in the world. The firm has managed to establish branches all over the world and also produced different kinds of beverages that have since become global brands (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45). The company has contributed immensely to the improvement of the lives of people across the world as part of its social responsibility. Currently, Coca Cola Company is the largest beverage producer in the world with at least a bottling firm in every country in the world.

Despite, its popularity, the company’s reputation is at stake due to an unfortunate event in one of its affiliate branches in Sri Lanka. The Coca Cola firm in Sri Lanka faced an accidental diesel leak. The leaked diesel made way into the major water point, therefore, contaminating the main source of water for the residents of Sri Lanka.

The issue created a public outcry and global scandal which has thoroughly put the good reputation of the company in jeopardy. Therefore, our public relations campaign strategy will seek to enhance, empower, and revive the good reputation the company has built over the years which is under threat of being tainted.

The issue was brought about by an unfortunate accident that occurred in the Coca Cola branch in Sri Lanka. There is no doubt that the situation caused a massive environmental issue. Despite the diesel spill situation, the company has faced several environmental issues in the past. One of the major issues that the company has faced was the packaging of products using a low-grade plastic that end up tainting the environment.

The company dealt with the situation by reinventing a quality recyclable plastic bottle. However, the current situation cannot be compared with the past issue. The main reason is that the issue affects the people directly since water is an essential commodity in their lives. The major cause of the situation is the failure of the mechanical system in the company.

The pipes that direct fuel to the company were old and, therefore, perforations were formed. That led to the diesel spillage that streamed into the water source (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45). The company has agreed on the cause of the situation and are concerned to improve the resulting situation. The situation is the first of its kind to happen to the company (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286). The company has in the past been the front advocate of improving the quality of the environment.

The occurrence of the situation has affected the company relationship with various environmental groups in Sri Lanka. The ministry of environment and the ministry of water and sanitation have raised their concern about the situation. The company has made assurances to the group that the situation will be solved, and the affected party will be compensated.

Consequences of the Situation

The company has a mission to refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness and create value and make a difference. The situation that the company is facing currently has affected the company mission in a big way. The primary company mission is to spread happiness to the people, and when incidences like the diesel spillage occur, then the mission of the company is compromised. The situation threatens to taint the good company reputation that has stood for many years (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45). Therefore, the company has to respond quickly and efficiently towards the situation.

The predicted duration of the issue is short-term. The reason being the situation is not bound to last longer since the damage can be repaired. Despite the short-term nature of the situation, the issue affects many people. The first people to get affected by the situation are the people who live in the company setting (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286). These people have direct contact with the contaminated water source.

Therefore, they tend to get affected negatively by the situation directly (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286). The leakage of the diesel issue has affected the company’s good relationship with the community. Therefore, the issue is more of community relations and environmental issue than an industrial issue. The issue poses a threat to the company brand both at the local level and the international level and the major consumers will start to doubt the severity of the company mission.

The situation will affect the fulfillment of the mission and the objective of the company. The situation is more of a negative and set back to the organization (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286). The situation will prove to be an obstacle because there is a probability that many of the environmentalists and lobby groups will strive to mobilize the people to boycott the company products. That will affect the sales and the profitability of the company. However, the company might use the situation to propel further its corporate social responsibilities.

Situation Resolution

Information on the situation will greatly affect the situation resolution. The main reason the information is critical is the way the information will be disseminated to the public. The information that goes to the public may further taint the company image or improve the image. Therefore, the company must have a better strategy to counter any of the negative information that might be availed to the public.

Some of the environment groups might spread the information that the company does not value the lives of the community that live around the company (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). If the company is not vigilant, the information may turn the people against the company. The best resolution that the company might derive is to strictly and efficiently conduct massive social responsibility programs.

The program should aim to resolve the spillage issue, compensate the affected party, and probably install clean water equipment to benefit the community. That will help in trying to regain the community confidence that in turn will boost the company image and, on the other hand, the community will benefit from the new facilities the company will provide for them. The situation is likely to be resolved in a manner in which the company reacts to the situation.

Therefore, public relations staff has an important role to play (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). They hold the key to the best information that should be communicated to the entire population. The top management has a critical decision to make regarding the situation. The most important factors the top management should consider when making decisions are the confidence level that the company has to the public and the image of the firm (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286). The top management has responsibility for approving mechanisms such as compensation, diesel spillage cleanup process, and many other activities that are meant to resolve the situation.

Organizational Analysis

Internal Environment

The Coca Cola Company is of the few companies in the world that have managed to stay relevant in the market for a long time (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45). That indicates that the company has been efficient in conducting its activities. The issue, therefore, that threatens to affect the company reputation is a serious issue.

The Company has always strived to improve its performance both on the market and in the quality of the products they produce (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45). In the resolution of the issue, the company has several public relations staff that will be tasked to improve the relationship between the public and the company. The company has strived to employ the services of 5 employees with a budget of $3 million. The budget towards the public relations activities will include all the avenues that the public relations staff will utilize. The organization believes, in its public relations activities and has shown its dedication by allocating substantial amounts of budget towards the course.

Performance

The company produces the vast amount of beverage (soda). Apart from specializing in the production of the major brand for the company (coca cola), the company is involved in the production of other brands (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45). The production of the beverage required heavy machinery to mix the concentrates, to do packaging, transportation, and many other activities. This heavy machinery utilizes the diesel fuel. Therefore, it was more likely for the diesel spillage to occur due to the high amount of diesel being channelled to the company system.

The company has continued to produce quality beverages for the past three years. The organization has been cautious with the quality of its product. The product that the company produce has over the years helped in giving people cheap luxury beverage that aims at reducing their thirst (Veerappan, et al., 2011, p. 54). The product is a substitute for water for water has no taste; the products offer to quench the thirst with some sweet flavor. The company has in the past been blamed for producing the beverage that increase has seen the increase in obesity among the teenagers and students that have created an immense social problem (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286).

The issue on the spillage has generated the environmental issue. Despite these minimal setbacks, the company has invested a lot in providing quality products to the consumers. That has set the company apart from other competitors in the industry. The Coca Cola Company has sufficient plans to remain at the top level of constant improvement of the product. The product has significantly changed in the past three years with constant improvement in brands and products. The next two years will see the company products at a high level. The company encourages invention and embraces new technology (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45).

Structure

The mission of the organization towards the issue is to restore the credibility of the company and regain the confidence of the people. The credibility of the company was lost after the spillage of the diesel. The company, therefore, aims to regain the lost credibility. The issue has affected the company vision. The company vision is to achieve sustainable growth among the people, portfolio, partners, and increase productivity and profit. Due to the issue, the company cannot attain the stated vision (Veerappan, et al., 2011, p. 54). The reason being people have already developed negativity towards the company and its products.

Therefore, the company has facilitated the mission with personnel, time, equipment and budget. The company has already employed five professional public relations personnel who are tasked to help the company regain the tainted reputation. The budget has also been availed with the company providing $3 million to be used in the mission.

The company has also set the time frame of one year. The humanitarian activities will last one year, the public relations outreach will take five months, and the public relations campaign will also take one year (Veerappan, et al., 2011, p. 54). The public relations staffs have a critical role to play. Therefore, the top managers have made it clear that they will support all the public relations activities by providing funds and giving them a platform to incorporate their decisions with the company focus.

Internal Impediments

The company is fully supportive of the public relation activities. Therefore, the company has no internal impediments that strive to undermine the performance of the company. Despite that, the company expects the public relations campaigns to work perfectly towards their expectations. That has given the public relations personnel a hard task knowing what is expected from their activities (Veerappan, et al., 2011, p. 54).

Public Perception

The company was established in 1886, has consistently continued to fill the need for soft drinks (Aldaya, Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Mekonnen, 2012, p. 45). The company has since then established branches all over the world. The Sri Lanka branch is one of the branches that strive to meet the demand in the Sri Lanka. The company has built its reputation over the years (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286).

The company is well known for its corporate social responsibility programs all over the world where any of its branches operates. In many of its branches the company has established schools, hospitals, water points, and many other projects that benefit the community. The company reputation, therefore, should be protected at all cost since it gives the company good relationship with the people and the community the company operates.

Reputation

The company products are very popular in the world. Every retail facility has at least one of the company products. That entails that the company products are popular and are widely used by the consumers. The company products have a very good reputation among the consumers (Veerappan, et al., 2011, p. 54). Many of the consumers state that the products are refreshing and that they attain the satisfaction that they wanted. The organization is also respected by many of the customers. Many people in the world perceive the organization as one of the most successful business firms. The company has a reputation for helping the community where the company operates.

The reputation of the company is purely based on the facts. Therefore, the reputation of the company can be quantified by the number of projects that the company has been engaged. The company reputation has also been propelled by the sponsorship programs that it runs. The company has facilitated sponsorship programs to students as well as sponsoring special sporting events (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). The situation in Sri Lanka is one of a kind that has affected the company (Hanzaee, & Farsani, 2011, p. 286).

The company has regretted the occurrence of the situation and has strived to salvage the problem. The company has already communicated to the public highlighting its regret of the situation and has promised to find a solution to the problem as well as continue to maintain its ethical standards. The company management has been cautious about its reputation and has been satisfied with the company reputation.

External Environment

The major competition that the company is facing is from various beverage producers in the soft drink category. These companies try to outwit the company; however, the company’s asset base has proved to be a great deal for the competitors. The main competitor of the company is the Pepsi Company. The company has proved to a serious competitor for the product in the world market (Veerappan, et al., 2011, p. 54). However, the diesel spillage has caused the company some of its reputation. There are many environmental groups and lobbies that have continued to mobilize the people to boycott the company products. That will affect the public relation process on the ground.

Competition

The external environment offers great competition for the company. The Pepsi Company is a single company that proved to be a major competitor in the industry. However, the issue that has affected the Coca Cola Company is rare in the industry; thus the rival companies have not been faced with the issue. The rival companies have strived to follow the path of the company (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). Many of the rivals have resulted in utilizing similar techniques as the company such as sponsoring sporting events in a bid to increase their sales. Despite that, the company remains the major player in the beverage industry. The completion is likely to increase in the next three years.

Opposition

The company faces a tough task in achieving its mission. There are various groups in the area that has shown to resist the mission of the company. These groups are environmental groups and lobby groups. These groups have criticized the company of contaminating the water and cited the spillage as company failure. These groups have accused the company of disrespecting the environment and, as a result, they have mobilized the people in Sri Lanka to boycott and avoid any product from the company.

With that trend, the company is faced with a serious sales depletion (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). The groups have not been active in the past and only surfaced after the diesel leakage. These groups have a reputation of paralyzing any activity of their target. These groups receive their funding from environment sympathizers, non-governmental organizations, and many individuals who are attached to environmental activities. These groups were dormant in the last three years only to be very active after the unfortunate incident that has affected the company.

The groups have changed their approach, and now they are targeting the individuals in the country (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). The next three years the groups will tend to be powerful and carry a lot of influence power. Therefore, the company needs to be very careful in future activities and increase the environmental programs.

External Impediments

The company is operating in an active and competitive environment that is continuing to grow each year. The environment expects an increase in some competitors in the industry as well as an increase in products and brands in the industry. The other impediment that the company is facing is the taste and preference changes in customers. Many health groups have done a massive campaign in a bid to encourage people from consuming sodas due to the health risks (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67).

These factors have greatly affected the productivity of the company. These allegations are not true, and some may have been brought forward due to the political issues from the major competitors. The social issue has not proved to be an impediment for the company until the occurrence of the unfortunate leakage of the diesel.

Public Analysis

The major stakeholders (publics) that are involved in the company activities are the customers, producers, legislators, competitors (Zhenfang, & Congzhen, 2014, p. 29). The key publics for this situation are the competitors and customers. The major opinion leaders for these publics are the legislators. The primary customers for the company products are the community that lives in Sri Lanka.

The secondary customers are the people who live in other countries all over the world. The customer trend has been changing irregularly over the years. The reason being the customers gets information from many sources. Therefore, that contributes to the irregularity in their demand. The customer trend is likely to change over the next three years.

Producers are the community that lives within the plant and all over the country. These groups provide the company with the raw materials the company uses in the preparation of the products. The producers are unlikely to change in the next three years (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). The environment is controlled by the facilitators who create a good environment for conducting the daily activities. These facilitators to a large extent are the legislators (Janouch, 2014, p. 110).

The legislators usually formulate laws that help in the industry. These laws help in the regulation of the competition and help to level the environment. They are the arm of the government, and their role is to oversee the welfare of customers, producers, and the competitors. The impediment in the environment is the limiters that are the competitors. The competitors strive to make each other’s life in the business unbearable. Competitors compete for the same share of resources and customers (Janouch, 2014, p. 110).

Key Publics

The company will employ the services of five public relations staff. These public relation officers will manage their affairs independently (Deping, Jun, & Kai, 2013, p. 8). That means each public relation officer will employ different tactics in a bid to win over the trust of the customers. The first officer will deal with a musical group or individual musician to promote the activities of the company, the second officer will manage the activity of the soccer star, the third will employ activity of media personality, the fourth will employ the services of school children, and the fifth will employ the services of an old person (WU, & ZHU, 2015, p. 67). Each public is expected to communicate the critical message to the people, which gives the people more information about the company and why they should continue to support the company.

Characteristics of Public

Each key public has important characteristics that will help the company in a big way. The all the key publics knows the importance of keeping the environment clean and healthy. Each knows and understands that the unfolding event was a mere accident, and the company had no control over the issue (Hou, Zhu, & Bromley, 2012, p. 19).

The key public wishes to sensitize the people about the occurrence of the problem. However, each of the key individuals involved in the process would not wish to spoil his or her reputation in the process of helping the company. Each of the key individuals wants the organization to come out clean on the issue and the customers to the product regain their confidence in the company. Each public expects to get compensated by the company for the services they offer. They are influential, and each has a specific target group.

Communication Characteristics

Each of the key public has a special communication tool that he or she can use to target the intended customers (Okeke, Oghenetega, & Ugulu, 2014, p. 93). The musician will utilize the musical background, the soccer star will communicate the strong message by use of soccer game, and the children will use their play and many more mechanisms. Their message will be drafted, processed and showcased on all media platforms both in the electronic media of which social media belong to, and the print media. The key public age ranges from 12 to 60 years. The musicians and the soccer star will target the younger people and teenagers; the school children will target the younger people while, the older publics will target older people. Each public will benefit from excellent enumeration from the company.

B) Strategy (Goals)

The goal of the company is to make the people and the community view the company in a positive manner. Therefore, the specific objectives of the company are:

To regain credibility in global setting
To outnumber any bad news about the company online
To rebuild a good relationship with the Sri Lankan community
To improve water, sanitation and local livelihood

These objectives are viable, and they complement each other. All of the objectives have a single aim that is to help the company overcome the situation that the diesel leakage has brought. The priority of the company is to improve its image. The company has the required resources to conduct the public relations campaign and is willing to facilitate a good environment for the commencement of the processes. The Coca cola Company will employ different tactic on each objective. The more detail on the company tactics on each objective will be tactic section below.

Formulating Action & Response Strategies

The company will utilize all media platforms in a bid to communicate positive information to the general public. The proactive strategy will involve the manager of the firm communicating to the public that the investigation results on the issue concluded that the pipes were faulty, and the repair has already commenced (Polash, & Hasan, 2014, p. 93).

The manager will further build the confidence of the customers and the people of Sri Lanka by assuring them that none of the issues will occur in future. The reactive strategy will entail the company engaging with the locals to develop a water program that will help in eradicating the water problem that affects them. The company will also create social outreach programs for both adults and children. The company will also raise funds to support any environmental program in the world.

Public Relations Activities

The public relation process will utilize the audience participation, alliances, and sponsorship to pass its message to the people. The company will also use the new, transparent communications, and public relation responses to communicate the messages they intend for the people.

Designing Effective Communication

The people who will communicate the messages are the five groups. The musicians, old person, children, footballer, and media personality (Van Houten, 2014, p. 39). These people are credible and have been chosen since they have vast followings among different age groups. The musician and the footballer capture the young adults and teenagers while the children capture the child audience. The older person will strive to capture the older generation.

Therefore, all the group is covered from the young and the old who will relate well to the intended target (Saelens, et al., 2015, p. 67). This group is charismatic since they will pass the message in the environment they love the most. The musician will compose a song, whereas the footballer will strive to communicate the message while on the football pitch.

They relate well to the audience, and there is a connection between the audience and them. Therefore, the message will clearly reach the targeted group. The message communicated will contain both the rational appeal and the emotional appeal. The message will contain factual statements as well as positive emotions. The message will be communicated both verbally and non-verbal manner. The message will strive to be clear and precise with the use of power words and ethical language.

C) Tactics

The information will be communicated both to the organizational side and audience side (Heidarzadeh, & Torabi, 2014, p. 104). Each goals that the company wants to achieve will utilise different tactics. Tactics that the company will use are:

To regain credibility in global setting. To achieve this goal the company open an account where the company will contribute money towards it with an aim of funding any global environmental program.
To outnumber any bad news about the company. The oil spillage created a massive issue on the company. The good reputation of the company was tainted. Therefore, to counter any bad or negative publicity on the company, the firm will engage in vigorous marketing campaign and promotion. The company will showcase the milestone it has achieved over the years and many projects it has been actively involved in improving the environment. The company will do this by using social media platforms and form of competions that will benefit the participants.
To rebuild a good relationship with the Sri Lankan community. To attain this goal the company will strive to increase employment of the locals and to sponsor some of their children to school.
To improve water, sanitation and local livelihood. The company will repair the defect pipes and install water purification plant with the aim of improving water sanitation in the area.

D) Evaluate and Assesment

Methodology

To evaluate and assess the effectviness of the tactic that will be used to regain credibility in global setting, the company will employ an before-after methodology. The company will assess the company records on environmental activity. After assessing the company will identify the buget and where the company could fund the environmental projects. Individuals will be asked through interview how they passive the environmental programs initiated by the company.

The company will interview individuals and locals concerning how they view the company. That will give the company some clue on the extend the company has bad publicity out there. After initiating the tactic to counter bad publicity, the company will assess the effectiveness by conducting interviews on locals. That will give the company an evaluation on the employed tactic.

Bad relationship with the local could greatly damage the productivity of a company. Therefore, to regain the lost relationship the company will employ the tactic on the tactic section. To assess and evaluate its effectivenessn the company will conduct a survey where people will be required to give their vadict on the company. That will give the company more information on the effectiveness of the tactic.

The company will conduct a survey on how people passive the water sanitation efforts by the company. The company will do that by interviewing some local people. That will give the company clue on the effectiveness of the tactic and whether the locals are appreciating the company effort to improve their water quality.

References

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Okeke, I. E., Oghenetega, L. U., & Ugulu, L. (2014). Public Relation Skills of University Librarians in South-East Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria. New Media and Mass Communication, 30, 8-12.

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Saelens, B. E., Vernez Moudon, A., Kang, B., Hurvitz, P. M., & Zhou, C. (2014). Relation between higher physical activity and public transit use. American journal of public health, 104(5), 854-859.

Van Houten, P. (2014). The development of public relation skills in aspiring community college presidents (Doctoral dissertation, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY).

Veerappan, G., Michael, E., Bakar, A., Roshezry, A., Mariadass Lourdas, M. E., Ibrahim, I. M., & Ng, M. S. (2011). The influence of feminization in public relation field towards public relation work practice and job satisfaction.

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From Sweet Refreshment to Bitter Spill: Can Coca-Cola Regain Sri Lanka’s Trust?

Situation Analysis