BPP Coursework Cover Sheet

Please use the table below as your cover sheet for the 1^st page of the submission. The sheet should be before the cover/title page of your submission.

 MSc Management

 Management Essentials

 Coursework Assessment Brief CW2 

1.General Assessment Guidance

• Your summative assessment for this module is made up of this coursework submission which accounts for 100% of the marks.
• Please note late submissions will not be marked.
  • You are required to submit all elements of your assessment via Turnitin online access. Only submissions made via the specified mode will be accepted and hard copies or any other digital form of submissions (like via email or pen drive etc.) will not be accepted.
  • For coursework, the submission word limit is 5000 words. You must comply with the word count guidelines. You may submit LESS than 5000 words but not more. Word Count guidelines can be  found on your programme home page and the coursework submission page.
  • Do not put your name or contact details anywhere on your submission. You should only put your student registration number (SRN) which will ensure your submission is recognised in the marking process.
  • A total of 100 marks are available for this module assessment, and you are required to achieve minimum 50% to pass this module.
  • You are required to use only Harvard Referencing System in your submission. Any content which is already published by other author(s) and is not referenced will be considered as a case of plagiarism.

You can find further information on Harvard Referencing in the online library on the Hub. You can use the following link to access this information: https://bpp.libguides.com/home/business

• BPP University has a strict policy regarding authenticity of assessments. In proven instances of plagiarism or collusion, severe punishment will be imposed on offenders. You are advised to read the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and collusion in the GARs and UPPs which are available on the HUB in the Help and Support section under Documents and Forms.
• Use of AI in assessments is only allowed for the purposes of reviewing a draft, correcting language errors or if specified in the summative assessment brief. If you have used AI for any of these purposes, you should indicate this on the Assignment Cover sheet. For more information regarding acceptable and unacceptable use of AI, please enrol onto the Generative AI Foundations course on the HUB.
• You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not marked.

2.Assessment Brief

This module is assessed through one graded element worth 100%. You must achieve at least 50% to pass the module. For this assignment you will produce a Business Consultancy Report based on Coca-Cola, written in an academic style.

By completing this assessment, you will achieve the following learning outcomes (LOs):

LO1 – Critically assess management practice within organisations.

LO2 – Apply your understanding of management principles in relation to key business challenges. LO3 – Critically evaluate how management behaviours can promote organisational success.

LO4 – Defend skills required to be an effective manager in a given business context.

Assessment Scenario

Acting as a Business Consultant you are required to produce a business report for the senior management team at Coca-Cola Co, by utilising the techniques and concepts you have covered in the module.

The Coca-Cola Company is one of the largest American corporations, and its iconic, eponymous beverage is the best-selling soft drink in the world. Through the years, the company has deployed memorable advertising in all media, the latest technology, and a model production and distribution system to increase and maintain its success.

IDENTIFICATION: Soft drink manufacturer and distributor DATE: Founded on January 29, 1892

On May 8, 1886, an Atlanta pharmacist, John Stith Pemberton, invented Coca-Cola syrup and mixed it with carbonated water to create a soda fountain drink. Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, named the drink and designed the trademark, which would be registered in 1893. They sold the syrup to local soda fountains.

Before he died in 1888, Pemberton sold his business to several partners. By 1891, Atlanta pharmacist Asa G. Candler had acquired sole ownership for $2,300. On January 29, 1892, he formed the corporation, the Coca-Cola Company. Candler opened manufacturing plants in other states, and by 1895 Coca-Cola was sold throughout the United States. He also developed new marketing ideas, such as distributing coupons for free drinks, as well as selling calendars, clocks, and other souvenirs bearing the product’s trademark. In 1899, Candler gave Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead exclusive rights to bottle and distribute Coca-Cola. They developed high-speed bottling and a distribution system that became a model for the American soft drink industry.

In 1919, investors led by Ernest Woodruff and W. C. Bradley purchased the company for $25 million. In 1923, Ernest Woodruff’s son Robert Woodruff became president. During the 1920s, Woodruff introduced revolutionary merchandising tools such as a six-bottle carton and a metal, open-top cooler that enabled Coca-Cola to be sold ice-cold. He envisioned Coca-Cola as an international

product. The Summer Olympics of 1928 saw the first sale of Coca-Cola at an

Olympiad. The automatic fountain dispenser was introduced at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. During World War II , Woodruff built more plants overseas to supply the armed forces, and many non-Americans tasted Coca-Cola for the first time.

In the following decades, global recognition and sales grew, as the company developed successful packaging, marketing, and new products. In 1955, new ten-, twelve- and twenty-six-ounce “king- size” and “family-size” bottles became popular, and plastic two-litre bottles arrived in 1977. The company’s advertising slogans have been among the most recognized in American culture. They have included "It’s the Real Thing" (1942, 1969), "Coke Is It!" (1982), "The Coke Side of Life" (2006), "Open Happiness" (2009), "Taste the Feeling" (2016), and "Real Magic" (2021). While Coca-Cola (sometimes sold as Coke) remained the company’s flagship product, by the early twenty-first century the company produced and distributed more than 3,500 beverage products among hundreds of brands available in more than two hundred countries.

At the same time, the company did experience some industry competition that also influenced marketing strategies and product development. PepsiCo had long served as Coca-Cola`s biggest rival, with its flagship beverage, Pepsi, drawing in a share of customers who preferred a slightly sweeter soft drink. As part of an effort to take sales back from PepsiCo, Coca-Cola leadership made the decision to tweak their soft drink`s signature formula and, in 1985, replace traditional Coca-Cola with the new formulation, offering only the latter for sale instead. While many loyal customers criticised this move and PepsiCo attempted to capitalize off such backlash, the company did continue to make a profit overall. Still, the response led Coca-Cola to sell both the classic version of Coke and the new version of Coke.

In addition to sponsoring various major organisations and events, including the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the television

series American Idol , and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Coca-Cola company has changed its marketing strategies over the years to continue appealing to a wide range of consumers. While Diet Coke was released to the market in 1982 to offer a sugar-free version of the company`s iconic beverage, it was not until 2005 that another diet product was released to target a more elusive segment of the increasingly health-conscious American population: men. That year, Coca-Cola began selling Coke Zero, which also contained the artificial sweetener aspartame but came in a black can and was meant to taste almost identical to the original. This product successfully appealed to men as well and the company saw growth in sales over the subsequent years. In a further effort to compete in a market whose consumers were leaning more toward low-calorie options, the company unveiled Coca-Cola Life in 2014. Sweetened through the use of cane sugar and the natural stevia plant, the soft drink boasted only 90 calories per green can. However, diet soda sales began struggling in the 2010s due to increased consumer concerns regarding the consumption of sugar substitutes. Also in 2014, Coca-Cola initiated its "Share a Coke" campaign, replacing its logo on the labels of its cans and bottles for the first time with some of the country`s most popular names to add a personal touch to the beverage`s packaging. After experiencing some success, the company continued the campaign in 2015 with a wider variety of packaging and including one thousand different names.

Just as transitions to more health-conscious foods and beverages had prompted the release of new products, Coca-Cola also remained aware of the public`s interest in alcoholic beverages, particularly as the market for ready-to-drink cocktails grew. As soda consumption had continued to decline, the

year 2018 had seen the company`s experimentation with a ready-to- drink

alcoholic beverage sold in Japan. By the 2020s, the company had made further moves into the alcohol industry, particularly with the release, in partnership with the major whiskey maker Jack Daniel`s, of the canned Jack and Coke cocktail. First for sale in Mexico in 2022, the cans became available in other countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom in 2023. By that point, Coca-Cola had also introduced alcoholic versions of its Fresca brand as well as a line of hard seltzers. At the same time, its attempt to enter the energy drink market with the launch of its own brand in 2020 had proven unsuccessful.

Case study can also be found here:

Myers, A. (2024) ‘Coca-Cola Company’, Salem Press Encyclopedia [Preprint]. Available at: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=2e7690cb-10eb-3e85-87e3-2ffce7209a21 (Accessed: 14 November 2024).

It is recommended that you should carry out a substantial amount of independent and individual research to strengthen your understanding of the business context and the preferred style of management practice.

Assessment Task

You are to critically evaluate the current management practices at Coca-Cola Corporation and recommend changes based on your evaluation that company must implement to improve its success in the Beverage sector.

Task 1 – Management Practices (LO1)

Conduct a comprehensive analysis of Coca-Cola’s management practices, describing their key aspects and critically assess these management practices.

Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research.

Task 2 – Analysis of Business Challenges (LO2)

Identify significant business challenges faced by Coca-Cola. Apply relevant management principles to analyse how Coca-Cola addressed these challenges.

Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research.

Task 3 – Impact of Management Behaviours on Organisational Performance (LO3)

Critically evaluate the potential impact of Coca-Cola’s managers’ behaviour on the overall

organisation’s performance.

Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research.

Task 4 – Management competencies development (LO4)

Critically assess different management competencies and defend why these skills are important for current and future managers at Coca-Cola to improve its success in the Beverage industry.

Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research.

Assessment Guidelines:

Introduction

• Define leadership and management and provide an overview of the purpose of your report including an indication of the contents.

Task 1 – Management Practices

• Identify Coca-Cola’s mission, values and management practices.
• Critically assess whether Coca-Cola’s mission, values and management practices are all aligned.

Task 2 – Analysis of Business Challenges

• Identify and critically discuss 2 key challenges that Coca-Cola is encountering in the current environment.
• Conduct an analysis of Coca-Cola’s current management competency of Creativity and Innovation using relevant model/ framework.
• Critically discuss effectiveness of Coca-Cola’s current management competency of Creativity and Innovation to enable Coca-Cola’s management to resolve the challenges identified.
• Analyse the Coca-Cola’s management competency of Decision making using relevant model/ framework.
• Critically evaluate how effectively the management competency of Decision-making is being used in mitigating the challenges identified.
  • Analyse the emotional intelligence of Coca-Cola’s managers using relevant model/framework.
  • Analyse the positive and negative effects of these behaviours on Coca-Cola’s performance.
  • Give recommendations for cultivating or modifying these management behaviours to enhance Coca-Cola’s success.

Task 3 – Impact of Management Behaviours on Organisational Performance

Task 4 – Management competencies development

• Select any 2 management competencies from the following and critically assess the selected competencies using relevant models/ frameworks.
  • Managing Resilience
  • Managing Stakeholder Relationships
  • Managing Conflict and Negotiation
  • Managing Teams
  • Propose recommendations for developing and nurturing these skills among current and future managers at Coca-Cola to improve its success in the Beverage Industry.

Conclusion

Provide a conclusion that summarises your recommended changes that Coca-Cola must implement to improve its success in the Beverage industry.

Presentation and Referencing

Your report structure should include the following sections:

• Cover page (BPP University Administration Cover Sheet)
• Table of Contents
• List of Abbreviations (if appropriate)
• Introduction
• Task 1
• Task 2
• Task 3
• Task 4
• Conclusion
• References
• Appendix (if required)

Word count: 5000 words

Word count – only applies to the main body (shown in bold); i.e., cover page, table of contents, list of abbreviations, references, assessment self-evaluation and appendix are not part of the 5000-word count.

If you have any further questions about this coursework assignment, please contact the module leader or your tutor.

Tip for Mapping the Assessment towards Module Topics and Module Learning Outcomes (LOs)

3.    Marking Guide

The assignment is marked out of 100 and counts towards 100% of your module mark. The following table shows the tasks, marks and marking rubric: