MASTER OF MANAGEMENT

IIUM 2017

MANAGEMENT POLICIES MGT 6600

TITLE: GROUP CASE STUDY 2(COCA COLA)

Prepared by:
Hamzah Musazay G1520213
Farah Atiqah Zawani G1521832
Romi Hamfrisa Putra G1521403
 TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE

Summary of Case 3

Question 1 4-5

Question 2 5

Question 3 6

Question 4 7

Conclusion 8-9

References 9 - 10

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 SUMMARY OF THE CASE

Coca Cola was invented back in 1886 by a pharmacist named John Pemberton, which also
known as The Doc. At the end of the Civil War, John decided to invent something that would
bring him a commercial success. During that time, almost everything that he did in pharmacies
would fail. He was trying his luck by playing with drugs but none of them were successful and
made money. Then he moved to Atlanta and finally decided to get himself involved in the
beverage market. During his time, soda was in the rising popularity as a treat to social gathering
spot. Finally, he brilliantly invented something that brought a huge success by making a soda
fountain drink.

As of today, Coca Cola is the worlds largest and number one nonalcoholic beverage company,
producing more than 3,500 drinks in over 200 countries. Coca Cola has four products in the top
five soft-drink brands in the world, namely Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta, and Sprite. Bloomberg
Business Week and Inter-brand has identified Coke as the number-one best global brand. Coca
Cola aims to double up their business by the year 2020 and they have identified its Simply
Orange juice business as a key factor to help them achieve this goal. Evidently, decision-making
is absolutely vital as Coke aims to beat rival PepsiCo. Coca Cola utilizes satellite imagery,
complicated data algorithms and a juice pipeline. Besides that, Coca Cola aims to produce
consistently fresh tasty orange juice all year round despite a three-month peak growing season.
According to Coca Cola, in order to achieve the same consistent blend of orange juice, one
quintillion decision is required. This is all derived by algorithms and statistics.

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 DISSCUSSION

Q1: Which decision in this story could be considered unstructured problems? Structured
problems?

Unstructured problem can be defined as problems that are new or unusual and for which
information is ambiguous or incomplete (Robbins, 2016). The problem is new or unusual
problems for which information is ambiguous or incomplete.

Getting new business is not an easy work to do as it required good plan and preparation. Many
business fails when they started new business as because they cannot capture the fluctuate
demand and changing market condition. Since getting in to Orange Juice business is new for
Coke this could be considered an unstructured problem. According to the case Cokes executive
and managers are focusing on ambitious, long-term growth for the company; doubling cokes
business by 2020. A big part of achieving this goal is building up its simple Orange Juice
business into a powerful global juice brand.

In this case making simple orange juice also can be considered as unstructured problem because
it involves complicated algorithm and complex application of business analytic. Making one
glass of orange juice by hand for small quantities is not hard. On the other hand, for one
company like Coke producing huge amount quantity of orange juice is not ease. As the Coke
revenue analytic consultant says, Orange Juice is definitely one of the most complex application
of business analytics. They should ensure that they have the same freshness for all bottles and
also it should have same quality oranges that will provide plenty of juices. Therefore, it requires
algorithm and complex application of business analytic for mass production of Orange Juice.

Structured problem is a problem in which straight forward, familiar and easily defined. In
addition, problem would be resolved with the pre-determined policies and procedure in a
structured and step-by-step process. They clearly identify what is given and what needs to be
found and much easier to solve.

A good example of Structured problem from this case is Black Book model. It is a simple
algorithm program that includes detailed data about the more than 600 different flavors that
make up an orange and about customer preference. This data is correlated to a profile of each
batch of raw juice. The algorithm then determines how to blend batches to match a certain taste

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and consistency. It also includes data on external factors such as weather patterns, crop yields,
and other cost pressure. By using Black Book, Coke can easily determine and produce Orange
Juice following the instructions.

Q2: How does the Black Book help Cokes manager and other employees in decision-
making?

Allah SWT created human with incredible abilities where each of the human is gifted with
different ability and unique on their own. Nevertheless, humans still have limitation of
themselves. Year by year, the evolution of technology is getting better and some technology
achievement has gotten way beyond human capabilities. The advancement of technology in
some way opens up opportunities for human to grow higher and further in accomplishing their
goals. In the case of Coke, the Black Book that they considered as big data, stores the algorithm
of the companys business success.

The Black Book Model helps Cokes managers and employees on top of their game plan during
decision-making process as it consists over 600 different flavors in their calculation that is far
more than normal human brain can process. By having the Black Book, it greatly simplifies the
decision-making process for the managers while making it more powerful because of the amount
of data being used. Not other that, it also helps them to blend batches of juices as well as tweak
recipes.

How big data helps Cokes manager and employees in making decision is based on the internal
and external sources gathered in the Black Book. Some information in the big data includes
weather pattern for supervising the growing season, crop yield and also other cost pressures. This
information is vital and valuable as it helps the manager to plan, lead, organize and control the
organization. However, to some organization, they rely on big data as much as they believe it is
their important weapon to blend within the market.

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Q3: What does Cokes big data have to do with its goal?

Coca-Colas (Coke) top executives and managers are focusing on ambitious, long-term growth
for the company, which is to double up Cokes business by the year 2020. One of the big parts in
achieving the goal is to build up its Simply Orange Juice business into a powerful global juice
brand. The executives and managers are well aware of difficulties and challenges they might face
in the production of the orange juice due to limited growing season and weather fluctuation.

One good advantage of Coke for being able to professionally analyze the possible consequences
is when they come out with Black Book Model. Black Book Model is like a house of formulae
specifically in making good orange juice. For the top executives and managers, the book is more
to algorithm, where it contains data about more than 600 different flavors that make up an orange
and about customer preferences. Not only that, it is correlated to a profile of each batch of raw
juices. The algorithm also determines how to blend the new batches to match a certain taste and
consistency.

The presence of big data or the Black Book makes the goal seem to be more achievable. As said
by the revenue analytic consultant, the process of making orange juice somehow requires one
quintillion decision. Big data is knows as quantifiable information that can be analyzed by highly
sophisticated data processing. It comprises of high volume, velocity and variety information that
contributes to the decision made in the decision-making process. Therefore, with the help of the
big data, Cokes top executives and managers would be able to make a wiser decision based on
the reliable data they have. A part from that, it would also help to make sure the company is on
the right track towards achieving the goal.

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Q4: Do some research on revenue analytics. What is it? How can it help managers make
better decisions?

Revenue Analytics is a company that provides product solutions and recommendations to

companies whose priority is to retain their loyal customers. In short, it is a revenue management
and price optimization company. Revenue Analytics is the application of disciplined analytics
that predict consumer behavior in the market and optimize product availability and pricing to
maximize revenue growth.

The primary aim of Revenue Analytics is selling the right product to the right customer at the
right time for the right price. In Revenue Analytics, it is essential to understand the customers'
perception of product value and accurately aligning product prices, placement, and availability
with each customer segment.

The main challenge is that there are many different variables and many unknown outcomes, thus
the services provided by Revenue Analytics must be accurate. Revenue Analytics claim to only
employ the A-team, implying that they employ only the very best specialists and consultants.
PhD holders in Mathematics are required as well as highly qualified software engineers.

Revenue Analytics uses an existing library of predictive analytics components based on decades
of experience across multiple industries, developed by the companys experts. This will ease the
process for clients to create custom software that is relevant to their company and industry.

However, human emotions are usually affected by the change in prices of the products, thus
Revenue Analytics chooses to include that factor from the very beginning of the process. This
will help reduce the chances of customers becoming unhappy in the change in price. Revenue
Analytics helps managers make better decisions as they are presented with solid figures and can
make a rational decision.

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 CONCLUSION: ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Al-Quran: S3: 159

and consult them in the affairs. Then when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah,
certainly, Allah love those who put their trusts (in Him).

Pertaining to decision making in Islam, the general instruction lies on surah Ali Imran verse 159.
According to scholars, this verse came during the battle of Uhud. The verse told us to be soft-
hearted in facing problems. Good leadership is always accompanied with affection and modesty.
Hard hearted leaders will not gain sympathy from their followers. It only creates fear and hatred.
Affection will attract people to cooperate. Hence, things will be easier to solve.

Conferring to Ali Imran:159, the first thing to apply in making decision is to discuss with all
parties. By involving the related parties, the process of gathering necessary information will be
faster. Additionally, more options are provided. More brains will also help in choosing the best
alternative.

Nowadays, it is barely possible for a man to be an expert in many fields. Therefore, it is good to
consult to experts in other disciplines for the matter. This is also implicitly stated in Ali
Imran:159. Allah likes people who consult to others, even though sometimes it fails to achieve
the goals. After we come up with decisions, Allah wants us to trust Him. Trusting Allah is
beloved with Him.

In the case of Coca-Cola, they come up with the decision of building up its Simply Orange Juice
business into a powerful global juice brand. Orange Juice Business is new for Coca-Cola and
therefore they will face problems such as structured and unstructured problems in the
implementation.

Handling and resolving structured problem isnt hard to do because the solution is usually self-
evident or at least reduced to a few alternatives that are familiar and have proved successful in
the past but for unstructured problem manager have to go to the trouble and expense of going
through an involved decision process. Hence, as a Moslem we should put our trust to Allah in

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handling and resolving both problems particularly unstructured problems. Because Allah knows
what is the best for us.

REFERENCES

World of Coca-Cola. 2017. Coca-Cola History World of Coca-Cola. [ONLINE]

Available at: http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/about-us/coca-cola-history/. [Accessed
28 February 2017].

Ellen Messmer. 2017. Coca-Cola Co.'s 'Black Book' application squeezes best out of OJ |
Network World. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2176933/applications/coca-cola-co--s--black-book-
-application-squeezes-best-out-of-oj.html. [Accessed 28 February 2017].

Coke Engineers Its Orange JuiceWith an Algorithm - Revenue Analytics. 2017. Coke
Engineers Its Orange JuiceWith an Algorithm - Revenue Analytics. [ONLINE]
Available at: http://revenueanalytics.com/news/coke-engineers-orange-juice-algorithm/.
[Accessed 2 March 2017].

Business Intelligence. 2017. Coca-Colas Juicy Approach To Big Data - BI Insight -

Business Intelligence. [ONLINE] Available at: http://businessintelligence.com/bi-
insights/coca-colas-juicy-approach-to-big-data/. [Accessed 2 March 2017].

Research Live. 2017. Big companies, big data | Feature | Research Live. [ONLINE]
Available at: https://www.research-live.com/article/features/big-companies-big-
data/id/4008394. [Accessed 2 March 2017].

prezi.com. 2017. Coca-Cola by Laura Aguilar on Prezi. [ONLINE] Available at:

https://prezi.com/qy-qvy5nrgsg/coca-cola/. [Accessed 3 March 2017].

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 EMC. 2017. Ten Practical Big Data Benefits | Stories | Data Science Series. [ONLINE]
Available at: http://datascienceseries.com/stories/ten-practical-big-data-benefits.
[Accessed 4 March 2017].

Coca-Cola & Big Data | SmartData Collective. 2017. Coca-Cola & Big Data | SmartData
Collective. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.smartdatacollective.com/bigdatastartups/135081/how-coca-cola-takes-
refreshing-approach-big-data. [Accessed 4 March 2017].

Safaafromcaeg's Blog. 2017. Allah loves (4) those who put their Trust in Him |
Safaafromcaeg's Blog. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://safaafromcaeg.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/allah-loves-4-those-who-put-their-trust-
in-him/. [Accessed 5 March 2017].

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