Contemporary Management: Strategies for VUCA World - Case Studies of GE and Coca-Cola

This article discusses managing strategies and organizational planning in the current dynamic market through case studies of GE and Coca-Cola. It includes a VUCA analysis and organizational changes made by Jeffrey Immelt and James Quincey. The article emphasizes the need for effective strategic planning to prepare for sudden opportunities and challenges.

Contemporary Management
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Part A: Elevator Pitches
Elevator Pitch for Managing Strategy
How can we manage strategy in the current dynamic market?
What makes us successful is that we have six organisational divisions within the
company, each concentrating on specific production. For instance, energy is out most
profitable division while capital is our largest division. Within the energy division, we still
have three other subdivisions; energy services, oil and gas, and power and water. Other than
the six divisions, we have global growth and operations division responsible for global sales
and marketing of GE. Our managing strategy is merger and acquisition that means combining
several companies to diversify operations and boost our revenues. Therefore, to act in the
current VUCA world, one must combine emergent and deliberate approach in the most
complimentary manner. The four primary approaches that I have managed to this is by
building a solid foundation within the current volatile world, experimenting and making
quick decisions to respond to uncertainties, collaborating with complexity in order to promote
a self-organization, as well as ensuring that I draw an outline to act as a guideline in the
ambiguous world.
Elevator Pitch for Organisational Planning
Should organizations plan or not plan in the current unpredictable world?
Our organisational planning is composed of distinctive international divisions in each
continent around the globe with each division’s staff operating autonomously and separate
from the central office. Independent continental presidents and vice presidents that control
subdivisions based on countries or a region, which makes it a very efficient structure for us
because we are a huge company, head the division. Hence, planning has made it possible for
us to set various objectives and determine the manner in which we could go ahead to

accomplish them. We all need to understand that traditional planning approach does not work
anymore. The change that has come with advancement in technology has changed how we
conduct our business. Therefore, effective strategic planning plays a crucial role in preparing
one come up with quick decisions in cases of sudden opportunities and challenges.

Case study 1: Jeffrey Immelt
Volatility
In the 21st-century business environment,
the prices of products and services
fluctuate regularly due to the many market
forces that affect them. For example, the
fluctuations of fuel prices that impacted the
energy sector of GE.
Uncertainty
In the 21st century, there is high business
competition, the number of competitors is high,
offering the same products and services to attract
the same customers. What this means is that the
customers now look for value in the products
and services offered on the market. For large
companies like GE which has operations in
several countries, to read and predict the market
in this era is quite complicated because each
nation GE operates in has different cultural
values, unique regulatory environments, and
tariffs.
Complexity
For large companies like GE which have
operations in several countries, to read and
predict the market in this era is quite
complicated because each nation GE
operates in has different and unique cultural
values, unique regulatory environments, and
tariffs which the organization has to cope
with.
Ambiguity
Venturing into new emerging markets and
launching new products out of your scope in
the 21st-century is difficult because of the future
unknowns. It is like experimenting the direction
of the organization due to how ambiguous the
market is. You cannot foresee what the future
holds to plan your course well.

Table 1: GE VUCA Analysis
Jeffrey Immelt is the former chief executive officer of General Electric Company. He
took over as the CEO of General Electric in September 2001 and served for 16 years before
retiring in July 2017. He was the 9th chairman of General Electric. During his tenure, Immelt
overhauled the General Electric’s strategy, organizational culture, design structure of the
company, and a lot of structural changes that rebuild General Electric’s globalization
workforce and revenues.
Managing strategies
Jeffrey Immelt took General Electric at a time when the company was on a tough
course and future uncertainties. He took over leadership a few days after an attack to the
World Trade Center which cost General Electric millions of dollars as well as affecting the
aviation business (General Electric, 2018). During his leadership, Immelt researched and
realized that the company needed four strategies to manage to pull through the tough course.
His policies were to make the company invest in innovation, product diversification,
globalization, and customer-centred production. These strategies were to create General
Electric more competitive on the market by inventing new products on the market that were
satisfying the customer needs and demands and enhance organic growth (Pomerantz &
Dusen, 2017). The strategies were also to help General Electric boost its revenues through
new businesses and venturing into new markets in the world. Furthermore, the plan was to
increase the presence of General Electric in markets outside the USA such as the developing
countries around the world.
During his tenure, owed to these strategies, his focus was to change the direction of
the company to major in producing high-quality products and services to meet the high
demand of customers in the fast-growing markets in developing. The main characteristic of
this plan was to enable General Electric to venture into new businesses but at the same time

maintaining the existing ones. This would result in new business growth platforms developed
by strategically investing into the fast-growing economic sectors.
Shaping the organizational structure and culture
To help him achieve the objectives of the strategies, Immelt decided to reshape the
structure of the General Electric including its working culture (Baños-Caballero, García-
Teruel, & Martínez-Solano, 2014). Immelt refurbished the business culture of General
Electric to a business diversification culture whereby GE launched new businesses in
healthcare, renewable energy, and technology (Ngoie, 2012). He also restructured the
organizational structure of the company whereby he revamped the management model and
introduced a new model in which the company’s business segments were subdivided into
small interconnected units which operated independently to realize the goals and objectives
of the General Electric.
Case study 2: James Quincey
Volatility
In the 21st-century business environment, the
prices of products and services fluctuate
regularly due to the many market forces
affecting them. For instance, the fluctuations of
energy prices affect production at Coca-Cola.
Uncertainty
High business competition on the market
with competitors offering the same
products as Coca-Cola. For example, Pepsi
who also produce soft drinks like Coca-
Cola. Therefore, strategic understanding of
business changes in the 21st century is
crucial for any company.
Complexity
Coca-Cola is a large company that operates in
several countries and business regions, therefore,
Ambiguity
Market penetration and diversification in
the 21st-century is tough because of the

to read and predicts the market in this era is quite
complicated because each nation Coca-Cola
operates in has different and unique cultural
values, unique regulatory environments, and
tariffs which the organization has to cope with.
difficulty to predict the future. It is like
experimenting the direction of the
organization due to how ambiguous the
market is. You cannot foresee what the
future holds to plan your course well.
Table 2: Coca-Cola VUCA Analysis
James Quincey is the president, CEO, and Director at The Coca-Cola Company. He is
of British origin, joined the company in 1996, and worked in various positions until he
assumed the office of the chief executive officer in May 2017 (Grantham, 2017).
Managing Strategy
Soon after joining Coca-Cola on May 1st, 2017, Quincey announced that under his
leadership specific changes were going to steer forward the next growth level. Quincey’s
strategy after taking over was to focus on Coca Cola’s strategic actions for growth
continuously. They were five; making disciplined growth and brand investments,
streamlining and simplifying the company’s business, managing revenue and profits growth
through the distinct market roles, enhance productivity and progressive improvement and
focusing on the company’s core business model (Mokhov & Ryabukhin, 2018). To make
these five strategic actions achievable he focused on the company growing talents every year
while also bringing on board competent and result in oriented people to help achieve the
goals of the strategies. His other agenda was to bring some freshness and rotation at Coca-
Cola in a move to strike a balance between change and stability (Coca-Cola India, 2017). The
last one was to streamline the operational structure so that it could be faster and more
efficient.

It is evident under Quincey’s leadership that he developed the culture of Coca-Cola
based on talent development and bringing in result oriented individuals competent enough to
help the company achieve its goals (Coca-Cola India, 2017). In spite of these changes, he was
also keen not to disrupt the stability and present culture of the company based on the seven
core values; collaboration, leadership, quality, passion, diversity, accountability, and integrity
(Coca-Cola India, 2017).
Organizational changes
The most notable structural changes were the development of one Middle East,
Europe and Africa group that combined the operations of Europe, Africa, and Asia groups.
This decision was meant to align the activities of the business units to streamline with the
company’s evolving bottling footprint in the regions whereby the number of business units
was reduced to six (Coca-Cola India, 2017). Other structural changes that he introduced were
restructuring Africa to have two new groups south and East Africa as one business unit and
West Africa as the other to align with the newly formed bottler in Africa. Furthermore, two
new business units were created from the merger of Russia, Southern, and Central Europe
into Eastern Europe and Belarus and Ukraine into another business unit, which aligned
bottlers in those regions (Coca-Cola India, 2017).

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