HI5015 Legal Aspects: Coca-Cola Company in Australia Analysis

This report provides an analysis of the Coca-Cola Company's operations in Australia, focusing on the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern its activities. It explores the company's description, including its global presence and brand recognition, as well as the legislative and regulatory requirements it must adhere to. The report examines the impact of various agreements on the company's activities, such as employment practices, environmental conservation efforts, and the production of non-alcoholic beverages. It also discusses the company's approach to partnerships, the appointment of directors, and the challenges posed by competitors. The analysis highlights the company's commitment to providing employment opportunities, minimizing environmental pollution, and producing non-alcoholic drinks to cater to a wide range of consumers, while also addressing the company's operational strategies.

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COCA COLA COMPANY
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Table of Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................2
Company description.......................................................................................................................3
Legislative and regulatory frameworks...........................................................................................3
Agreements and how they have impacted the company activities..................................................6
List of References..........................................................................................................................10

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Executive summary
Coca Cola Company is a soft drinks manufacturing company which has its headquarters in
Atlanta Georgia. The company operates in more than 200 countries in the world supplying its
products and generating employment opportunities to the natives of those countries. It is ranked
among the top 10 private employers globally and it is over 120 years old an aspect that shows the
company has penetrated to the grassroots’ levels. The regulatory frameworks of the company set
a very high bar for companies which would wish to become shareholders an aspect that has
slowly led to lose of market. Very high shares amounts are demanded to partner with the
company. Partners are not featured in the advertisements and executive’s appointment is based
on nativity. To operate in Australia, various agreements have been made to regulate the
company’s activities. The company is to provide employment to the locals which have been
achieved through employment of over 10,000 Australians. The company is committed to
conserve the environment which has also been achieved through the use of reusable bottles and
the continuous manufacture of non-alcoholic drinks has widened the company’s market in
Australia.

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Company description
Coca Cola is a consumer goods manufacturing company that is leading in the non-alcoholic
beverage industry. The company operates in more than two hundred countries in the world. Its
brand is well known and it is estimated that 94% of the world’s population is aware about coca
cola and at least 87% uses its products quarterly. Its brand is associated with happiness an aspect
that has led to the company products being used in all occasions that involve happiness across
the globe (Swakei 2017 p. 22). This has gone to an extent that, if these products miss to be part
of the occasion then a greater number of individuals are unsatisfied. In Australia the company
employs 10,000 production workers and around 4000 direct workers an aspect that has led to
unemployment reduction. Globally Coca Cola is ranked among the top 10 private employers
since it has over 129,000 associates and more than 700,000 system employees. The headquarters
of the company is located in Atlanta Georgia in a 29 storey building which is known as the Coca
Cola plaza.
Legislative and regulatory frameworks
For a local Australian company to enter into partnership with Coca Cola, it has to meet quite
very high demands that most often hamper them from entering into partnership. The company
demands that for a 50% contribution as shares so as to attain shareholders status (Quinton 2012
p. 20). This has made so many small investors to stay away from venturing into the multi-billion
entrepreneurship. This therefore has limited the supply of the company’s products more
especially to the interior parts of the country where the company’s depots are far away and
inaccessible. The contribution which most of the local investors are unable to contribute leads to

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the Coca Cola company enjoyment of monopoly which then stirs the locals to promote other
easily partnered with brands (Metian 2019 p. 7). The aspect has led to a significant loss of
market in some places as the locals tend to trust their local investors more than the foreign
company. The tight regulations ensued on those who make it to be shareholders are irritating.
This is because continuous external audits are done and any transactions made in the personal
accounts are treated with suspicion by the directors. This suspicion continues to bother many of
the shareholders an aspect that leads to many of them to engage in behaviors which de-
popularize the company’s brand.
In Australia 91% of the population are aware of the brand and more than 83% consume the
products of the company quarterly. This has been enhanced through committed production of
soft drinks which in most cases are used to cure thirst apart from being a major requirement in
celebrations. As stated earlier in most parts of the world an occasion where Coca Cola products
are missing connotes absence of happiness. Various tastes of the product gives people the
freedom of choice as the products are supplied as a mixture based on the customers demand.
Many of them often sell their shares at throw away prices with the aim of keeping off from a
peace less business.
The Coca Cola Company is completely unwilling to feature in the input of their partners in the
brand name (Raman 2017 p. 114). The company’s brand is among the leading worldwide an
aspect that attracts most companies around the globe to partner. The mystery comes in during
brand promotion and advertisement. The company fails to feature in the other partners an aspect
that leads to loss of trust from those in the partnership. In Australia it is more or like the same
since the companies that have been accorded shareholder status are not featured anywhere in the

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brand promotion (Kores and Pascalyn 2018 p. 9). This therefore makes many small companies to
lose taste of having a partnership with Coca Cola since the benefits of the partnership are
minimal and at times they are not there at all. Many of the small Australian companies choose to
keep away from the frustrations of working hand in hand with a non appreciative partner. This
has led to great growth of negativity concerning the company and it has slowly creped in to the
locals an aspect that is gradually and slowly bringing down the market that has been enjoyed by
the company over the years. Due to the emergence of competitors who are reachable and easy to
make deals with the Coca Cola company may end up losing its once enjoyed monopoly unless it
changes some of its operational strategies that lock out the Australian locals yet in dire need of
their market.
Appointment of Coca Cola company directors is a rigorous exercise. This is because it is not
based on the education qualifications mostly but rather the amount of shares in the company. The
company demands that executive director is supposed to be a shareholder who has not less than
30% shares in the company at the time of appointment (Lemaamia 2017 p. 1702). By the third
year the shares are supposed to be at 40% and not below 50% in the fifth year in office. This
factor has always seen to it that the Americans who are the native owners of the company
continue to foresee the company’s activities even in other countries of the world. The company
executives in Australia are all Native Americans an aspect that denies the locals an opportunity
to exercise foresight of the organization strategies. This has made the company more self-
centered as it only considers its citizens at the top positions an aspect that has led to many of the
native Australians to lose taste with the company operations as well as its products. The blow has
further been facilitated by competitors who have embraced the natives by allowing them to be
part and parcel of their non-alcoholic beverage drinks companies (Morton 2014 p. 8). This

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continuous emerging competition is increasing on a daily basis and it is making Coca Cola to
lose touch with the great Australian market it once enjoyed for a period of over 80 years by now
(Zmuda 2011 p. 9). If the company will not revisit its operational strategies and framework,
though committed to customer satisfaction its market will dramatically reduce in the future an
aspect that will lead to lose of money and employment opportunities.
Agreements and how they have impacted the company activities
Provision of employment opportunities for the locals is one of the factors that have impacted
good performance of the company in the country. As evident, the company provides employment
to around 4000 direct employees and more than 10,000 production workers all who earn their
livelihoods from the company. The treatment of the workers too has made it possible for the
company to advance easily to new territories without major stumbling blocks. The heavy
advertisement of the company using native Australians has also impacted positively to an
increase in the market of the company’s products. Recent concerns have been raised over the
executive positions in the company which in most of the countries including Australia are
occupied by Native Americans (Teketi 2012 p. 39). Individuals and smaller companies brought
their efforts together to uncover the underlining oppression. Those in power are bigger
shareholders an aspect that limits employment to mostly casual laborers only with lower wages
compared to the executive directors who are paid millions of dollars. This means the company is
more concerned with its own citizens and only using other nation’s people to amass wealth for
themselves. This has consequently brought about a sharp decline in the company’s market since
competitors got a legal ground to hit back (Chaklader and Gautam 2013 p. 99).

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The company’s general commitment to minimize environmental pollution through non-
biodegradable metals has seen its tremendous growth in Australia. The whole world being at the
risk of global warming has raised the eyebrows of many nations thus most countries prefer use of
reusable materials. Coca Cola Company has a good strategy in this. Its products are supplied in
glass bottles packed plastic crates of around 24 bottles each. This then makes it impossible for
the company to sell their products directly to consumers. The company sells its products to
retailers who will sell them to consumers. The consumers only consume the content of the bottle
and return the bottles to the retailers who then package the bottles and the company collects them
for reusing through repackaging their products into the bottles (Harfmann 2019 P. 30). This has
therefore led to minimal environmental pollution as the non-biodegradable bottles remain the
property of the company throughout the globe and in Australia in this case. This commitment has
seen great success of the company because it has easily been accepted across the country. The
lids used to cover the bottles are the only waste products and are mainly used by school children
as learning materials an aspect that has also enhanced marketing of its kind. This is because
children’s demand of coca cola products has continually been stirred by the need to have the
bottle tops to show others supremacy. The recent introduction of packaged products in plastic
bottles has raised an alarm whether the company has diverted from its environmental
conservation commitment. This is because the plastic bottles cannot be re used (Okutuyis 2018 p.
363). Though it has raised concerns, the introduction of the plastic bottles packaging has
contributed to a wider market since customers no longer has the pressure to consume the
contents and return the bottles but can now buy the drinks and consume them at home or at any
place of convenience.

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The company’s production of non-alcoholic drinks has made it acceptable in over 200 countries
of the world with which Australia is one of them (Kellogg 2013 p. 47). The soft drinks making
which has zero ethanol effects have widened the market of the company because all individuals
ranging from old people to children consume the company’s products. It is estimated that 94% of
the world’s population are fully aware of the company’s brand and about 87% consume its
products quarterly (Soinga 2017 p. 52). In Australia 91% of the population are aware of the
brand and more than 83% consume the products of the company quarterly. This has been
enhanced through committed production of soft drinks which in most cases are used to cure thirst
apart from being a major requirement in celebrations. As stated earlier in most parts of the world
an occasion where Coca Cola products are missing connotes absence of happiness. Various tastes
of the product gives people the freedom of choice as the products are supplied as a mixture based
on the customers demand.

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List of References
Chaklader, B. and Gautam, N. (2013) ‘Efficient Water Management through Public-Private
Partnership Model: An Experiment in CSR by Coca-Cola India’, Vikalpa: The Journal for
Decision Makers, 38(4), pp. 97–107. doi: 10.1177/0256090920130407.
Harfmann, B. (2019) ‘The Journey to success: Coca-Cola completes historic bottling initiative’,
Beverage Industry, 110(1), pp. 28–33. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=buh&AN=133683237&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Kellogg, C. (2013) ‘how sweet it is’, Interior Design, 84(7), pp. 45–48. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aft&AN=108264065&site=ehost-live
(Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Kores M and Pascalyn S (2018) The Coca-Cola Company (2AD) ‘Coca-Cola Reports Strong
Results for Fourth Quarter and Full Year’, Business Wire (English),pp 6-16. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bwh&AN=bizwire.c87997927&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Lemitil Lemaamia O. (2017) ‘Employment Law -- Title Vii -- Tenth Circuit Clarifies Causation
Standard For Subordinate Bias Claims. -- EEOC v. BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles,
450 F.3d 476 (10th Cir. 2006), cert, granted, 127 S. Ct. 852)’ (2017) Harvard Law Review,
120(6), pp. 1699–1706. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=buh&AN=24804225&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).

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Lesirko Okutuyis (2018) ‘Loop Industries Begins Multiyear Supply Framework with Coca-Cola’
Waste360, p. N.PAG pp 360-368. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=buh&AN=133298655&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Metian J. N (2019) ‘Coca-Cola Company SWOT Analysis’ pp. 1–8. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=134921728&site=ehost-live
(Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Morton, A. (2014) ‘Comment - Coca-Cola Amatil - A Canary in the Mine’, Aroq - Just-
Drinks.com (Global News), p. 8. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=buh&AN=97663762&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Quinton B. K, (2012) ‘Industry and Employment Trends’ (2012) USA: Atlanta Career Guide,
pp. 19–23. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=buh&AN=83235916&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Raman, K. R. (2017) ‘Community–Coca-Cola Interface: Political-Anthropological Concerns on
Corporate Social Responsibility’, Social Analysis, 51(3), pp. 103–120. doi:
10.3167/sa.2007.510305.
Ringold, D. J. (1988) ‘Consumer Response to Product Withdrawal: The Reformulation of Coca-
Cola’, Psychology & Marketing, 5(3), pp. 189–210. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=11580113&site=ehost-live
(Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Soinga Everlyn W (2017)The Coca-Cola Company (7AD) ‘The Coca-Cola Company Reports
Continued Strong Results in Second Quarter 2018’, Business Wire (English), 2018 pp 45-60.

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Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bwh&AN=bizwire.c85740362&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Swakei naeku. T (2017) “MarketLine Company Profile”: Coca-Cola Company Coca-Cola
Company MarketLine Company Profile, pp. 1–38. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=126379200&site=ehost-live
(Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Teketi Enock F.(2012)The Coca-Cola Company (12AD) ‘The Board of Directors of The Coca-
Cola Company Elects Four Officers’, Business Wire (English), pp.34-43, 2016 August. Available
at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bwh&AN=bizwire.c72687422&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).
Zmuda, N. (2011) ‘At 125 years old, Coke’s story is still being written’, Advertising Age, 82(18),
pp. 8–9. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ufh&AN=60406057&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 5 April 2019).