Coke India Crisis (Case Study Sample)

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Coke India Crisis
Gupta was the CEO of the Coca-Cola India when it was faced with a crisis that dented its name and brand. He was, therefore, faced with the need to solve short terms and long terms key problems that affected the firm. First, the urgent issue was how to come up with strategies to make the propaganda that they produced poisonous drink vanish. Another problem that he needed to address was how to restore the faith of Indians on their brand after the false laboratory tests. Moreover, he needed to show his management skills as he had to be in the office for only six weeks. In the long run, he was to improve on employing ground soldiers who could regularly give spying feedback to avoid surprises that can cause severe damage and take number of years to fix (Hill & Richard 167).
Coca Cola is a multinational company whose wings have spread all over the world in over one hundred and fifty-three countries. Its legacy dates back in the 18th century era. The company is well-known due to its uniqueness in terms of their trade mark. The main center of attraction behind the success of the company is the production of bubbles in its soft drinks. The formula used to produce its drinks is believed to be known by only three people every year.
Coca-Cola had entered the Indian market long ago and was doing well in terms of its sales and popularity. However, the there was another major player, Pepsi, that was doing equally good. The government demanded to know their formula but they declined to share it as this would see them lose their market share. Conflict arose when the company refused to give in to the demands of the Indian government. Coca-Cola was thus opted to move out of the Country in the year 1977 than reveal the legacy of its success (Hill & Richard 169).
When India market later liberalized, they returned and invested heavily. They hit news charts simply with their sales which had grown rapidly. Their success was short lived when the environment protection body CSE, an activist group in India that focused on sustainability issues and effects of industrialization, issued a press statement that 12 major cold drinks produced around Delhi contained residues of poisonous pesticides. According to the Pollution Monitory Laboratory of CSE the sampled Coca-Cola brands contained a high percentage of pesticide residue which was higher than the global standards. The pesticides residue were capable of causing fatal health conditions such as cancer, breakdown of the nervous system and even causing brain damage in the long run.This was a blow to Coke India as sales dropped immediately. Most people thought this was conspiracy to reduce their population. CSE samples from the lab revealed that drinks being sold to western nations such as United States had no traces of the lethal poisonous pesticides. This marked crisis for the Coca-Cola Company as the market campaign they had intensified and its momentum was lost. Its reputation was also tarnished. The effects were such massive that the company sought a legal recourse. However, some critics believe this crisis was a conspiracy by the Indian government in order to promote local key players that were threatened by the success Coca -Cola (Hill & Richard 169).
Coke India at first thought it was a simple matter that was going to fade away. Soon they realized the damages the claims had done to their brands and began to challenge this claims. However, they were not well prepared since they assumed people had believed in their brand. Being a company that uses the central type of management, they quickly held meetings to resolve the crisis. During this crisis, they joined hands with other key players such as Pepsi, who supported and maintained that the method used to test the samples were substandard and thus not effective. Coca -Cola course of actions revealed how less they were prepared to deal with this crisis as they only intensified their war against CSE after they had suffered massive effects (Dawar 109).
Coke India...