Globalization and Competitive Corporations

Globalization in business has resulted in organizations changing their processes, marketing, suppliers and facilities in order to remain competitive and reach consumers within the global economy. Participating in a global market may allow companies to benefit from skilled labor at a cost advantage, an increase in consumers, and a reduction in the distance between manufacturing resources and production. There are risks associated with globalization including the potential loss of proprietary information which makes Operations Management critical to enable continuous improvement to prevent any duplication from impacting the company's market share. Two organizations that have embraced globalization and their operational approach to capitalize on the global market are Coca-Cola and Nestlé.

At Coca-Cola their mission is the guiding principles for their actions and decision making. The mission statement for Coca-Cola is to refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness, and create value and make a difference (Coca-Cola, 2013). With a focus on refreshing the world Coca-Cola needs to produce and distribute its beverage products for global consumption, offer a variety of products to entice consumers, and manage processes, costs and quality to ensure sustainability. Coca-Cola's dedication to the mission of refreshing the world is evident in their approach to globalization with finished beverage products available in more than 200 countries worldwide and a network of 275 bottlers globally to distribute finished products. In an effort to maximize the globalization effort Coca-Cola has structured their operations into operating segments that include Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Pacific (Coca-Cola 10K, 2012). This operating structure allows Coca-Cola to modify marketing, products and packaging to meet the local and culturally driven consumer needs and requirements for beverage choices. In addition to the expansion of product offerings into global markets Coca-Cola produces more than 3500 products worldwide, a level of variety that allows the company to compete in different market segments and offer alternatives to potential consumers.

Nestlé and Coca-Cola engaged in a joint venture from 2001 through the end of December 2012 in many global markets with a focus on ready to drink beverages based on black and green tea (Wohl, 2012). As of the end of December this joint venture has been mostly dissolved and only continues to exist in the European and Canadian markets. The elimination of this joint venture does not influence the globalization approach that Nestlé has employed in their operations. Nestlé currently has operations in Europe stretching as far east as Ireland and Portugal and reaching to the west to include Macedonia and Russia, with 28 additional countries representing their European operations. In Africa there are 22 countries with Nestlé operations stretching from Kazakhstan to South Africa. The Nestlé Asia operations consist of 27