Introduction
The issue of wages has always been a sensitive aspect of employment in every nation across the globe. Companies have been trying as hard as possible to lower operational expenses and in the process; this has led to outsourcing of labor. The relocation of American manufacturing company plants to Asia during the second half of the 20th century was driven by the need for less expensive labor. These companies were later condemned for poor working conditions and faced a host of law suits to estimate the validity of their working conditions. It is thus apparent that just like these companies, many employers do not like paying salaries. The loss of hefty payouts as remuneration for work done is often met with appraisal and threat for termination. Working is simply not easy and as a result, it is critical that employees and people seeking to work realize their value and get the right pay and working conditions.
Working for Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company is one of the leading spenders with regard to marketing in the world. The company spent $2.91 Billion in 2012 on its marketing all over the world. Some of the notable Coca-Cola marketing investments include the English based league, the Coca-Cola championship, and a second-tier division. The league thus gives the company the much desired publicity in the United Kingdom. The American based corporation has seen its profits surge as it hit newer market shares and currently dominates the soft drinks market.
Since inception in 1892, the company has had a defined growth strategy, ‘buying out the competition’. The company has since then managed to buy out four major competitors; Minute Maid, Thums Up and Fuze Beverage in the late twentieth century. The company has continued to grow due to this domination, but has also invested a lot in its soft drinks. From the initial brand, Coca-Cola, the company boasts of over 15 brands to date. All these had something to do with the pacifying of the competition, which is by far the best marketing strategy ever. In retrospect, without a competition, the race to win consumer acknowledgement is already won (David, 2013).
With regard to working for companies with a rather flexible and fair compensation program, The Coca-Cola Beverage Company is among the best. It is prudent that all members of the Coca-Cola team be great marketers. Marketing is very necessary for a firm that wishes to remain relevant and compete favorable in a market with so many competitors. Having to make efforts to appeal to the consumer has become a necessity that surpasses the desire to even focus on brand development. Consumers have to be reminded constantly through television adverts that the product you are offering is exactly what they need. The challenge then becomes how convincing you are. The Coca-Cola Company remains the world’s leading soft-drinks producer due to its aggressiveness in marketing their products across borders. It goes to show what the power of marketing can do to any company (Boeri, 2013).
Compensation practices at Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company has a very elaborate organizational structure that includes all the employees across the various plants the company has across the globe. The average intern salary at Coca-Cola is $ 18.50 per hour while senior managers and account managers earn a salary of between $33,000 to $62,000 monthly. There are also merchandisers who earn as low as $11,000 per month to upwards of $60,000 per month. There are however other good entry positions in the company with a great income average that is often above the normal pay scale in other companies across the United States of America. The salary structures in other nations of the world differ but the company does not allow or create room for employee exploitation since its ware of its market position and the need to maintain brand value with its clients.
Coca-Cola is a global company that has branches in most parts of the world. Since all these branches maintain their independence as far as human resource is concerned, local wage structures as well as the requisite bonus and allowance schemes are employed. The company continues to encourage each branch to further research into food science and probably come up with a new drink that everyone would appreciate. All the same, there have been challenges handling sale of less popular brands that play second fiddle to the Coca-Cola drink. Employees who bring on board clients demanding these less popular brands and make ample sales are valued a great deal. This is so since as the mother plant continues to generate syrup for each brand, it has been clear which brand sells the most; Coca-Cola. The remuneration for successful campaigns with say ‘Fanta’ lead to ample compensation for the involved team.
The Coca-Cola Company is always cautious on employee satisfaction since there is often a guaranteed profit each year with focus being about expanding and increasing in size to have more offices across the world. There is also an inherent need to increase sales by neutralizing competition through competitive advertising. The company has one of the most celebrated brands across the world thus indeed an incredible company to work for. The company also maintains the autonomous functioning of all its outlets across the world; allowing them to implement their own marketing campaigns, subsidiary products and sponsorship programs. This means that salaries also differ depending on the success of these plants.
Effect of Laws and Unions of Coca-Cola Wages
The Coca-Cola Company has often been faulted for being a monopoly market in the beverage industry. While this is true, the strategies with regard to pricing cannot be easily controlled as the company maintains relatively fair prices for the retail drinks in all markets. The company also ensures that all employee needs are met and appreciated. This makes the company free from union pressure. There are also few plants in the United States with a large conglomerate of its subsidiaries being in Asia and Europe. The company ensures that at all times, there are employee self-actualization programs. Through the company’s compensation committee charter, each role in the company is evaluated periodically as are the wages and allowances associated with these roles in order to satisfy the employee as much as possible. This ensures that critical members of the company are recognized at whatever position they may be within the company structure.
Coca-Cola also avoids unions and their punitive demands by minimizing employee appraisal as much as possible. The constant pressure to perform is instead substituted by guaranteed bonuses if certain targets are achieved. The company’s work force remains a very happy lot since they are proud to make the brand better and more pronounced. Bureaucracy is also discouraged even at subsidiary plants where the management is encouraged to have horizontal communication with the employees. Activities such as team building and annual bonuses are given by the head office to all the employees across the nation. More encouraging awards such as; employee of the month, employee of the year and salesperson of the year are also awarded with bonuses and promotions. Indeed, by keeping the employee satisfied, the company indicates to the public, law makers and other regulating organs that they value their employees. The salary may not be the best in the world but in most cases, when working conditions are as good as they are at Coca-Cola, the issue of actual compensation and wages can be overlooked.
Traditional bases for Wages
The Coca-Cola Company draws from her success over the decades of existence since 1892. The company broke the market after the formula for the syrup was discovered by Pemberton in 1888 and sold to Griggs in 1892 who incorporated the company the same year. Traditionally, wages were determined based on several factors. These were; technical abilities in manufacture, branding, marketing and sales. Employees who were directly involved in manufacture and also responsible for products such as Sprite, Fanta and Stoney were considered most-valuable. The company kept its chemical engineers loyal and committed them to copyright contracts that would not allow them to disclose the secrets of production even after leaving the company. All the same, the company kept these secrets between very few members and they were regarded as the most critical members of the company.
Brand executives were valued for their ability to come up with a better-looking bottle, better branding for thecompany logo as well as the necessary marketing campaigns. The sales people were least critical as it was believed that their responsibilities were mostly geared towards distribution of the product that had already been formally introduced to the market. The company then was naïve to the market and was unaware of the demand for sales margins over other figures in the corporate statistical data. However, with time, the company saw need for more staff of such kind and paid them heftily once they made above-target sales. The company also began spending a lot on marketing and executives in this department introduced the company to sponsorship deals that would create awareness and market the brand more. One such campaign was the American super bowl sponsorships that saw the drink being branded as an American heritage drink.
Conclusion
The Coca-Cola Company has indeed had a successful reign as being one of the world’s most successful beverage manufacturers. This has been due to the secret weapon formula for the incredibly great taste of the main product; the Coca-Cola drink. However, this trademark taste did not get to the tongues it has reached to date easily. Consistent marketing and sales by employees of the company has made the company reach the milestones it has to date. The company on its part was not lucky to get the best employees in the world. Instead, by understanding the value of the work force, the company has been able to compensate them handsomely for their services. This has encouraged unwavering support for the company with new and innovative campaigns to get the consumers to appreciate the drink every year. Thanks to the company’s remuneration, success has been realized year after year with greater profits and expansion (Marr, 2013).