ABSTRACT

The coca cola company is the world’s largest beverage producer, refreshing consumers with
nearly 500 sparkling and still brands. Along with coke (recognized as the world’s most valuable
brand) the company’s portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands. Through the world’s
largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the company’s
beverages at a rate of nearly 1.6 billion servings a day. Established in 1886, its mission is to
refresh the world, to inspire moments of optimism and to create value and make a difference in
its customers. In Kenya coca cola is represented in eight product categories in the beverage
market.

About 70% of Kenya’s predominantly Christian population doesn’t drink alcohol. But in this
cosmopolitan country of 33 million people, much of the socializing, particularly among young
professionals, revolve around the pub scene. I t is in pursuance of this facts that in March 2008,
East African Breweries, a unit of the London based spirits maker Diageo, introduced Alvaro, a
non-alcoholic, light malt drink. A company that Coca Cola never viewed as a competitor in non-
alcohol drinks business, now became more than a threat. In order to fight for its share of market a
change in strategy and to some extent operations was inevitable. There was therefore an urgency
to react quickly and promptly. Eight months later, Coca Cola responded by launching its own
malt drink Novida backed by a major media blitz.

Even though Coca Cola was able to easily implement changes by building on what it had done
before and what it had in terms of people, technology, facilities and finances; it had to pay in
terms of spending and loss of its customers due to the fact that it was not at par in terms of
innovation. East African Breweries had spent only about $ 600000 in promotion, which was
enough to create a buzz around Alvaro, while Coca Cola spent about $ 1.5 million in
advertisement for Novida.

This brings out the need to analyze the environment frequently and come up with innovations
and solutions to cope with it. It is only companies that are open minded, flexible and willing to
involve its people that will survive in this turbulent ever changing business environment.
10 INTRODUCTION
Faced with the need to produce a new product in order to maintain its market share and remain
relevant to the consumer needs, Coca Cola Kenya had to come up with a formulae for producing
Novida; a way of introducing all the relevant supporting changes and communicating the
urgency to all of its employees; and a way of utilizing the available resources the best way
possible without interrupting production of other brands.

1.1 Strategic change

Strategic change is essentially a ‘holding pen’ for strategic projects. Introduction of Novida
being a strategic project necessitated by change in the competitive business environment, needed
some form of planning in terms of goals to be achieved, implementation strategies and
implementation revenue/budget. This change can therefore be seen as an evolutionary change
that necessitated building on what the company had.

Faced with unexpected competition, evolutionary change that incorporated low strategic change
and organizational change was the only way forward for Coca Cola. According to Integrated
Strategic Change (ISC) model this can be termed as convergence level of organizational change.

Table 1: Integrated Strategic Change model

Change to strategy
low high
Change to high Strategic adaptation Re-orientation
organization low

Convergence Strategic revision

Coca Cola having been producing soft drinks for a long time needed to fine tune its strategy and
the organization in order to effectively produce Novida without much changes in both. This was
the only way that change brought about by introduction of a new product could be logically
consistent. In order to reduce resistance to change the leaders saw this as ‘fine tuning’ the
organization – strategy fit.
The company faced by a threat of a substitute product of most of its products and entrance of a
new competitor (EABL), had to align its strategy and structure to accommodate production of
Novida. The levels of strategy that needed revamping included:-

Corporate level: Here sayings like ‘no battle plan ever survived the first encounter with the
enemy’ are used to illustrate not just the dynamic nature of strategy but also the need to respond
to competitors who do not always behave as anticipated.

In order for Coca Cola Kenya to remain competitive; it changed its direction, composition and
coordination of various activities by introducing new customer relations representatives and a
brand manager responsible for marketing and controlling the activities concerning sales,
promotion and advertisement of Novida. The main objective of Novida was to enable the
company remain competitive.

Business level: It was only Coca Cola Kenya that was affected by the introduction of Alvaro and
not any other part of the global company. Introduction of Novida therefore was distinctly and
strategically for the Kenyan market.

Functional level: In order for the new change to be successful all the individual business
functions and processes such as finance, marketing, manufacturing, technology and human
resource had to be organized and mobilized in order to achieve the desired outcome and
objectives. Integration and translation of the strategies formulated at the corporate and business
level was the key thing here.

Coca Cola Kenya having been in business for long and succeeded, involved all its employees in
the formulation and implementation of the new strategy in order to outwit, out bluff and out
manoeuvre its rival EABL. Novida being the companies first fruit flavored malt non alcoholic
beverage, came in three different flavors (Pineapple ,Apple and Tropical) packed in 300ml
returnable glass bottle and in 250ml slim line cans contrary to EABL’ s Alvaro that came in two
flavors only (Pineapple and Pear) and packed in 330ml returnable glass bottle.

The introduction of a third flavor (i.e. Tropical) and 250ml slim cans was a bright idea to cater
for the customers’ preferences. Coca Cola Kenya is well known as a profitable, innovative giant
in non-alcoholic drinks while EABL is another giant in its capacity as the leading beer brewing
company with the best marketing and innovation strategies in Kenya. This being the case,
Novida would not beat Alvaro easily and therefore Coca Cola introduced a fully integrated
marketing campaign that included innovative print and electronic advertising. , Billboards, mall
branding, point of purchase displays, interactive media via the web and mobile phones among
others.

1.2 Operational change

Coca cola Kenya had to change in the way it was doing things in terms of production processes
and daily activities in order to integrate production of Novida in the system.

It had to be able to effectively deploy superior and unique resources in order to have lower costs
and a better product than EABL. For this to be achieved, Coca Cola built competency in its work
force and introduced new technology to cope with the expected demand and to ensure quality.
Changes in operations included change in the production process and schedule to include
production of Novida, Change in computer software and packages and change in the roles of the
departmental heads and other employees. This was done through collaboration, involvement,
participation and discussions with all the stakeholders in order to ensure that the position of the
company as Kenya’s leading non-alcoholic drink supplier remained, and customers’ tastes and
preference were taken care of

2.0 FORCES OF CHANGE

The change in business environment, brought about by entrance of a new competitor (EABL) in
the non-alcoholic drink business with a new product (Alvaro) that was seen as a substitute to
Coca Cola’s non alcoholic drinks (i.e. Coke, Sprite, Fanta etc) created new requirements for
success in the marketplace as customers demanded a new product. Meeting these new
marketplace and customer requirements demanded the formation of new business strategies,
which in turn required certain changes in the organization’s structure, systems, processes and
technology in order for the change to be implemented successfully. The scope of these
organizational changes required some change in the organization’s culture in order for Novida to
succeed. This cultural change demanded change in leader and employee behavior, which further
required leaders and employees to shift their mindsets, often about meeting customer needs, their
business model, how work was done and how they worked with each other. Forces of change are
therefore:
2.1 Environmental forces

Faced with the decrease in the market share due to introduction of a non-alcoholic drink (Alvaro)
by EABL, Coca cola needed to adapt and adopt new ways of doing business in order to remain
competitive .The competition and politics that followed forced Coca cola to change by
introducing Novida with its pitch: Novida gives you a lift (its the drink that will refresh you after
a long, hard day of work)

Novida has the same taste as Alvaro but comes in three different flavors rather than two, which
Alvaro has, in order to meet the different tastes and preferences of customers.

2.2 Market place requirement for success.

This is the aggregate set of customer requirements that determine what it takes for a business to
succeed in its market place .For Coca cola to succeed in its market place it had to come up with a
superior product, promotions and advertisements than its counterpart and ensure speed of
delivery, customization, capability, high level of quality and continuous innovation. As people
progress in life their expectations, tastes, preferences and general requirements keeps on
changing and it is only imperative that companies like Coca cola keeps changing in order to
address them.

2.3 Business imperatives

Business imperative outline what the company must do strategically to be

successful, given its customers, changing requirements. Coca Cola achieved this by
systematically rethinking and changing its vision, strategy, goals and services in order to meet
requirements that come with production of a new product.

2.4 Organizational imperatives

This is what Coca cola had to change in its structure, systems, processes, technology, resources,
skill base and staffing in order to successfully realize its strategic business imperatives

2.5 Cultural imperatives:

Cultural imperatives denote how the norms or collective way of being, working and relating in
the company had to change to support and drive the organization’s, new strategy and operations.
Employees had to work longer hours than normal and be more vibrant in marketing, production
and promotion in order to support the change.

2.6 Leader and Employee behavior

Collective behavior creates and expresses organization’s culture. Behavior speaks to more than
just over actions; it describes the style, tone or character that permeates what people do, and how
their way of being must change to create the new culture. Leaders and employees had to choose
to behave differently in order to recreate organizations culture

2.7 Leader and employee mindset

Mindset encompasses the worldview assumptions, belief or mental models that will cause people
to behave in ways that will drive a sustained change in behavior and culture. Becoming aware
that we each have a mindset and that it directly impacts on our feelings, decisions, actions and
results is often the critical first step in building individual and organization capacity to change. A
shift of mind set in Coca cola was required for leaders to recognize changes in the environmental
forces and marketplace requirement, thereby being able to determine the best new strategic
business direction and operation. Mindset change in employee was required for them to
understand the rationale for the changes that were asked of them.

The drivers/forces of change can be diagrammatically represented as follows;

Environment

↓
 Market place Requirement for success

Business imperatives

Organizational imperatives

Culture imperatives

Leader and employer behavior

Leader and employer mindset

3.0 RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Introduction of Novida was not without resistance, it was met with a lot of criticism from both
the employees and the customers due to its timing. Employees felt that the pressure exerted on
them to perform was too much. They also did not understand why they had to produce another
product while they had many other non-alcoholic brands that could be promoted to compete with
Alvaro. They feared what would happen if the new product was not successful in the market and
did not want to change the way they were used to doing things (in the production line) and in the
organization as a whole.

4.0 VISION MISSION

To strategize and execute the strategies the best way possible in order to remain relevant and
competitive in the market place: Based on an understanding of ever evolving customer needs and
preferences, Coca Cola’s core value is to introduce products featuring new ingredients, flavors
and benefits in order to satisfy the customers. For decades, Coca Cola has been number one
sparkling beverage provider in the world. The strength and continued growth of its brands
provides the oxygen for rapid expansion in the beverage portfolio. The company is constantly
assessing new opportunities in terms of technology, brands, employees and the society in order
to reach the consumers and meet their evolving needs and taste preferences. It is focused on
thinking about what the customers want right now and anticipating what they will want
tomorrow. The company’s ability to change in correspondent with the ever changing turbulent
environment has seen introduction of many high-quality additions to its brand portfolio (latest
being Novida) and has made them a success over the years.

5.0 CHANGE MANAGEMENT MODEL

Coca Cola Kenya faced with unexpected competition and change in consumer preferences and
taste had to change urgently in order to remain competitive in the beverage industry. The
management’s responsibility was to detect trends in the macro- environment as well as in the
microenvironment, so as to be able to identify changes and initiate programs.

It was also important to estimate what impact the change would likely have on employees’
behavior patterns, work processes, technological requirements, and motivation. Management
therefore had to assess what employee reactions would be and draft a change program that would
provide support as workers go through the process of accepting change. The program would be
implemented, disseminated throughout the organization, monitored for effectiveness and
adjusted where necessary.

Coca cola exists in a dynamic environment that is subject to change due to the impact of various
change triggers such as entrance of a new competitor. To continue to operate effectively within
this environmental turbulence, the company had to change in response to the externally initiated
change. However, the change also had some impact upon the individuals within the organization.
In order to effectively manage this emergent change, an understanding of the possible effects of
the change upon people and how to manage potential sources of resistance was necessary. This
being the case the best model to manage this change was ADKAR model.

The goals or outcomes defined by ADKAR are sequential and cumulative. An individual must
obtain each element in sequence in order for a change to be implemented and sustained. To use
ADKAR model effectively, there is a need to understand the underlying framework for change
initiatives.

In the diagram below change happens on two dimensions; the business dimension (vertical axis)
and the people dimension (horizontal axis). Successful change happens when both dimensions of
change occur simultaneously.

Post implementation

Implementation

Concept and design

Business

Awareness Desire Knowledge Ability Reinforcement

The business dimension of change includes the typical project element;

• The need for change; Coca Cola needed to change so that it could remain competitive in
the beverage market and in order to meet the tastes and preferences of the customers.

• Strategy to be adopted; Coca Cola had to come up with a new concept and design in
order to meet the needs of its customers. This concept came out as a new product (i.e.
Novida) that was to fight Alvaro (EABL product) in the market place.
 • Business processes; all the departments and processes within the company were affected.
The production department had to come up with a formula, production process and
packaging of Novida. The sales and marketing department had to promote and market the
new product. Procurement department had to place orders for the materials needed to
produce the new product and the finance department had to avail the money required for
successful production and marketing of the product.

• Implementation; Novida was produced using and altering the available resources. The
success of the production process was as a result of team effort and commitment.

• Post implementation; the change was to be maintained through rewards, reinforcement

and continuous innovation. How employees experience the process of change is very
important to any change effort. People may experience different things at different stages
of the change process. Managers’ focus would be to help employees cope with changes
through the various stages of change because success depends on how they facilitate
people to go through change with minimum stress or strain.

Effective management of the people dimension of change requires managing five key goals that
form the basis of the ADKAR model;

• Awareness of the need to change; our natural reaction to change, even in the best
circumstances is to resist. Awareness of the company’s (Coca Cola Kenya) need to
change was a critical ingredient and had to come first. Everybody in the company had
to know that the company needed to produce a new product to compete with Alvaro
in order for the company to remain relevant in the market place.

• Desire to participate and support the change; awareness created of the need to
produce Novida left many within the company asking themselves how soon will this
happen?; how will this impact me; and will I receive new training?

• Knowledge of how to change (and what the change looks like); employees at Coca
Cola needed help on how to change; what was expected; what was in the change for
them (the context of the change) and what the benefits were. Through proper
knowledge the employees were able to participate in production of Novida willingly,
knowing that they stood to benefit from the change.
 • Ability to implement the change on a day-to-day basis; through empowerment by
availing all the information needed about the production of Novida and training, the
employees were able to carry out the activities properly in a synchronized manner.

• Reinforcement to keep the change in place;- in order for the employees to

continuously adapt, adopt and help to ensure success of Novida in the market, they
were encouraged through rewards and recognition of those who initiated the product.

The power of ADKAR model is that it creates focus on the first element that is the root cause of
failure. When change is approached using this model, it is easy to identify where the process is
breaking down and which elements are being overlooked. This avoids generic conversations
about the change that rarely produce actionable steps. This results-oriented approach helps focus
energy on the area that will produce the highest probability for success.

6.0 CHANGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

A good change management practice should emphasis on four principles, namely; urgency,
vision, empowerment and execution.

• Urgency.

An organization should inform employees on a continuous basis of its plans for the future, the
competitive market pressure it faces, customer requirements and the performance of its key
competitors. Through this, members of the organization come to appreciate that change is not
only inevitable but is being undertaken to safeguard rather than threaten their future. The cause
of urgency for change in Coca Cola Kenya was the change in competition and subsequence
change in customer needs. The employees needed to know the urgency of the change so that they
could be energized to change, be motivated, inspired and be able to understand things in a better
way.

• Vision

The creation of a vision should be an iterative process whereby options are identified, an initial
vision is created and the gap between this and the present circumstances is identified. Then the
organization considers its strategy options to bridge the gap and in so doing refines the vision
itself. The vision created by the company (Coca Cola) was clear and concise and one which
inspired people. It was built around customers, widely shared within the organization, linked
with the daily behavior and communicated in few words that captured everybody’s attention.

• Empowerment

Employees should be provided with skills and knowledge so that they are able to act correctly. In
the case of Coca Cola it ensured that its employees were equipped with capacity to do their job,
knew the consequences of their actions and had control over how they would contribute to the
organization.

• Execution

This involves alignment of systems and structures around the customers. Coca Cola had to
introduce production of Novida into the production schedule/line and other departments that had
to deal with marketing, procurement of raw materials, budgeting etc of the same.

6.1 Elements of Change Management Practice

The change that the company was undergoing was an emergent change that required alignment
of the company’s strategy and resources in order to incorporate production of a new product.
This being the case the change was seen as a continuous process that required management of it
to be seen as a core capability that needed to be developed and all staff to be competent. Change
management practice comprised three interlinked elements;

• Objectives and outcomes

• Planning the change

• People

6.1.1 Objectives and outcomes

For a change to be successful its original objectives should be properly thought out and
consistent. Openness and rigor in development of objectives not only makes it harder to disguise
political considerations, they also allow assumptions regarding the merits. This element
encompasses four factors;

6.1.1.1 The trigger

Organizations should only investigate change for one of the following reasons:-

• The companies’ vision/ strategy highlights the need for change or improved performance.

• Current performance or operation indicates severe problems or concerns exist

• Suggestions or opportunities arise that potentially offer significant benefits to the

organization

If one or more of the above arise, then this should trigger the organization to asses the case for
change which leads to the next phase. For Coca cola, the change in competition brought about by
introduction of a new non- alcoholic drink by unexpected competitor threatened its market share
and its core business. This was an enough reason to trigger change in order to remain relevant in
the market place

6.1.1.2 The remit

This should state clearly the reasons for the assessment, its objective and time scale and who
should be involved and consulted .The remit should stress the need to focus as much on the
people aspects as the technical consideration involved. In addition, must make it clear that those
who will carry out the assessment must look at all options rather than merely considering one or
two alternatives. There must be clarity and agreement about who has the responsibility and
authority to initiate change before an assessment begins.

For companies like Coca cola that have innovations department most of the change is usually
initiated from this department, especially the one that concerns the introduction of new products
like Novida.

6.1.1.3 The assessment team

This is the body that assesses the need for change. In most cases this is a multi-disciplinary team
consisting of representatives from the area affected (both the manager and staff) and specialist
staff (e.g. finance, innovations technical). It may also require the involvement of senior managers

6.1.1.4 The assessment

The first task of the assessment team at Coca Cola was to review and if necessary clarify or
amend its remit. After this it began the assessment, which comprised of the following four steps:-
 • Clarification of the problem or opportunity by gathering information especially from
those involved. The information was gathered from the customers and members of staff.

• Investigation of alternative solutions through wide range examination to establish the

range of possible solutions to the problem. These was tested against an agreed list of
criteria covering cost and benefits in order to eliminate those solutions that were clearly
inapplicable and to highlight those that appeared to offer the greatest benefit.

• Feed back: The definition of the problem or opportunity and the range of possible
solutions was discussed with interested or affected parties, particularly those from whom
information was collected in the first place. This helped to counter the tendency to fit
solutions to problem.

• Recommendations and decisions were presented in a form that clearly defined the
problem/ opportunity, identified the range of solutions and established the criteria for
selection. These recommendations included not only the type of change but also the
mechanics and timescale of making the changes and the resource implications, as well as
performance targets for the new operation.

This then left the ones responsible for making the final decision in a position to assess, modify,
defer or reject the assessment team’s recommendations in the light of the vision and strategic
objectives of the organization.

The decision being to proceed with the proposed change, then it became necessary to begin
planning the implementation process.

6.1.2 Planning the change

Whether the need for change arises from an organization’s strategy or emerges in some other
ways, once it has been established that it should take place and what form it should take, it is
then necessary to plan how this will be achieved and then to implement the plan. The following
six interrelated activities were considered during planning and change process.

• Establishment of a change management team, which included those responsible for the
original assessment of the need for change.
• Management structure: All the senior managers especially the group managers were well
informed and updated as the plan to produce Novida commenced. Because the senior
 managers were less directly involved effective reporting and management structure were
put in place in advance in order to provide direction, support, resources, and where
necessary decisive interventions.
• Activity planning: This is the process of ‘getting from here to there’. Activity plan is the
road map for the change effort, so it is critical that it is realistic, effective and clear .It
involves constructing a schedule for the change program, citing the main activities and
events that must occur if the transition is to be successful.
• Commitment planning: this involved identifying key people and groups whose
commitment was needed and deciding how to gain their support. Designating someone as
a key person was concerned less with their nominal position or level of authority in the
organization than with their ability to block or promote particular changes. The reasons
being they may have the power to dispense or withhold specific resources or information
or because others look to them for guidance or leadership even though they have no
formal role in their respect.
• Audits and post audits: It was important to monitor the progress and see to what extent
objectives were being met. This allowed the plans to be modified in light of experience. It
also allowed for opportunities to improve on the original objective to be identified or
created. After a particular milestone had been passed in the process of production and
marketing of Novida a post audit was carried out to establish whether the objectives were
being met and to ascertain the lessons that could be learnt for future projects. In addition,
periodic reviews gave senior managers the chance to praise, support and encourage those
carrying out the change.
• Training and development: this being a key part of the change project, it took a number
of forms. The obvious one was in relation to new skills and competence that were
necessary. It was the intention to leave employees with the ability to pursue continuous
improvement, once the change had been substantially achieved and to make them aware
of the need for change and to win them over. Training also contributed to other objectives
such as cultural change, because it was structured in such a way that it promoted
teamwork or inter –departmental cooperation.

Though planning change was in some ways a ‘technical’ issue, it was also very much a people
issue. The success of the change effort hinged on Coca Cola’s ability to involve and motivate the
people concerned and those whose support was necessary.
6.1.3 People
For the change to be successful, there were three people related activities that needed to be
understood.

6.1.3.1Creating a willingness to change

Even when change is purely of a technical or structural form, there has to be willingness amongst
those concerned to change: to accept the new arrangements. In an ideal world, organization
would want every one to buy into a change project. However, the important issue is to win over
the ‘critical mass’ of individuals or groups whose active commitment is necessary to provide
energy for change to occur. At Coca cola they have put and they are continuing to put a great
deal of effort into creating a climate where change is accepted as the norm and the critical mass
is already present or needs a little effort to assemble. In order to create willingness for change, a
sense of urgency, a feeling of dissatisfaction with the present, there are four steps that Coca Cola
took.

• Making people aware of the pressure for change .The organization has always
informed employees on a continuous basis of its plan for the future. The
competition /market pressure it faces, customer requirements and the performance
of its key competitors. This has been a participative process where the staffs have
opportunity to question, make comments and suggestions.
• Giving regular feedback on the performance of individual processes and areas of
activity within the organization. This allowed the company to draw attention to
any discrepancy between actual performance and desired present and future
performance.
• Understanding people’s fears and concerns
• Publicizing successful change .In order to reduce fears and create a positive
attitude toward change, Coca Cola has been publicizing the projects that are seen
as models of how to understand change and the positive effects change can have
for employees. This does not mean that mistakes have been hidden or poor
outcome ignored; these have been examined, explained and lessons learnt.

As the above four steps show, in order to create willingness for change, an effective two way
flow of information has been vital.
6.1.3.2 Involving people

Appropriateness of an involvement strategy needs to be judged less by the type of change being
considered and more by how people will react to it. To gain and maintain the active involvement
of the critical mass, and to develop the momentum necessary to ensure that the project is
successful, is not a one-off occurrence but an ongoing activity stretching over the lifetime of the
change project. In order to attain this level of involvement Coca Cola ensured regular and
effective communication in order to reduce people’s levels of uncertainty and involved them in
the change and made them responsible for it.

Communication and involving were essential to gaining people’s understanding of the need for
change. Even though the change process was seen as being slow and difficult, steps were
undertaken to ensure that commitment did not diminish.

6.1.3.3 Sustaining the momentum

Even in the best run organizations, it sometimes happens that initial enthusiasm for change
wanes and, in the face of the normal day-to-day pressure to meet customer needs, progress
becomes slower and can grind to a halt. Given that momentum does not arise of itself nor
continue without encouragement, Coca Cola ensured that resources for change were available,
gave support to the change agents, developed new competences and skills, and reinforced desired
behavior.

7.0 EVALUATION OF THE CHANGES

Even though Alvaro (a product of EABL) was introduced in March 2008, Coca Cola had to wait
for eight months before introducing Novida even if it realized the threat that Alvaro was posing
on its non-alcoholic drinks. This is because introduction of Novida had to affect many other
factors and numerous other changes had to be carried out in terms of structure, production,
budgetary allocations and staff attitude, in order to support the production and marketing of the
same. The company therefore, had to take into consideration the objectives and outcomes;
planning of the change; and people for Novida to be a success story. It should be noted that
production of Novida to counter Alvaro was not the only alternative that the company
considered, but it took into consideration many other alternatives before finally choosing Novida
to stabilize the change in competition and to take care of the change in consumer tastes and
preferences. Though production of Novida and many other changes that followed may be seen
as a technical exercise, it is not purely technical. It involved establishing objectives that brought
about assumptions testing and challenging preconceived ideas. It also involved gathering both
facts and opinions, and making judgments about which was the most important, and people who
were the object of change as while as the implementers of the same. The biggest advantage that
Coca Cola had in implementing the changes was that it always had seen change as an everyday
occurrence especially in the range of its products and the continuous improvement, and the
capabilities, skills and commitment required of both went hand in hand.

8.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Coca Cola being the leading producer of non-alcoholic beverages in Kenya and around the world
was faced with unexpected entrance of a new product (that satisfied the needs of many customers
both sophisticated and unsophisticated) and a new competitor (EABL) who had the capacity both
in terms of resources, assets, technology, innovations, skills and experience to turn the market
around. Faced with this kind of environment and change in consumer taste and preference
brought about by the new product (Alvaro) Coca Cola had to react promptly and urgently. First
it started by revamping its promotions for its existing products through “Wahi – Kuwahi”
promotion and then introducing a new product (Novida) which had the same taste as its counter
part (Alvaro). This brought about many changes within the company inform of structures,
production, people and technology to cope with the change in the business environment as
discussed above. Many both within and without the company have criticized the move and the
innovative capability of the company. Ndirangu Maina, Managing Director of Consumer Insight
Africa, a Market Research Firm in Kenya, was quoted saying “the non-alcoholic business is
owned by Coca-Cola, it is amazing that an alcoholic company (EABL) would think of Alvaro
before coke.” This shows how turbulent a business environment can be and how companies need
to be always prepared and should therefore; focus eyes on the future and hands on the present.

Even though Coca Cola may have succeeded by introducing Novida into the market, it should be
careful especially bearing in mind that it is fighting a giant that has been successful in all its
competition battles (remembering how EABL fought Castle out of the Kenyan market). It
should be able to sustain its share of the market by being more innovative, realigning its
structures, enabling its peoples to support and participate in change, and revitalizing its
distribution channels. It should realize that if EABL becomes very serious in the non-alcoholic
drink business, things would get tougher and prepare for tomorrow knowing that today can tell
much about what is to come.

It should know that by using the same tools, as your enemy does not guarantee you success. You
should develop superior and unique weapons to attack your enemies in order to succeed.
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