Knowledge Management

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Decentralisation: An environment is created where the managers are given the responsibility and are results driven (Yadav, 2015). At the base of this structure, it is said that the people closest to the problem are the one’s who are closest to the solution (Yadav, 2015).

Policy of appointing local management: This assists the company to adapt to local conditions in a relatively comfortable and easy manner (Yadav, 2015).

Knowledge management has assisted the Coca-Coal company utilize their resources and efforts in order to resolve future unexpected reverses (O’Leary, 2010). Their knowledge management strategies have been highly effective as the world had gone through recession but the Coca-Cola Company stood still and continues to push towards perfection and success (Kempe, 2012).

Knowledge creation/acquisition

Knowledge creation refers to the process whereby individuals of an organisation add specialized knowledge of their own to the organisation’s existing knowledge that is available to the organisation as a whole to utilize (Beck, Rai & Keil, 2015). In order for an organisation to create knowledge, the organisation should have knowledge creation capabilities, which is an unique competence the organisation has which assists in the organisation’s drive towards competitive advantage and greater profits (Wang, Su & Yang, 2011). Organisations should place emphasis on knowledge creation, as it is key to the survival and sustainability of any organisation (Omotayo, 2015). Knowledge creation and acquisition is important predominantly due to the vast number of changes within the global environment including globalization of competition, the rate at which knowledge ages and product and service dynamic innovation (Omotayo, 2015). The SEIC (Socialisation, Externalisation, Internalization and Combination) model is used to create and acquire new knowledge, through the transformation of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge within the organisation and this new knowledge is then internalized by all organisation members (Mihi, Victor & Garcia, 2012). Socialisation is the process shared experiences and creation of new knowledge in the form of a group (Mihi, Victor & Garcia, 2012). This new knowledge created is shared through joint activities within the organisation such as group meetings and discussion forums (Nonka & Konno, 2010). Externalisation refers to the process where tacit knowledge is formalized into explicit knowledge (8). Within externalization an organisation’s individual members have various ideas and intentions, which then become integrated (Nonka & Konno, 2010). Combination is the process of synthesizing explicit concepts that become a knowledge base for the organisation (Mihi, Victor & Garcia, 2012). Combination involves capturing and integrating new knowledge, collection of knowledge that has been externalized, editing and processing of explicit knowledge in order for this knowledge to be more valuable to the organisation (Nonka & Konno, 2010). Internalisation is the process of absorbing explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge, which relates to the concept of learning by practice (Mihi, Victor & Garcia, 2012).

With reference to the Coca-Cola Company, the strength of this mutli-national company is within their knowledge which has been created within each department of the company over time and is shared amongst each other within the company (Yadav, 2015). The main tool Coca-Cola uses to acquire and create new knowledge is the Intranet, appraisal meeting and business reviews and their informal networks (Kempe, 2012). Every framework within the company began as a thought within the minds of their employees (Yadav, 2015). Therefore it can be said that Coca-Cola flourished into a multi-national company due to the tacit knowledge of their employees (O’Leary, 2010).

Knowledge leveraging

Knowledge leveraging refers to learning, organisational management transfers, internalization or integration such as joint ventures and the organisation’s ability to apply knowledge internationally (Kennel & Van Batenburg, 2011). Various organisational practices have been unsuccessful due to organisations being unwilling or unable to gain an organisational culture that acknowledges knowledge sharing (Beck, Rai & Keil, 2015). An organisation’s knowledge leveraging mechanisms are the determinant factors of the organisation’s efficiency to transfer, covert and apply knowledge (Kennel & Van Batenburg, 2011). If an organisation is experiencing distance within their central leveraging mechanisms it becomes a barrier to effectively utilize the organisation’s individual knowledge for internationalization purposes (Kennel & Van Batenburg, 2011). Knowledge leveraging amongst individuals is important to an organisation’s success of making decisions (Omotayo, 2015). Knowledge leveraging is the result of new innovative products and knowledge leveraging improves an organisation’s internal processes, operations and the direction of the organisation (Omotayo, 2015).

Coca-Cola leverages IBM’s most advanced digital asset management technology in order to create a powerful resource in managing archival information (O’Leary, 2010). This new Coca-Cola digital media system makes a vast number of marketing activities and advertising tactics available through a wide internal network, enabling employees to easily access and use the material for future innovations (Yadav, 2015). This system is available to Coca-Cola associates in over 200 countries (Yadav, 2015). For example, if Coca-Cola’s advertising team is working on a new ‘holiday’ campaign, the individual employee can pull up various digital archives by search in keywords such as for ‘holiday or Christmas’ adverts and have access to the entire spectrum of both print and video advertisements created on the specific subject (Kempe, 2012). Coca-Cola is one of the first companies to move their advertising and brand history to an online digital media platform (O’Leary, 2010).

Knowledge transfer

Organisations are operating within a globalized world that is characterized by exceptionally fast paced information transfer abilities (Omotayo, 2015). It has been found that through effective management and transfer of knowledge, an organisation becomes more innovative and performance is affected positively (Omotayo, 2015). Knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing has large organisational impact as it enables the organisation to facilitate their innovation processes, assists with problem solving and enables collective and individual learning within organisations (King, 2009). A key determinant of knowledge transfer