In June 2020, Coca-Cola launched a plan for the digital transformation of the hospitality industry. In this pandemic crisis scenario, the soft drink firm worked on key digitalization aspects and for this, it counted on IBM, Microsoft, Servicenow, Salesforce, SAP, Deloitte and Cap Gemini to create Bartalent Lab.
This is just one more example of why Coca-Cola has been one of the most recognized brands in the market for decades. Coca-Cola learned a lot from emerging companies, and this is how they have been able to adapt to the new times. Let's take a look at the 5 lessons Coca-Cola teaches us about being a disruptive company.
Large corporations are already established and designed to execute, not explore, and their goal now is to adapt and digitize. These large companies that remain successful do so by putting the right systems, people and structures in place.
But what about start-ups, the new emerging companies in this digitalization landscape? These companies are designed in almost the opposite way: they are designed to explore, not to execute. This is how they find the right business model that allows them to scale to the top.
This thinking requires a speed and flexibility that does not fit in the old companies, so new working models must be developed around the needs of the old entrepreneurs and the way they work.
To know which ideas to invest in, you first need to know which problems to tackle. Most ideas are, in fact, solutions. Solutions that sometimes look for a problem.
Startups achieve flexibility by focusing on a problem. It is this thinking about solving a big problem that helps them create great ideas that are, quite simply, solutions to that problem. They don't blindly execute a project; they solve a problem that people have.
Anyone working in a company knows the importance of the business plan. It is a roadmap that gives meaning to a project and guidance to a team, to ensure that all members follow the same path.
However, the startups taught Coca-Cola a valuable lesson: commit to something big before spending money on it . First, they achieve real, tangible results (sales, users, customers) and then plan based on those real results.
"Minimal" products are so minimal that they don't help prove anything, while "viable" products are fully designed and executed and give no room for exploration. A "minimal viable product" is the cheapest and fastest thing you can create to learn and deliver value to the end user.
Coca-Cola found that start-ups use "minimum viable products" to test conjectures and learn from them . The goal of these products is to determine if they can develop a solution that sells, which is very different from the normal product development process ( stage-gate process).
The difference between the two methods lies in the fact thatstart-ups work in the opposite way to the traditional way, launching a product to the market and repeating based on the lessons learned, eliminating risk in their business model on an ongoing basis. Thus, they learn much earlier what works and what does not.
There is a famous phrase that says: "Don't sell what you can make, make what you can sell". This quote sums up how old entrepreneurs tend to focus on what people need and want, but it's hard to figure this out, especially in startups.
Sometimes, startups are not only trying to solve a problem that has no solution at the time, but also to develop the market around that solution. In the absence of historical data and experience, these startups turn to metrics.
The use of KPIs and data to measure a large number of parameters within a company is very valuable, and increasingly essential. Focusing on metrics is imperative to move forward and create an approach that gives clarity to teams, and even an entire company.
At INCAE we are committed to disruption and digitalization. For this reason, we have developed MAIT: Master in Analytics, Innovation and Technology Management.
This master's degree is designed for professionals and young entrepreneurs looking to improve their skills in innovation, emerging technologies and digital business to continue growing in the job market.
Get ahead of the future with INCAE. Invest in digital transformation and achieve business success.
