The reputation of a company is intangible but very valuable. Having a good or bad reputation will affect how consumers feel about a company or product, as well as stakeholders. Some of the benefits of a superior corporate reputation are that customers will prefer to do business with that company when other companies’ products and services are available at a comparable cost and quality; the company can also charge a premium for products and services; and stakeholder support for the company in times of controversy. Good reputation also adds to the company’s value in the financial marketplace. (Management, 2013) In 1999, poor decisions and mismanagement cast a shadow over Coca-Cola. “Following the hospitalization of dozens of Belgians, Coke admitted Tuesday that it had problems at two of its plants—one involving pesticide on the outside of cans the other sub-standard carbonation gas.” (Sathiah, 1999). Even though dozens had fallen ill after drinking Coke products, Coke claimed its products were still safe. Coke failed to act appropriately after hearing that many were getting ill after consuming Coke products. This lead for Belgium to ban all Coke soft drinks, this prompted Luxembourg, Netherlands, and France to also stop the sale of Coke soft drink. (Sathiah, 1999).
Some of the strategic steps I would take to remedy the concerns that the company is faced with would be, is bring in new management. A management team that would take issues like this seriously before they caused damage to the company. Had Coca-Cola acted in a responsible manner, the company would have recalled its own soft drinks. Countries should not have had to stop the sale of the drinks. This was very irresponsible on behalf of the company. The company should also be as transparent as possible as far as how the company operates especially in other countries. The way this situation was handled was