Business Strategy : Coca Cola

1.The company I chose to research is the, Coca-Cola Company. Their company mission is to “refresh the world” and spread happiness, which can be seen in the media advertising. Although this company is sold in stores, there is the option for online buying as well. Its URL is, http://www.coca-colastore.com. While this URL, is the company’s actual website, http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company. This online website allows customers to buy Coca-Cola products “Share-a-Coke” and Coke brand merchandise (Moye, 2015).

Coca Cola and Pepsi are the brands with the highest brand equities. Both, Coca Cola and Pepsi have gone through the highs and lows of their business to reach that position. Coca Cola’s marketing has been changing over time with more and more products being added every day, while Pepsi has implemented several smart marketing strategies to improve its turnover and profits. So, let’s see what were the marketing strategies implemented by Coca Cola and Pepsi.

According to Slack et al. The corporate strategy or business strategy is the guide lines for the whole corporation’s businesses in relation to its markets, customers, and the competitors (2007). In the same context, the same authors discussed the link between the corporate strategy and

A competitive strategy, or business-level strategy, is the way a business used to successfully enter and penetrate into a market (Eastwood et al, 2006), and also, to succeed in this chosen market against its competitors (Johnson et al, 2014). A company needs to develop and apply appropriate strategy to help the company to generate distinctive competences (David, 2007). Compared with the strategies implemented in other levels of operation, competitive strategy is more focused on the competition against other competitors and strategic choices to better attain market share (Harrison and St. John, 2009). According to

Corporate-level strategies are liable for market definition; they address the entire scope of the business. This strategy helps a business to diversify its service. It gives them direction in which geographic region they should operate and which service markets to strive in. “Thus, an effective corporate-level strategy creates, across all of a firm’s businesses, aggregate returns that exceed what those

Coca Cola has differentiated its product and services that are valued by its customer. Its product are based on customer’s preferences, with affordable price and made easily accessible.

The Coca Cola Company is very cautious and responsive to change; they act with urgency and have the courage to discourse when needed to work more efficiently. Coke’s focus is to administer its system assets to build values and rewards for the people who take risks by finding better ways to solve problems. Coca Cola Company feels they are accountable for their actions and inactions and hence answerable to the people. They learn from their outcomes and understand what works or what doesn’t for them.

The history of Coca Cola began in 1886 when Dr. John S Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist created a tasty soft drink which could sell at soda fountains. Since then, Coca Cola grew to be a global brand and touched great heights. Today, it sells across 200 countries and is just as popular across all the markets and nations. The company today, owns or licenses and markets more than 500 non alcoholic beverage brands. The brand has only few major competitors in the global market. The daily servings of coca cola are estimated to be at 1.9 billion globally. (Coca-Colahellenic, n.d.) This is just another proof of the popularity of the brand which has a very large and diversified

Coca-Cola is the result of a patent medicine formulated in a small southern pharmacy over a hundred years ago. It has grown into a multibillion dollar international company. It also owns one of the most valuable brands in the world. Their Coca-Cola banner has won the world’s top brand 13 times on brand c-consulting firm Interbrand’s annual list (Fraser, 2012). In addition to its main product, Coke, the company owns over 3500 beverages. One of its core competencies is brand building. They have built their brand to have respectability and dependability. Their brand and logo are recognized all around the globe. It has actually become a new known on almost all households worldwide (RNWILKIN, 2009).

Coca-Cola Company has realized significant growth since its establishment to become a global leader in the marketing, manufacturing, and distribution of syrup and soft drinks. Out of the four generic strategies, the company has followed the differentiation strategy to make its products unique in the market. Its interest is to maximize the market share through the development of the most innovative products and the establishment of effective strategies to influence the customer’s decisions. In such a way, the company has integrated various strategies to ensure that desirable results are attained in the market. Its strategic choices align with the differentiation strategy in an attempt to make its products unique and meet diverse market requirements. To reduce its weaknesses, the company should consider exploiting key opportunities in the market including venturing in the packaging of water, promotion of new brands, and launching of healthy products. In particular, the vision and mission statement of Coca-Cola seems to have reconfirmed and changed in this process of company’s strategic analysis.

The Coca-Cola Company is a leader in the beverage industry with a reputable brand and strong global presence. According to the Coca-Cola Company’s mission statement and 2020 vision, some of its goals include:

It states the aims of the company exactly. ‘To refresh the world’. The Coca-Cola Company is a world-wide company, which manufactures drinks. Not only Coca-Cola but others such as Sprite or Fanta. When you are in need of refreshment you usually get something to drink, therefore the first sentence makes obvious sense. ’To inspire moments of optimism and happiness’. On most labels of Coca-Cola bottles there are usually messages saying ‘Share a Coke with…’ in which it will replace the ellipses with a name, or a place or even something like ‘Share a Coke and Smile.’ This promotes sharing moments with friends and creates optimism. The final sentence, ‘To create value and make a difference.’ In 2010 Coca-Cola partnered up with the ‘Trust for National Mall’ and ‘National Park Service’, and successfully managed to set up a recycling program that is still ongoing today, thus making a difference to the environment. This mission statement is effective and

Coca-Cola is the largest non-alcohol beverage manufacturer in the world, which holds approximate 43% market share. The firm is also ranked in top 20 in the Fortune 500 in terms of the largest capital with over 100 billion dollars in assets. John Stith Pemberton is the founder of the firm, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. During its 100 years of history, Coca-Cola has grown its businesses substantially in the globe. Currently, the firm presents over 160 countries, including China, India, Japan, and South East Asia countries. The main objectives of the firm that is it can serve its products to all consumers in the globe, and expands its businesses to the majority of strategic regions. In order to grow and expand its present to the other major markets, Coca-Cola executes its marketing strategies based on three different categories, including price, place, partnerships, and core products. These marketing methods have supported Coca-Cola to sustain, and grow in the soft drink industry.

Overall, Coca-Cola’s mission statement defines its goals, policies, and values and defines the competency of the company. It indicates the company’s scope; the reach of Coca-Cola is world-wide. It does not, however, do a good job of stating why its operation is better than anyone else’s. As a result, it does not define the competitive environment. Most of the ideals that Coca-Cola lists are generic -- every firm wants to do good by its shareholders and its customers. Consequently, the mission statement needs refined if it is to be taken seriously.

This report is conducted to find out the business to business marketing between two companies. Business to business marketing is quite different from marketing between end users and manufactures. In this report I have selected Coca Cola as my company and Amati as second company which is doing business with Coca cola in Australia. Coca Cola is a world’s one of the best brand of beverage. In This report I have covered what are the main market segmentations and what is the position of my company in market. More over the four P’s analysis providing the business market plan and the future prospective of relation between both companies.