Coca-Colas Organisational Structure - Case Study Example

Name University Course Tutor Date Marketing Plan Section A This paper will focus on Coca Cola because it is one of the biggest soft drink companies worldwide. Coca Cola plays a huge role in the global trade pattern as it operates in more economically developed nations. This means that the company is not greatly affected by the quotas and tariffs imposed by less developed nations (Bell 2003, p.45). The products have cheaper prices too. Competitive advantage of Coca Cola includes; its robust brand portfolio, collaborative consumer relationships, business partnerships, managerial expertise, flexible sales and distribution paradigms, sustainable growth, alongside market leadership. The company’s comparative advantage is the utilisation of franchise business paradigm whereby it depends on the socioeconomic steadiness of the nations in which it operates in (Hays 2010, p.30). Coca Cola’s activities embody some characteristics of New Trade Theory, such that it can generate additional products at reduced cost than its rivals, exploit that benefit, dominate the market, and finally profit its consumers. Coca Cola’s organisational structure Coca Cola embodies an example of the Stages Models of Internationalisation. For instance, the company utilises the U-model of internalisation to obtain prospective consumers around the world (Isdell and Beasley 2011, P.67). The organisation applies four diverse phases, such as formation of an abroad production, abroad sales subsidiary, export through independent agents, and no standard export activities. Coca Cola can only operate in countries whose culture allows people to drink its products. The company must follow the set rules and regulations of operating a business in a certain nation. It should also follow the economic systems of its operating nations. Section B: Library Catalogues  Hays, C, (2010) Po: Truth and Power at the Coca Cola Company. New York: Random House. Hays Constance scrutinises the 119-year account of Coca Cola. It is a story of love, team work, hope, and opportunity including greed, ambition, hubris, and salesmanship. Coca Cola’s story reveals its billion-dollar marketing campaigns, globalisation, dynastic bottling businesses, soda fountain shops, and carbonisation. Isdell, N and Beasley, D, (2011) Inside Coca-Cola: A CEO’s life Story of Building the World’s most popular Brand. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Isdell played a huge role in the operation of the company before his retirement in 2009 as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Coca Cola. The book tells his amazing professional and personal global story from Turkey, South Africa, India, the Philippines, Germany, Russia, and Australia. The book explains how organisations govern and market themselves. Pendergrast, M, (2000) For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. New York: Basic Books. This author gives an account of the greatest soft drink in the United States and the organisation that produces it. It provides stunning images of business people who started the company, conmen, and swindlers who made it a global organization. Bell, L, (2003). The Story of Coca-Cola. North Mankato Minnesota: Smart Apple Media. The author discusses how the company was founded and developed. The story is given through another account of Allen Strange who haves split personality. The story is different from other books as it presents a story within a story. Section C: Electronic Databases  Paracha, J.M., Waqas, M, and Khan, A.R. (2010) ‘Consumer Preference Coca Cola versus Pepsi-Cola’, Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 12(12), pp 1. The study focuses on two international giants Pepsi-Cola and Coca Cola. It focuses on organisations positioned in Pakistan and identifies which company leads the market. It also distinguishes the reasons and factors behind the influence of consumers to select their favourite drink. Saltman, K.J. (2004) ‘Coca-Cola’s Global Lessons: from Education for Corporate Globalization to Education for Global Justice’, The Teacher Education Quarterly, 1(1), pp. 23-67. The author explains about how Coca Cola affects people’s health. It explains the war between Coca Cola and individuals who criticize junk food. The write wants to know whether the company pays sufficient resources and money to change learning institutions into adverts and structures into billboards. Smith, S.M. and Albaum, G.S. (2012). Basic Marketing Research: Volume 1. Utah: Qualtrics Labs, Inc. This manuscript identifies the importance of marketing for the success of any business. The authors give examples using companies operating on a global perspective to help the reader understand the importance of marketing in an organization. Hefner, F and Woodward, D. (1999) ‘A Better Red: The Transition from Communism to Coca-Cola in Romania’, the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, 2(2), pp. 43–49. The journal discusses how difficult it is for companies to operate in some countries. It focuses on Coca Cola and its operations in Romania and how communism has affected the business. Section D: Items Published on the Internet Sandison, N. (2007) ‘Coca-Cola Revives Popular ‘Holidays are Coming Ad’, BrandRepublic, 14 September [Online]. Available at: http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/767575/Coca-Cola-revives-popular-holidays-coming-ad/ (Accessed: 20 September 2014) The website identifies the importance of having marketing strategies that would place a company in the world map. For instance, the author describes how Coca-Cola introduces an ad dubbed ‘holidays are coming’ in an effort to lure consumers to buy its products. Coca-Cola, (2007) The Chronicle of Coca Cola. Available at: http://cocacolaweb.online.fr/chronicle/01.php (Accessed: 20 September 2014) This is one of Coca Cola’s websites that gives an account of the company since its inception. It also highlights how the company advertised its products and people who ensured that the company remained successful. TNN, (2014) ‘Coca-Cola Launches Sugar-Free Soft Drink 'Coca-Cola Zero' to Bolster its Portfolio’, The Economic Times, Available at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/food/coke-counts-on-zero-to-push-cola-sales/articleshow/42975994.cms (Accessed: 20 September 2014) The author writes about Coca Cola Company marketing strategy whereby it introduces a new product called ‘Coca Cola zero’ in its market in India. The company has been facing backlash from weight watchers who believe that soft drinks are unhealthy for human consumption. Section E: Research Question. What are the natural, cultural, natural, economic, demographic, technological, and political factors that affect the marketing strategies at the Coca Cola Company? F. Plan Page Coca Cola is one of the biggest organizations in the world that deals with soft drinks. The vision of the organisation is “Our Roadmap starts with our enduring mission. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions: to refresh the world; to inspire moments of optimism and happiness; and to create value and make a difference” (Isdell and Beasley 2011 3) The company’s vision operates as its framework and directs each aspect of its business regarding what should be accomplished in order to continue attaining sustainable and eminent growth. The organisation also focuses on making sure that people work in an inspirational place and do their best. The company believes in producing quality products and services to its consumers and stakeholders as well as satisfying their needs and desires. Coca Cola thrives to nurture a successful system of partnership between suppliers and consumers whereby it creates a shared, lasting value. It also thrives on maximizing its lasting returns to shareholders whereas being watchful of its overall duties. Coca Cola also focuses on productivity by being highly efficient and a fast-moving company. Natural, cultural, economic, demographic, and technological factors affect the Coca Cola Company are also called macro environment aspects that influence Coca Cola in its daily operations in diverse markets worldwide. a) Natural Facets Safe and clean water plays a huge role in our communities. This is the same case in Coca Cola as all its products rely on water as the key ingredient. Coca Cola works with organisations that conserve nature and safeguard natural resources for wildlife and people (Pendergrast 2000, p.145). Coca Cola announced a partnership to combine its global resources and strengths with WWF to support the conservation of water in the world. The company also decided to implement measures to reduce its consumption of energy by about 15% in 2007. The company intended to eradicate over 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. Coca Cola wanted to show individuals and other organisations that they needed to protect the environment and the natural resources surrounding them. The energy and climate fortification supervisor, My, Brian Jacob said that “We all have a role to play, from using energy-efficient lighting where we can, to repairing leaky faucets and watering our lawns only in the morning and in the evening. Each leaky faucet in our homes or offices could be wasting 180 gallons of water weekly.” According to Jacob, everyone must play his duty to assist his/her community by focusing his/her efforts to ensure that we maintain a clean environment. Nowadays, over a billion people in the world lack enough, safe water to drink while around 2.6 billion individuals lack sufficient sanitation. Coca Cola work directly with its chain of supply, non-governmental institutions, administrations, and local communities to refill water to communities and nature. The company has worked with over 300 community water partnerships in over 70 nations by supporting watershed fortification, awareness programs, extending drinking water in communities, and ensuring efficiency in water used for agricultural purposes. b) Cultural Facets Coca Cola involves itself with the culture of the countries it operates in. For instance, the organisation was involved with this year’s world cup in Brazil as football is a huge part of the Brazilian culture. This is also a similar case in nations like Pakistan whereby music, gourmet, and religion plays a huge part in influencing the communities. Most Pakistanis love cricket. Nevertheless, Pepsi remains the biggest competitor of Coca Cola in the country. Coca Cola has also been sponsoring Pakistani music, such that it is the certified sponsor of Abrar. Coke also promotes itself during concerns through music superstars in commercials or when they are performing in concerts. Coca Cola also uses these personalities on their billboards and TV/radio advertisements (Smith and Albaum 2012, p.80). c) Economic Facets Economic facets influence an organisation positively and negatively. Inflation in some nations has affected Coca Cola’s operations resulting to increased prices. When this happens, Pepsi takes the competitive edge and sell its product in those nations. Coca Cola also benefits from the huge number of staff employed in different countries as well as the revenue gathered from those nations. d) Demographic Facets Coca Cola Company has familiarized itself with the people it serves. It provides diverse packaging and flavours to suit the taste of its consumers. Some of the sizes offered by the company include (Sandison 2007, P.45); CANS (330 ml) PET (Plastic Bottle 1.5 litre) PET (Plastic Bottle 500 ml) NRD (Non-returnable/ Disposable bottle) LRB (Large Size returnable Bottle) and SSRB (Standard Size Returnable Bottle) Coca Cola targets the diverse sizes of its products based on consumers of diverse professions and age groups. For instance, SSRB targets the youths and children attending universities and schools. The product also target lower social class individuals. PET 500 targets all individuals who prefer buying a bigger product rather than the smaller ones. CANS were introduced to target executives who expect a different thing from the company. Additionally, Coca Cola introduced Coke Zero and Diet Coke in the market for people who are conscious with their weight (TNN 2014, p.1). Other products introduced by Coca Cola to suit consumer preferences include Cherry & Lime and Vanilla Coke for consumers who like citrus-flavoured products and vanilla-flavoured beverages respectively. Nevertheless, Coca Cola Company cannot introduce a product in the market prior to performing a detailed study regarding the preference of their consumers (Paracha, Waqas, and Khan 2010, p.1). This has resulted to a good relationship between the company and its consumers because they know that the organisation only generates quality products. e) Technological Facts Technology plays a huge role in the production, marketing, and distribution of products. It also influences the growth of an organisation in the modern world. Therefore, it is important for companies to ensure that they keep abreast of what is happening in the technological world as new products and services are released in the market everyday. People and companies have become innovative. Consequently, technology has positively affected the beverage trade. Innovators have introduced new ways of filling soda bottles, refrigeration techniques, PET bottles, and disposable bottles. Coca Cola has capitalized on how it packages its products making it a huge competitor to Pepsi. Coca Cola acquires visichests, refrigerators, and other cooling machines to maintain chilled bottles. The company also acquired dispensers that ensure that people get Coke from the main fountain. Coca Cola has embraced the PET bottles that are ecologically responsive. The company also recycles its materials in an effort to protect the environment and promote its brand. f) Political Facets Political aspects mainly influence the business operations of companies operating on the global level and the Coca Cola Company is no exception. Coca Cola Company remains safe from government regulations because there are not huge changes in provisions laws. Alternatively, Coke has suffered in countries like Pakistan where rumours started spreading that revenue from its products went to the Jewish lobby. The company later denied the claims and bounced back to take its position the market. Coca Cola Company stays safe even in countries with harsh political conditions because it is merely a customer product. Even when a nation is suffering from political instability or other challenges, people continue to drink Coke products. The company also remains safe from currency depreciation as it does not deal with exports and imports on large-scale. The company focuses more on the local markets with one plant in a nation. The company also benefits from its eco friendly products. Most of its bottles are recyclable protecting it from backlash from health watchers. Bibliographies Bell, L, (2003). The Story of Coca-Cola. North Mankato Minnesota: Smart Apple Media Hays, C, (2010). Po: Truth and Power at the Coca Cola Company. New York: Random House. Isdell, N and Beasley, D. (2011) Inside Coca-Cola: A CEO’s life Story of Building the World’s most popular Brand. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Paracha, J.M., Waqas, M, and Khan, A.R. (2010) ‘Consumer Preference Coca Cola versus Pepsi-Cola’, Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 12(12), pp. 1. Pendergrast, M, (2000) For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. New York: Basic Books. Sandison, N. (2007) ‘Coca-Cola Revives Popular ‘Holidays are Coming Ad’, BrandRepublic, 14 September [Online]. Available at: http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/767575/Coca-Cola-revives-popular-holidays-coming-ad/ (Accessed: 20 September 2014). Smith, S.M. and Albaum, G.S. (2012) Basic Marketing Research: Volume 1. Utah: Qualtrics Labs, Inc. TNN, (2014). ‘Coca-Cola Launches Sugar-Free Soft Drink 'Coca-Cola Zero' to Bolster its Portfolio’, The Economic Times, Available at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/food/coke-counts-on-zero-to-push-cola-sales/articleshow/42975994.cms (Accessed: 20 September 2014). Read More