The Essay On Marketing And Management Of Coca Cola Is Insightful.

Discuss about the Marketing and Management of Coca Cola.

Coca Cola is a beverage company and is known for its carbonated soft drinks produced and delivered to the customers. Previously, it was a patent medicine company, but soon it introduced itself as a carbonated soft drink manufacturer company, which follows good marketing strategies and has created a dominant position in the world soft drink market. The drinks offered by the company are referred to as the two ingredients including the kola nuts, which is a source of caffeine and coca leaves. The formula, which is used by the company to prepare the carbonated soft drinks, has been kept secret, though there are various evidence related to the experimental recreations and recipes used (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2012). It has made billions of customers happy and kept them refreshed from the 20^th century.

Few of the products offered by the company are Coke Zero, Coca Cola, RC Cola, Kola Real, Cavan Cola, etc. The actual purpose of developing this report is to analyse the various marketing and management approaches undertaken by Coca Cola and the orientation of the company towards marketing. The report will also include the role of brand and products offered along with the analysis of 5Cs of the company through evaluation of company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 

The Coca Cola brand has a net worth of more than $74 billion, which is much better than Pepsi, Red Bull, Starbucks, Budweiser, etc. It was previously a patent medicine, but with time the company created a sustainable place in the market and with the use of proper marketing techniques, the company gained itself a dominant position in the soft drink market (colacompany.com 2017). Coca Cola is a carbonated soft drinks production and manufacturing company. It was a patent medicine company previously, but with the advancements in technology and communication nowadays, the marketing approaches became much more convenient and led to the formation of a sustainable market place within the business environment (Araujo and Neijens 2012). The name of the product offered by Coca Cola mainly relies upon the two most important components including the coca leaves and kola nuts that are considered as a major source of caffeine.

The products of the company are sold in over 200 countries all over the world with an average downing of consumers of more than 1.8 billion beverage servings every day. Coca Cola acquired Minute Maid, Thums Up, Barq’s and many other companies for expanding business and ensure that all the products and service are marketed properly in each of the segments of markets worldwide (colacompany.com 2017). Based on the Annual Report, due to the huge numbers of customers, Coca Cola has marketed its products and services wisely, because of which there had been 50 billion beverage servings of all kinds of products consumed daily by the consumers (Armstrong et al. 2015). The beverages hold the trademarks owned and licensed by the company for approximately 1.5 billion.

Coca Cola is one of the largest and most popular brands, which sells good quality carbonated soft drinks all over the world. The company owns other soft drink brands such as Fanta, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Minute Maid, etc. The company’s offerings are mainly the non-alcoholic beverages and syrups which have kept people happy and satisfied by fulfilling their needs and requirements too in an effective manner (Baker 2014). The vision of the company is to accomplish the business objectives and ensure that the bottlers deliver people with a good place to work, deliver a portfolio of products to customers for fulfilling their needs and requirements. The vision also includes creating a network of partners to expand business easily and develop sustainable communities, which can help in maximising the long term return to shareholders and increase production level too (Balmer 2012).

Vision and Mission

The mission of the company is to refresh the people in mind, body and spirit, allow them to encourage situations of happiness through the brand product consumption and furthermore create value by making differences and managing changes (Berthon et al. 2012).

The company focuses on two orientation approaches, especially the product orientation and market orientation for focusing on the production process and identify, analyse and review the needs of consumers in the market in a consistent manner. The orientation to marketing allows the company to identify, evaluate and assess the demands and preferences of customers in the market and deliver products and services accordingly. The market orientation has been reflected through the mission statement of the company, and it shows that the company manages its business operations based on the demands and preferences of customers (Best 2012). On the basis of their requirements in various market segments, a wide range of products and services, especially the ready to drink non-alcoholic beverages to the customers.

The senior management has committed to the benefits of marketing to develop the brands vertically. The orientation towards marketing has helped Coca Cola to create value by meeting the needs of consumers and support the existing brands for generating growth and development too. The marketing strategy involves research on packaging, development of precise communication with consumers and gaining their feedbacks for managing any changes or improvements (Bruce and Solomon 2013). To enhance the market approach, the company has committed itself to reinvent successive generation of customers through delivery of a wide range of new drinks through a wide variety of choices, refreshment, excitement and fun.

The marketing orientation allows the company to consider the needs and requirements of customers while making decisions and then ensure that the preferences of the targeted audiences are met with ease and effectiveness. With the immense competition in the market, it is essential for the business organisation to become more product and market oriented rather than customer oriented. This would allow the organisation to deliver products that suit the needs of people within the market and furthermore stay ahead of other competitors (Chattopadhyay, Batra and Ozsomer 2012). 

The marketing mix strategy has been followed by the company for matching up with the needs of consumers and obtains the desired positive outcomes with ease. The products offered by the company are non-alcoholic beverage drinks including Coca Cola’s owned products along with wide range of other products too such as Fanta, Sprite, etc. The quality of products and prices of those are responsible for influencing the buying behaviours of consumers too (colacompany.com 2017).

The place refers to the areas where the company distributes its products like the retail stores, wholesalers and everywhere worldwide. The distribution strategy has helped the company to place its products wisely and grab the attention of customers thereby achieving good turnover figures as well. The products are also available at supermarkets, vending machines, which show the company’s intensive distribution strategy. The prices are set with the use of competitive pricing strategy, and this has reduced the cost expenditures and allowed the company to use the additional money for advertising purposes to keep the interests of customers stable (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2013). The promotional strategies are useful for Coca Cola to distribute its products in different market segments properly and gain a large customer base. The promotional campaigns include personalised selling, sales discounts, advertisements of televisions, newspapers, magazines, etc., which has improved the brand image and identity and generated more loyalty and trust among the customers too (De Mooij 2013).

Organisation's orientation towards marketing

Few of the major brands of Coca Cola are Fanta, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Minute Maid, Sprite, etc. The brands sell non-alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, and these are offered for making the customers have some refreshment and remain energised as well. The actual role of brands is to offer customers with good quality non-alcoholic beverages and efficiently fulfil their needs and requirements (Hastings and Domegan 2013).

Strengths and Key Resources

Coca Cola is one of the largest beverages brands according to its global and national reach and sales. The company has been present in more than 200 countries worldwide, and more than 500  brands are offered. The company has a good financial condition, and with the help of good advertising and marketing activities, the brand has created a sustainable presence in the market. There have been celebrity endorsements, which have enhanced the brand image and identity too (Hollensen 2015). The corporate social responsibilities are major strengths of the company too such as the water conservation and recycling, education, health, etc. The environment-friendly packaging activities allow for recycling and reusing, which further enhanced the brand image. The company is also associated with international sports events and sponsorships. All these have made Coca Cola one of the costliest brands with highest brand equity.

Coca Cola has the largest market share, and with its good marketing strategies, the younger generation customers have been attracted (Kapferer 2012). The company also experiences good loyalty of customers, and because of the good taste, the customers fail to find out other substitutes for the products offered by Coca Cola. The robust distribution network allows controlling the distributors properly including wholesalers, bottlers, retailers and ensures successful business expansion all over the world (Lambert and Schwieterman 2012).

The resources are termed as the inputs given to the company for the production of goods and services, and it can be both tangible and intangible. The tangible resources are physical attributes whereas the intangible resources include trademarks, patents, location, knowledge and skills of workers. The capabilities of the firm are marketing, placing the orders, everyday business operations, etc (McDaniel and Gates 2012).

Weaknesses

One of the major weaknesses could be the presence of pesticides that were found in the beverages, and this had deteriorated the brand image and identity. The competition by other business organisations like PepsiCo has further created a constant fight over the market shares. Coca Cola’s product diversification is low compared to PepsiCo, which has diversified into snacks segment with offerings like Kurkure, Lays, etc. The carbonated beverages consumption are huge factors influencing intake of fat, and Coca Cola has been one of the largest manufacturers of carbonated beverages (Morgan 2012). The company was blamed for its excessive utilisation of water in areas where there had been lack of water, and there were reported news of mixing pesticides in the water for clearing the contaminants as well.

Opportunities

Diversification can help Coca Cola to improve the wide range of products and services offered, and the supply chain can also distribute snacks, thereby balancing a load of supply chain costs as well. The introduction of healthy beverages can increase during summers, and this will result in higher consumption by people, which is another major opportunity for the firm to capitalise. Packaged drinking water has contributed to the healthy drinking habits of people, and there is huge potential for business expansion too (Moth 2012). The supply chain management will allow improving the transportation and distribution facilities and reduce the cost of business operations.

The role of brand and products offered

Threats

The threats are caused due to the presence of competitive rivalries in business. The coffee chains like Café Coffee day, Costa coffee, star bucks, etc. have created competition for the carbonated drinks offered by Coca Cola. The health drink brands like Real, Minute Maid, Tropicana, Red Bull have also stolen market share indirectly, thereby causing major threats as well. The sourcing of raw materials can also lead to the downfall in revenue generation and ability to distribute products (Pulizzi 2013). Other threats include rise or fall in the inflation rate, economic slowdown and unstable business market segments.

The major customers are local people, international chain or retailers, restaurants, retail stores and small independent business organisations too. The company keeps close contact with customers to developing mutual benefits, and with the help of bottling partners, the customers are served well through various account management teams, who work according to the needs and requirements of customers. Often the customers look for reduced cost of products, improve sales, profit level, and ensure delivery of enhanced quality products. The young generation customers are mostly focused on because they have turned to beverages and share good emotional bonds with Coca Cola (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2012). There had been lack of sales in the present days, due to which the company had appointed five young design groups from different continents for managing reintegration of coca cola brand into the youths with the inclusion of art, creativity and music. This would influence the buying behaviour of consumers too (Araujo and Neijens 2012). 

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac - The collections of the fashion designing company have been developed through collaborations managed by Coca Cola World Wide licensing team.

AIM-PROGRESS – Coca Cola has been a member of AIM-PROGRESS, which is one of the major forums of fast moving consumer goods manufacturer and suppliers. This has helped in promoting responsible sourcing practices through collaboration with the brand (Armstrong et al. 2015). 

The River Trust- Coca Cola has collaborated with River Trust to protect, promote as well as enhance the river environment and maintain ecological balance in nature and furthermore conserve water and prevent wastage.

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. – It is a part of the Bottling Investments Group of Coca-Cola, and it has more than 24 bottling plants at various strategic locations all across India. Most of the bottling operations for Coca-Cola India are managed by this (Baker 2014). 

McDonald's – McDonald's and Coca-Cola alliance is a huge success, and this has helped in letting the customers enjoy a healthy meal with a soft drink, thereby contributing largely to Coca Cola's returns.

Endomondo  - The company has a strategic alliance with Endomondo, and to create a global reach, Coca Cola has introduced mobile app and social network for managing communication with customers and grow the customer base by entering new markets (Balmer 2012).

The company has collaborated with the health professionals to manage the production of mini-cans and zero calorie beverages, which can contribute to healthy eating habits of people.

The major competitors in business for Coca Cola are PepsiCo, Nestle, DR Pepper Snapple Group Inc. All these are soft drinks manufacturing company, though PepsiCo offers a wide range of snack items too, which has decreased the market share for Coca Cola in the competitive business environment. This has created threats for the company, and with the introduction of substitute products in the market, the company may even face lack of sales (Berthon et al. 2012).

The marketing context allows for assessing the external environmental factor, which is responsible for business growth and success of Coca Cola.

Political factors

The “One Day without Coca Cola” campaign launched by University organisations of the Social Nicaraguan Movement resulted in protests against the US led invasion of Iraq, thereby creating a negative impact on the revenue generation and profit level of Coca Cola. The Food and Drug Administration or FDA managed the non-alcoholic beverages, and Coca Cola was subjected to Occupational health and safety Act for fulfilling the various requirements based on the rules and regulations followed (Best 2012). The changes in accounting standards, taxation requirements, environmental laws, pressures put by competitive pricing strategies also affected business functioning and revenue generation. The Governmental changes and strategies also helped the company to form strategic business alliances with local bottlers and enhance the packaging and distribution of products (Bruce and Solomon 2013).

Economic factors

The growth in the economy of the country along with changes in tax rate, currency exchange rates, rates of interest, the cost of labour also affected the functioning of Coca Cola. After the financial crisis in 2009 also, the company held a good position by managing an operating margin of 22% though the dividend yield or return was reduced to 2.6%.The changes in the exchange rate is another economic factor, which led to the reduction of profits of Coca Cola by 55 percent (Chattopadhyay, Batra and Ozsomer 2012).

Social factors

The customers have increasingly become aware of health and well being, and the beverages are considered as contributors to health diseases like obesity, sugar, etc. This also created a huge decline in sales for the company. The functioning of Coca Cola is also affected by changes in demographic conditions, changes in family values and beliefs, income level and media perception too (colacompany.com 2017). Due to the increased awareness of health, the company has served customers with bottled water, diet colas such as Coca Cola light and Coke Zero. 

Technological factors

The technological advancements have brought huge improvements by improving the advertising and marketing activities done by using televisions, internet web sites and also including social media for making more people aware of the products and services of Coca Cola. The packaging design was improved, thereby giving more scopes for carrying the bottles and dispose of. The production of Coca Cola has also increased, and with the introduction of new factories and new technological equipment and machineries, the quality and speed of production have also increased largely (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2013).

Legal factors

The legal environment within which Coca Cola operates is considered as legal factors. The introduction of age discrimination and legislations regarding disability, minimum wage act and recycling laws have created an impact on the organisational activities. The legal factors have also affected the cost of business operations by reducing the cost of operations and increasing the demands, thereby influencing the buying behaviours of customers too (De Mooij 2013).

Conclusion

The concentrate is produced by Coca Cola, which is afterwards sold to the Coca Cola bottlers all over the world. The bottlers manage the finished products in cans and then combine with filtered water and artificial sweeteners to bring a good taste. After the packaging is over, the bottles are sold to the customers through distribution in retail stores, restaurants and vending machines. Coca Cola amounts to up to 78 percent of the sales of the company, which has also helped in contributed to the economy of the country as well. The tastes of consumers have been changing from time to time, and this has made them stop the sugary drinks, which can bring bad health impacts due to the presence of artificial sweeteners (Hastings and Domegan 2013).

Few recommendations for improving the company’s functioning and improvement of business efficiency are stated below.

• It is recommended to be innovative regarding marketing, brands as well as maintain good relationships with the customers.
• The collaborative working is recommended for enhancing the production level by working with other business partners and as the strategic alliance.
• The changing of some structures of the firm is needed for enhancing the commitment to community and environment where Coca Cola operates.
• Training of staffs is recommended along with allowing them to learn about time management for enhancing the business operations’ efficiency and contribute largely to business growth and development.
• For improving the market share and profit level, Coca Cola must focus on the acquisition of other beverages company and partnerships for extending the business map and enhance the global reach for business expansion.

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