Challenges for HRM and Global Business Strategy: A Case Study on Coca-Cola

Challenges for HRM and Global Business Strategy: A Case Study on Coca-Cola
HI6008

Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................................2
Project Objective........................................................................................................................... 3
Project Scope................................................................................................................................. 3
Literature Review...........................................................................................................................3
Standardization v/s Adaption or the combined approach:........................................................4
Research Question/Hypothesis......................................................................................................4
Primary Question....................................................................................................................... 5
Secondary Questions..................................................................................................................5
Research Design and Methodology...............................................................................................5
Qualitative Research.................................................................................................................. 5
Quantitative Research................................................................................................................5
Research Limitations......................................................................................................................6
Time Schedule ( Research Plan).....................................................................................................6
Conclusion :................................................................................................................................... 7
Reference List................................................................................................................................ 7
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Introduction
The Coca-Cola is a well known brand in soft drink industry; it deals with non alcoholic
beverages. The drinks are available in the form of cans, plastic bottles, glass and served across
the world in the restaurants, grocery shops, vending machines etc. John Pemberton founded
the company in 1886 in the United States of America. Started with a single flavor, it has
changed the flavors time to time and from country to country depending upon the demand of
time. Today, it is available in the variety of forms ranging from diet coke to Caffeine free Coca
Cola, from Cherry Coca- Cola to Coca-Cola Zero.
It was in the year 2011 that Coca Cola was declared the most valuable brand of the World. With
more 1.7 billion serving each day, it serves in more than 200 countries with almost 500 brands.
It has its headquarters at Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Muhtar Kent is the key person of the
company heading the company as Chairman and CEO. Saxena, S (2018).
The company started with intention of preparing a patent medicine but today it does
everything related to a software beverage. Right from preparing the concentrates to reaching
the customer hands, all is taken care by the company.
Project Objective
As we know, Coca Cola is one of the most successful brands, not just in a country or two but
across the globe. So here we will analyze all the marketing strategies that made Coca Cola what
it is today. We will look into all the promotional activities and marketing strategies it adopted in
order to reach that height and sustain for such a long period. Every successful company had
gone through up and downs in its journey, so we will look where the company failed and how it
was able to combat that failures. We will also look at scope of future expansion and what are
the current challenges faced by the company. One key aspect we will objectify is how it
managed to fit in the taste of people across the globe with such diversity.
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Project Scope
In this report, we try to establish a co-relation between the marketing strategies adopted by
the company and various available marketing strategies. We will also go through relevant
global theories on marketing and try to figure out from comprehensive analysis that is it a single
marketing strategy or a mix marketing strategy that resulted in making Coco-Cola a global
brand today. We also tried to conceptualize that what works for a company to make a global
impact, is it standardization of the process or adaption according to the country’s need. To
draw our conclusion, we taken the help of various research methods including a combination of
primary research and secondary research. Primary Research have been done with the help of
questionnaires, interviews, market analysis etc while the secondary research has been done
with the help of analyzing the information published by the company in its records, say it be
financial statements, sales records, consumer data reports etc. Ohbass,J(2015)
Literature Review
The basic purpose of any company to analyze how its buying-selling process works. Since, the
company we are analyzing is a global brand, umbrella marketing i.e. uses the same marketing
strategy across various country may not work since the tastes and demand vary a lot across the
geographies, cultures etc. Earlier, due to lack of advancement of technology standardization
worked out but now due to paradigm shift in the nature in which market operates, from
producer to consumer driven business. Any company has to adapt to changing needs of the
customer now known popularly as term “International Planning”. But in order to retain the
identity of the company, it needs to maintain its originality also, so now the idea is to combine
global and local i.e. “To think global but to act local”. In other words, it means to keep the basic
idea same but customize it with the needs of local markets. Umar, F. (2018).
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