International Business Analysis: Coca-Cola's Global Strategies Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Coca-Cola's international business operations. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction outlining Coca-Cola's history and global presence. The discussion section explores Coca-Cola's international strategy, including globalization, market analysis, and the 3 A's of affordability, acceptability, and availability. The report examines how Coca-Cola analyzes international opportunities, selects and manages entry modes like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and utilizes network models such as alliances and joint ventures. It delves into Coca-Cola's product development and marketing strategies, including product innovation and global standardization. Furthermore, the report analyzes the company's international operations, covering manufacturing processes, quality management, inventory management, and human resource management (HRM). The report concludes with recommendations for improving Coca-Cola's strategies and operations, providing valuable insights into the company's success in the global market. The report also includes references to support the analysis.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
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Executive summary
COCA-COLA Company is one of the leader in the beverage industry that is known for
producing non-alcoholic beverages for about more than 100 years. This American
multinational corporation was invented by Dr. John Pemberton in the year 1886 in the month
of May. The market that is growing at present is dependent on the technological changes,
integration of the markets, goods and services, as well as capital across various countries that
are creating a competition worldwide and this competition, is creating an integrated space
that is known as globalization. This report discusses about the strategic management,
operations management and the overall strategies used by Coca-Cola and the methodology
used to identify these and the recommendations for improving the strategies of the
organization.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................4
International strategy of Coca-Cola.......................................................................................4
Analyzing international opportunities....................................................................................6
Selecting and managing entry modes.....................................................................................8
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)...........................................................................................9
Network models- Alliances....................................................................................................9
Joint ventures.......................................................................................................................10
Developing and marketing products........................................................................................10
Product development strategies of COCA-COLA...............................................................10
Marketing strategies of COCA-COLA................................................................................11
Managing international operations...........................................................................................12
The manufacturing process of COCA-COLA......................................................................13
Quality management............................................................................................................13
Inventory management.........................................................................................................13
Hiring and managing employees..............................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
COCA-COLA is produced by the very familiar and renowned company COCA-
COLA COMPANY (Coca-Cola. 2020). It is an American multinational corporation that
serves more than 200 countries across the globe. COCA-COLA COMPANY is one of the
leading beverage company that is known for producing non-alcoholic beverages for about
more than 100 years. This American multinational corporation was invented by Dr John
Pemberton in the year 1886 in the month of May. The first acquisition that was done by
COCA-COLA was on minute-maid in the year 1960. The company is a public based
company, and the main corporate headquarter is located in Atlanta, Georgia. The country was
founded in the year 1892, approximately 128 years ago (Coca-Cola. 2020).
COCA-COLA has a very deep assortment in terms of quality ad products. There are
more than ten products under this parent company, and there are many variants available for
this particular brand. In the early times during the year 1886, a pharmacist from Columbia
named John Pemberton sold the original coca-drink as a medical beverage to others in the
market (Coca-Cola. 2020). A replacement product of alcohol was made by the addition of
carbon dioxide with sugar which turned out to be carbonated water with the addition of other
components like cocaine and caffeine. This product was invented by John Pemberton in the
year 1886 and later was named as COCA-COLA.
COCA-COLA has now become the marketing and the global leader of the beverage
industry and serves about 1.7 billion people every day (Coca-Cola. 2020). The company
operates in more than 200 countries and has a very firm marketing strategy for selling its
product across the globe. COCA-COLA constitutes of carbonated water, caffeine, sugar,
phosphoric acid, caramel flavour and natural flavourings. COCA-COLA targets all the age

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groups, and their main focus is on the main and female teenagers. The company also targets
family through TV advertisements (Coca-Cola. 2020).
A great revenue is earned by COCA-COLA as it is able to formulate its internal and
external marketing strategies properly as compared to other competitors in the market. It
believes in making innovation to its products and this innovation strategy also have helped
the company to be the market leader till date (Coca-Cola. 2020). This report discusses about
the various internationalization strategies and techniques developed by the company, analysis
of the international opportunities, selecting and marketing entry modes of COCA-COLA,
developing and marketing products for COCA-COLA, managing the international operations
of COCA-COLA and the HRM that could be helpful for the better performance of the
organization.
Discussion
International strategy of Coca-Cola
COCA-COLA COMPANY is a very renowned brand and has its market presence
across the globe. The market that is growing at present is dependent on the technological
changes, integration of the markets, goods and services, as well as capital across various
countries that are creating a competition worldwide and this competition, is creating an
integrated space that is known as globalization (Johnson, 2016). Therefore, it becomes very
important for such a big company to formulate strategies that would relate and cope up with
the competition worldwide (Tulung, 2017).
When an organization decides to move from a market that is domestic to an
international market, many challenges are associated with this decision of the company and
the difficulty level becomes more if the company is facing a saturated market at present in the
home market (Leonidou, et al., 2015). Globalization involves the exchanging of the trades

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that are different, several customs and cultures across different countries, outsourcing and
capital investment made by several nations and the growing or emerging markets of other
nations. All these factors related to globalization are interdependent and have a huge impact
on driving or boosting the sales up to the next level (Tallman & Pedersen, 2015).
COCA-COLA is today the leading non-alcoholic beverage company that has about
ten different products. The company is also considered as the largest distributor,
manufacturer as well as the marketer of these ten non-alcoholic beverages. It operates in
about more than 200 countries of the world. Cheap labour, cultural convergence, reduced
trade barriers are some of the main reasons for the global venture of COCA-COLA (Dixit &
Skeath, 2015).
COCA-COLA COMPANY is considered as one of the global company with all the
global products and activities. During the 1980s the company decided to move towards a
control that would be centralized. The global strategy followed by COCA-COLA is based on
3 A’s that stand for affordability, acceptability and availability. These three main factors have
helped the company to drive towards success. COCA-COLA has the tendency to enter all the
markets, be it rich or poor; therefore, it gives an opportunity for the brand to get exposed to
more number of people that too at the same time.
The only reason for COCA-COLA being successful in the global market is due to
following of the local strategies in the market and accordingly cater to the needs of the people
that are local in that area (Zhang, 2015). There is yet another strategy adopted by the
company to produce the products that are standardized globally, which also means there will
be the same benchmark for the product to follow in every country it has its branches. All
these approaches towards the global strategy have helped COCA-COLA to sustain the need
of the market and be the market leader for years.

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The system of bottling in COCA-COLA helps the company in taking advantage of the
opportunities that are never ending. This particular strategy of the company helps and
provides a great geographical area to serve by the organization and have a presence over a
wide range of the market. COCA-COLA is responsible for taking initiatives that are related
to customer brand marketing. The current strategy of COCA-COLA includes the
implementation of the multi-segmentation strategy that would help in forming and serving
markets that are distinct but are clustered by the rate of consumption, the intensity in
competition and the different socio-economic levels. Product innovation across several
product categories have helped the company to be in the market as a leader for generations.
However, COCA-COLA should understand and identify the need of the customers present in
the market an accordingly create greater values to the customers.
Analyzing international opportunities
COCA-COLA has been the market leader in the beverage industry for almost a very
long time. Apart, from COCA-COLA, the company is also responsible for having fourteen
different brands altogether, namely Vitamin Water, COCA-COLA Zero, Minute Maid, Fanta,
Sprite, Georgia coffee and many others. These brands give about a billion dollar production
to the parent company. Therefore, it becomes very important that COCA-COLA identifies
and formulate the strategies in such a way that it is helpful for the company to recognize and
analyze the international opportunities in the market (Richter, 2014).
The opportunities related to marketing faced by the company is based on the ability of
COCA-COLA to command franchise leadership in the industry it is operating in that is the
beverage industry (Mainela, Puhakka & Servais, 2014). The franchises of COCA-COLA is
present all across the world and across various countries. As COCA-COLA operates its
franchise on a global market, therefore, and the company is associated with a lot of bottling
partners; therefore, a huge distribution channel is identified by the company (Cavusgil et al.

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2014). This helps the company to reach out to a major segment of people easily and at the
same time, drawing profits and revenues for the organization. The bottling partners that are
contracted by COCA-COLA also helps in improving the economic system of the company,
which means that at present the company will be able to design the models for business in
specific markets through the franchises that are operating by the bottling partners of the
organization. This will help in ensuring the ability to meet the different needs and wants of
the customers promptly (Musteen, Datta & Butts, 2014).
COCA-COLA is also known as the franchise leader of the beverage industry, which
has an opportunity to expand and build its network of the supply chain. COCA-COLA
commands to have the greatest market shares in the industry of non-alcoholic beverage when
compared to other competitors like Pepsi; still, the company has the potential to increase its
market shares and occupy the shares that are at present occupied by the competitors of
COCA-COLA (Musteen, Datta & Butts, 2014). Due to the existence of franchise leadership,
this opportunity has been possible for the company to expand its reach through the expansion
of its network of the supply chain. This resulted in leveraging the size and scale of the
marketing system for the company to have an advantage that is competitive over other
competitors present in the market the company is operating.
The bottling system of the company also provides COCA-COLA bottling franchises
that help the organization to take an advantage of the growth that is infinite across the world.
The tastes and preferences of the customers are continuously changing ever moment.
Therefore, for a market leader like COCA-COLA, it is very important that the organization is
able to cope up with these problems and find solutions to serve the crowd in a better way than
earlier (Bauder, 2015).

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Another reason for the success of great business and marketing opportunities for
COCA-COLA is due to the high brand recognition of the company. The company has been
able to create a strong and clear position in the mind of the customers, and this is the only
reason that there is an approximation of about 90% people recognizing the brand in the
world. COCA-COLA has the ability to attract and retain its customers by the help of making
innovation in the brand images as well as packaging that too without having any negative
effect on the sales and positioning of the industry in the market. However, due to the
increased capabilities and competitions in the market COCA-COLA is facing issues in
dealing with the evolving taste and preference of the customers as they are finding for some
more variety and choices from the brand.
Selecting and managing entry modes
Making strategies and entering into a new market is very essential for a big
multinational corporation like COCA-COLA. Entry modes help in finding a route that is easy
for the organization to enter and remain at profits while having low operational costs.
Preparing strategies for entering the new market also helps the organization in getting a
clarification and the aim to focus on that the company wants to achieve after entering the new
market. Having a strategy for entering the new market also helps in better decision-making
for the company as the analysis is done based on the competitors present and analysis would
help in forming a base to meet the expectation of the company and the customers from the
target market.
COCA-COLA is at present one of the most valuable brand in the market, and it has
the capability of serving approximately 1.7 billion people of the world. Therefore, making
entry modes strategy becomes very important for such a valuable brand in the market. The
several marketing strategies followed by COCA-COLA includes FDI (Foreign Direct
Investment), network models such as alliances and joint ventures, and promotion strategy.

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
The investment made in the manufacturing and service facilities in a foreign country
with the intention of engaging these countries and managing them actively is the sole purpose
of FDI. This investment made helps in increasing the integration of the economies of the
nation. The best way for any organization to make an investment into a new country for
manufacturing product in the foreign country in order to develop the local products that the
company has and control price in a better way is through foreign direct investment. The first
bottling company of COCA-COLA that was established in the year 1981 in Beijing was
benefitted through the Foreign Direct Investment. The Foreign Direct Investment made by an
organization helps in building a strong relationship with the present government of the
country and also with the local suppliers and customers present in the market.
Network models- Alliances
Alliance can be termed as an association that is formed for having benefited that is
mutual for both the country as well as the organization (Cooper, 2017). This helps in
presenting a common font for both the teams on the basis of position and mutual interest.
There are several benefits associated with the formation of the alliance by any organization in
the world. For COCA-COLA also, forming alliances have helped the company in many
possible ways (Išoraitė, 2014). The first benefit of having an alliance for COCA-COLA is
that a new set of client base and development of competitive skill is gained by the
organization after the formation of alliances. Similarly, forming alliance have helped COCA-
COLA to enter the new market and other business territories. Besides, the risk is reduced to
about half after the formation of the alliance, and there is a creation of different income
sources for the company.

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Joint ventures
Joint ventures can be described as when two or more companies participate within an
enterprise in which each of them contributes their own assets and owns a new entity to some
extent and also there is some sharing of the risks altogether (Harrigan, 2017). For big
multinationals like COCA-COLA, the joint venture has played a very crucial role for the
country to develop in the global market. The top two companies of the world that are COCA-
COLA and Nestle came up with a joint venture and became a beverage partner worldwide.
The venture was a fifty-fifty venture that was led by the two distinct companies of the world.
This strategy helped the companies to create a new set of values and shareholders for both the
organizations (Killing, 2017). In China, there are about three joint ventures of COCA-COLA
based on the bottling plants which includes Swire Group, Kerry Group and COFCO (China
Oil & Foodstuffs Corporation), these are responsible for the execution of the production of
beverage, sales and ultimately building marketing channels for the company (Coca-Cola.
2020).
Developing and marketing products
Product development strategies of COCA-COLA
There have been many changes in the preferences and taste of the customers at
present. People are now driving towards being more health conscious and avoiding all the
junks and drinks that are not good for their health (Armstrong et al., 2018). Looking at this
social trend in the market, COCA-COLAC developed many new products for satisfying the
customers and the growing market segment. People today avoid consuming high sugar and
calories in their food or drinks whatever they are consuming, also avoiding all the
unnecessary chemicals and preservatives that are harmful to intake (Bharadwaj, 2015).
However, COCA-COLA has been seen in developing the diversification strategy for catering

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the need of the customers by making changes in the new products and making them
innovative. There were certain products that were developed by the company like Diet Coke,
Coke Zero and many more (Coca-Cola. 2020). The company brought a new line of product
which included non-soda beverages like the Dassani bottled water and Minute Maid. These
products were developed by the organization because there was a time when COCA-COLA
was portrayed as an unhealthy drink, and the people who were more conscious about their
health swapped the company that provided fewer harms to them. Therefore, it was clear that
COCA-COLA has developed any product development strategies that have led the
organization towards success.
Marketing strategies of COCA-COLA
The marketing strategies of COCA-COLA can be understood by having a close look
towards the segmentation, targeting and positioning of the brand. COCA-COLA doesn’t have
any specific segment for serving, but it serves all the segments present in the market, and the
man focus of the organization is on the male and female teenagers. However, the company
uses and develops new products for their customers by adapting its marketing strategies. The
undifferentiated and the mass marketing strategies of COCA-COLA has helped the company
to drive sales in the competitive market present. The cola is popular worldwide, whereas the
Diet coke is operated in a niche market serving people who are more conscious about their
health. The competitive positioning strategy used by C helps the company to be ahead of the
competitors present in the market in the non-alcoholic beverage industry.
The strategies related to marketing for the company has always been related to the
association of happiness, positivity and good life for the customers while using the products
of COCA-COLA. This had led the company to have a very strong recognition of the brand by
the customers across the globe. However, there are several strategic actions taken by the
company to achieve its goal and objectives set. Some of these actions include the