Coca-Cola's Strategic Positioning: A Comprehensive Analysis

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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of Current Strategic Position............................................................................................3
Micro and Macro Environmental Analysis......................................................................................4
Stakeholder Analysis of Coca-Cola.................................................................................................6
Strategy Development.....................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
Introduction
In the modern world of globalisation, many companies have been able to establish themselves in
different markets and due to their business operations and strategic positioning, they have been
able to achieve a variety of benefits such as profitability, revenue generation, sustainability, and
many more. The following study would critically analyse and evaluate the strategic position of
Coca-Cola in the market. The study conducts both organisation and environmental audits and
develops a strategy to help Coca-Cola gain a competitive position in the market
Analysis of Current Strategic Position
Coca-Cola has strategically positioned themselves in the target market that enables them to
successfully gain benefits such as profitability, customer base, revenue generation, sustainability,
and so on. The Strategic Position of Coca-Cola is:
 Targeting: In terms of target market, Coca-Cola has no specific target market. The brand
is aimed at providing non-alcoholic beverages to the customers of various age groups
from old to young. Geographically, Coca-Cola is diversified and provides their beverages
to the customers in both urban and rural areas (Allen, 2015). Furthermore, in terms of
psychographic and behavioural segment Coca-Cola aims to target the customers who
prefer soft drinks. Positioning: Coca-Cola has positioned themselves as one of the most prominent
providers of soft drinks in the market with a reputed global brand image that helps the
company to easily attract the customers. Furthermore, they symbolize peace, happiness,
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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
and love in their promotions which appeals to the customers thereby developing a
positive brand image (Allen, 2015).
Micro and Macro Environmental Analysis
Micro Environment
The microenvironment of Coca-Cola is:
Strengths Weaknesses
 Coca-Cola has a high global presence with
over 200 countries.
 Coca-Cola has a high company valuation of
over 79.2 billion USD.
 Coca-Cola has highly effective marketing
strategy where they are able to successfully
market their beverages to the vast target
market (Serôdio, McKee, and Stuckler,
2018).
 Coca-Cola lacks any health beverages, which
makes people, opt for different beverage
companies.
 Coca-Cola lacks any proper water
management with their manufacturing
process, which affects the usage of water
resources.
Opportunities Threats
 Coca-Cola has the opportunity to introduce
diversified products such as health beverages
for the customers.
 Coca-Cola has the opportunity to enhance
their supply chain that would help them to
 Coca-Cola faces stiff competition from
beverage companies such as Pepsi,
Starbucks, Costa Coffee, and many more
(Greenhalgh, 2019).
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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
gain high revenues.  Coca-Cola faces legal issues due to claims
and evidences of pesticide usages which can
affect the brand image heavily.
Table 1: SWOT Analysis of Coca-Cola
(Source: Created by the Learner)
Macro Environment
The macro environment of Coca-Cola is:
 Political: The political stableness of the UK as well as the ease of direct imports and
governmental regulations of food products can easily help Coca-Cola to do business in
the environment. Economical: Due to being the fifth largest economy in the world, the UK has a very
stable economy in which Coca-Cola can easily thrive and grow as well as gain high
revenues (Serôdio, McKee, and Stuckler, 2018). Social: UK has recently undergone changes within the social aspect where the people are
opting for more healthy food and as such, this can affect Coca-Cola’s business in the
market. Technological: UK is a very technologically advanced country where technology plays
an integral part in the social and corporate life of the country. As such, this would heavily
benefit Coca-Cola’s business in the market.
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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
Stakeholder Analysis of Coca-Cola
In the context of Coca-Cola, the importance of Stakeholder Analysis is immense due to the fact
that it has a variety of benefits which are:
 It helps to assess the interests of the stakeholders and evaluate whether or not they can
affect the business or not (Andriof and Waddock, 2017.).
 It helps to analyse the potential challenges and issues that can affect the operations of the
company and enables the organisation to take steps to mitigate the issues.
 It helps to assess the groups who would participate in the different stages of the business
operations successfully so that Coca-Cola would be able to successfully achieve their
goals and objectives.
 Stakeholder Analysis helps to manage the expectations of the stakeholders of Coca-Cola
which ensures smooth and seamless business operations for the company.
Strategy Development
The current strategic position of Coca-Cola is that the company has positioned themselves as one
of the most prominent providers of soft drinks in the market with a reputed global brand image
that helps the company to easily attract the customers. Furthermore, they symbolize peace,
happiness, and love in their promotions which appeals to the customers thereby developing a
positive brand image. The mission of Coca-Cola is to spread positivity and optimism amongst
the customers as well as create value to make a difference. The vision of the company is to
inspire people as well as bring a portfolio of beverages to satisfy the needs of the customers
(Krzywoszynska, 2015).
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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
The company is heading towards their goals but is faced by stiff competition from beverage
companies such as Pepsi, Starbucks, Costa Coffee, and many more. As such, they need to
develop their strategic objectives, goals and action items. The new strategy for Coca-Cola would
be:
 Objectives: The new objective for Coca-Cola is to ensure that the company would be able
to gain a competitive advantage in the market by providing the customers with new
innovative products that would cater to their needs such as health beverages. Goals: The new goal for Coca-Cola is to ensure that the company would be able to gain
high profitability and gain a large customer base. Action Items: Coca-Cola should use innovation to develop new innovative products that
would cater to their needs such as health beverages.
Conclusion
The above-written study critically analyses and evaluates the strategic position of Coca-Cola in
the market. From the study, it has been found that Coca-Cola needs to develop their strategic
objectives, goals and action items. It can be concluded that the company would be able to gain a
competitive advantage in the market by providing the customers with new innovative products
that would cater to their needs such as health beverages.
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STRATEGIC POSITIONING: COCA-COLA
References
Allen, F., 2015. Secret Formula: The Inside Story of How Coca-Cola Became the Best-Known
Brand in the World. Open Road Media.
Andriof, J. and Waddock, S., 2017. Unfolding stakeholder engagement. In Unfolding stakeholder
thinking (pp. 19-42). Routledge.
Greenhalgh, S., 2019. Making China safe for Coke: how Coca-Cola shaped obesity science and
policy in China. Bmj, 364, p.k5050.
Krzywoszynska, A., 2015. Wine is not Coca-Cola: marketization and taste in alternative food
networks. Agriculture and human values, 32(3), pp.491-503.
Serôdio, P.M., McKee, M. and Stuckler, D., 2018. Coca-Cola–a model of transparency in
research partnerships? A network analysis of Coca-Cola’s research funding (2008–2016). Public
health nutrition, 21(9), pp.1594-1607.
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