Strategic Analysis of The Coca-Cola Company - Business Report

This report offers a comprehensive strategic analysis of The Coca-Cola Company, delving into its operational strengths, weaknesses, market opportunities, and potential threats. The analysis begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction to Coca-Cola's history and market position. The core of the report is a detailed SWOT analysis, evaluating the company's high brand equity, global presence, and effective marketing strategies as strengths. Weaknesses such as competition from Pepsi, limited product diversification, and water management issues are also explored. The report identifies opportunities in food and health-based business diversification, supply chain optimization, and expansion into packaged drinking water. Threats like raw material sourcing, use of pesticides, and competition from coffee chains are also discussed. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of leveraging Coca-Cola's strengths to address its weaknesses and capitalize on opportunities for future growth and profitability in the industry. The report includes references to support the analysis.

Running head: STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
Executive Summary
The report is based on the analysis of a multinational organization named The Coca Cola
Company. The analysis has been helpful in providing an insight based on the operations of
the organization. The ways by which the company has been able to build its strengths and
opportunities is an important part of the analysis. On the other hand, the weaknesses of the
company and threats which are created based on these weaknesses have also been analysed in
the report. The analysis has been concluded by stating that in spite of its vast presence and
popularity the organization has faced some major challenges in operations.

2STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis of Coca Cola........................................................................................3
Conclusion......................................................................................................................5
References......................................................................................................................6

3STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
Introduction
The Coca Cola Company is an organization which is a retailer and manufacturer,
marketer and retailer of different non-alcoholic syrups, beverages and concentrates and it the
origins in America. The flagship product which is offered by the organization is Coca Cola
which was invented in the year 1886. The organization has its headquarters in Atlanta,
Georgia. The franchise based distribution based system was thereby followed by the
organization in the industry from the year 1889. Coca Cola has been able to develop its
position in the industry with the help of its huge customer base and high levels of popularity
as well (The Coca-Cola Company, 2018).
The report will be based on the analysis of the operations of The Coca Cola company.
The market based strengths and weaknesses of the company and the opportunities and threats
will be analysed in the report in detail. This will help in developing an insight based on the
effectiveness of the operations of Coca Cola in the industry.
SWOT analysis of Coca Cola
Strengths – The brand equity which has been developed by Coca Cola company in
the industry is quite high. The organization had received an award for its brand equity in the
year 2011. The vast levels of global presence of the organization is also considered to be a
major strength of the organization. The value which has been developed by Coca Cola in the
industry and different areas of the world is quite high. The levels of value of Coca Cola
mainly consists of different factors like, the factories, brand based value and assets which are
created in different areas (Doz, 2017). Coca cola has created its presence in around 200
countries in the entire world. The huge global presence of the organization has been able to
contribute to development of its brand name. The marketing strategies which have been
implemented by Coca Cola are also highly effective in nature. The company has tried to

4STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
connect with the customers with the help of its effective marketing based strategies. Coca
Cola has also enjoyed high levels of customer loyalty based on its products. The customer
base which has been formed by the company in the industry has been quite effective for the
operations in the industry. Quality and taste of the products which are offered by Coca Cola
are important strengths of the organization (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015). Coca Cola company
has also developed a vast distribution based network in different countries of the world. This
has been helpful for the company to develop demand of the products in the market.
Weaknesses – The levels of competition which are faced by Coca Cola from a
multinational organization like Pepsi is considered to be a huge weakness. Coca Cola was
thereby not able to maintain its market leadership based position easily due to the presence of
Pepsi. The diversification of the products offered by Coca Cola is quite low. On the other
hand, the competitor of Coca Cola had been able to increase the diversity levels of its
products (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). The health based beverages which are required to be
offered by the organization are also lacking. This has been able to affect the revenue based
levels of Coca Cola. The organization has started facing many issues based on the water
management activities. Many lawsuits have been raised by various groups due to high
consumption of water in the production based process of Coca Cola. This has been able to
affect the revenues and profitability based levels of the organization in a huge manner
(Lasserre, 2017).
Opportunities – Coca Cola has been provided many opportunities in the industry
based on diversification in the food and health based business. This can increase the revenue
based levels of the organization in the industry. The cost based on supply chain of the
organization can be distributed by Coca Cola with the help of proper distribution of the
products. The organization can aim at offering health based products to the customer base
which exists in the developing nations (Morschett, Schramm-Klein & Zentes, 2015). The

5STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
expansion of Coca Cola in the packaged drinking water based industry is also an opportunity
related to the growth of the organization. The organization further needs to improve the
supply chain based costs of Coca Cola company. The business operations of Coca Cola are
totally based on the distribution and supply chain based operations. The Coca Cola Company
can aim promoting the products which have lower levels sales as compared to the others
(Stead & Stead, 2014).
Threats – The process which is implemented by Coca Cola for the sourcing of raw
materials can be considered to be a major weakness which affects the profitability of the
organization. The use of pesticides in the products of the organizations has harmed the
reputation of Coca Cola to a huge extent. The organization is also facing tough competition
from many indirect competitors like the coffee chains like Costa Coffee and Starbucks. They
are able to provide tough competition to the organization with the help of its healthy
alternative products as compared to the beverages which are offered by Coca Cola (Wheelen
et al., 2017). The Coca Cola Company thereby needs to improve its position in the industry
with the help of increase in the product portfolio. The number of products which are thereby
offered by the organization can help in increasing the revenue levels.
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that The Coca Cola Company has been able to
develop its position in the industry with the help of its huge presence and loyal customer
base. However, the organization has also faced issues related to the ways by which its
reputation has been affected by usage of harmful materials. The strengths of the company can
be utilised in order to develop its revenues and levels of profitability as well. This will play a
key role in the future operations of Coca Cola and its position in the industry in which the
organization functions.

6STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA

7STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA
References
Doz, Y. L. (2017). Strategic management in multinational companies. In International
Business (pp. 229-248). Routledge.
Frynas, J. G., & Mellahi, K. (2015). Global strategic management. Oxford University Press,
USA.
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.
Lasserre, P. (2017). Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher
Education.
Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H., & Zentes, J. (2015). Strategic international
management (pp. 978-3658078836). Springer.
Stead, J. G., & Stead, W. E. (2014). Sustainable strategic management. Routledge.
The Coca-Cola Company (2018). Coca-Cola Journey Homepage. [online] The Coca-Cola
Company. Available at: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/ [Accessed 25 Nov.
2018].
Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic
management and business policy. pearson.