Ways to Maintain a Competitive Advantage In The Coca Cola Company
Instructions:
The report is individual. Students should choose a company as the subject for the report.
Guidance on which type of companies may be chosen for the report will be provided by the instructor.
Required Format:
12 pt.Times New Roman, double-spaced
Title page
Between 750 and 1000 words
Citations: APA
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Solution
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is truly a global footprint in beverage production and distribution. The Coca-
Cola Company is an American corporation that was founded in 1892 by an Atlanta pharmacist,
John S. Pemberton. Its headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia, and today, the company entirely
runs by the manufacture and sale of syrup and concentrate that makes up the sweetened
carbonated drink (Britannica, 2020). Initially, the drink was sold as a tonic to cure ailments since
it contained a bit of cocaine and caffeine in its composition. After removing the cocaine formula
in 1903, Pemberton presented the drink as a recreational beverage, and it successfully gained
popularity among US citizens. By 1891, another pharmacist Asa Griggs Candler had acquired
total ownership of the company through purchase, and by 1893, he had it registered as a
trademark in the US patent office.
Under the new management, the company thrived, and in that same decade,
manufacturing plants had been set up in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. The drink was
now sold in all states in the US and part of Canada. Today, Coca-Cola is sold in almost all
countries in the world except for Cuba and North Korea. These two countries are under the long
term US-trade embargoes that have reigned in Cuba since 1962 and in North Korea since 1950
(BBC, 2012). The actual process of production and distribution of the coca-cola beverage
follows a franchising model. The headquarters company in Atlanta only produces a syrup
concentrate that it later sells to bottlers worldwide. Individual bottlers are the ones responsible
for mixing the syrup with filtered water and preferred sweeteners.
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SWOT Analysis.
Strengths.
One major strength of the Coca-Cola company is its brand image and strong public
percipience. It remains to be the largest market share in the beverage industry, with the highest
company valuation index (Pratap, 2016). Despite heavy competition from Pepsi, Coca-Cola has
retained its position in the market scene, and this milestone can be attributed to its diverse
product portfolio, unique marketing strategies, and high customer loyalty.
A diversified Product Portfolio is another key strength of the Coca-Cola company, with
companies worth 21 billion dollars. The company offers seven kinds of different beverages,
including but not limited to carbonated soft drinks, bottled water, and juices. While Coca-Cola is
the most important product, the company also owns the brands of Dasani, Fanta, sprite, diet
coke,coca-cola zero, minute maid, Georgia coffee, and others (Jurevicius, 2020). No other
company in the beverage industry owns billion-dollar companies as Coca-Cola does, and this has
helped it retain its highest market share revenue since it does not rely on one product to generate
revenue. Also, with so many varieties of products, the company is certain to satisfy at least all
consumer needs and tastes. Few coca-cola rivals can provide themselves in the delivery of
broader portfolio products, and thus Coca-Cola retains its competitive advantage.
Weakness.
Society is shifting its general health focus towards eating and drinking natural products.
This movement has cost the company, and although they are trying to implement
countermeasures such as adding more low Carolie products to its constitution, the users’ taste
preferences have already shifted(Pratap, 2016).
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Despite being the success that it is, certain Coca-Cola brands such as Appletiser remain
unknown evident from the company’s low profile advertising for those products. Some of the
manufacturing ingredients have received backlash from critics claiming that artificial colorings
lead to certain illnesses or that some people may have allergic reactions to ingredients such as
aspartame and sucralose (David, 20019).
Opportunities.
Coca-Cola has a wide variety of opportunities and new market slots to fill in. Other than
adding healthier drinks into its brand scene, it could also add food products into its portfolio like
its top competitor, Pepsi did. Concentration into their newfound niche of healthier products
would help them retain their market position, considering that they already have the customers to
sell to (Pratap, 2016).
Threats.
Having retained its popularity for so long and being the top competitor in its field, Coca-
Cola faces heavy competition from small-scale competitors such as Monster Beverage Corp and
Dr. Pepper Snapple Inc. Another major challenge affecting the company is the increased cost of
resource acquisition, mostly water, that has increasingly gotten scarce over the past few
years(Pratap, 2016).
Coca-Cola and other similar companies have been blamed for the obesity crisis and
lifestyle diseases. In the UK, for example, the government published draft legislation set to be
implemented in 2018 for taxation of sugar-sweetened drinks (David, 2019). Such laws, when
implemented, would mean the price of the fizzy drink would rise. This could directly affect the
sale of the product and compromise on company revenue.
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Ways to Maintain a Competitive Advantage
Responsiveness to Customers. Coca-Cola is a dominant brand on its own, with around
200 countries consuming it worldwide. Its branding and marketing strategies have always been
precise, and they resonate with each individual country and their cultures. Over the decades that
Coca-Cola has been operational, it has gathered billions of loyal consumers, and if, for instance,
they decided to add foodstuff products into their portfolio, awaiting clientele already exists. The
company ensures that its sales representatoves are responsive to the needs of the customers,
further, the company has utilizedthe social media where customers with complaints or
compliments can contact the company directy and thir needs are addressed. The company also
utilizes the corporate identity which allows it to do things its competitors cannot do.
Innovation. As an already established and well-known brand, Coca-Cola could better
improve their engagement in the market by devising new and exciting products, for example,
recyclable soda cans and bottles. Other innovative ideas could include but are not limited to
organizing community forums and sponsoring poor kids to school. Coca cola packaging is
enough to impress the customers thus attracting more sales. This is achieved by Coca Cola
innovative strategy where the identically shaped bottles are meat to commmunicate a message to
the customers. Innovation is also utilized by Coca Cola when it comes to its adverts where its
promotional campaigns are engaging stories.
Quality. In order to counter the heavy competition, Coca-Cola faces from other smaller
manufacturers; it could invest heavily in ensuring that their products are retained at high quality
throughout all 200 countries it is currently operational on. In dire circumstances, the
headquarters in Atlanta could come up with water to sweetener ratios and demand that all other
bottlers take keen action and adhere to this direction. To maintain its competitive advantage, the
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company strives to give its producst a high quality standard by cheking on the beverages sugar
leveles, the cleanliness of the packaging bottles, CO2 levels and the taste of its beverages. The
company also ensures that only standard raw materils are utilized in the manufacturing process.
Efficiency. Water scarcity is a prominent threat facing the Coca-Cola company today. In
as much as this is a natural occurrence that we have no control over, the company could build
water infrastructures such as dams, reservoirs, and underground wells near regions that Coca-
Cola plants are operational. Further the company ensures that its products follows the most
effictient manufacturing process and at the same time making sure that is distribution system is
efficient enough.
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References
BBC. (11 September 2012). Who, What, Why: In which countries is Coca-Cola not sold?.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19550067
Britannica. (2020). The Coca-Cola Company. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Coca-Cola-
Company
David, J. (17November 2019). SWOT analysis of Coca-Cola, Howandwhat.
Jurevicius,O. (10 January 2020). SWOT analysis of Coca Cola (6 Key Strengths in 2020).
Strategic Management. https://strategicmanagementinsight.com/swot-analyses/coca-cola-
swot-analysis.html#:~:text=The%20Coca-
Cola%20Company%20is%20the%20largest%20non-
alcoholic%20beverage,brands%20in%20over%20200%20countries.
Pratap, A. Coca Cola SWOT 2016 (Strengths and weaknesses). Notesmatic.
https://notesmatic.com/2016/08/coca-cola-swot-2016-strengths-and-
weaknesses/#:~:text=The%20most%20important%20strength%20of,48%25%20in%20 th
e%20beverages%20industry.
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