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Executive Summary
This paper presents the market management plan for the Coca Cola Company. In order to develop the marketing plan for the company, organization‟s analysis is carried out using different marketing models such as customer analysis, company analysis and competitor analysis. Moreover, the strengths and weaknesses have been found of the company in the industry by comparing it with its competitors in the market. The market segmentation model has been performed to identify the target market, market segmentation and market positioning of the company. Through using the marketing mix model for the Coca Cola, it is found that the company has been using diversified products and product packaging as means of key success factors. The PEST analysis of the company points out the effects of the external environmental factor as the core of the business operation that largely influences the company‟s decisionmaking process.
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Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 2 1.
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 5
2.
Task 1 .................................................................................................................................................... 6 (a) .............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Key Inputs of Marketing Plan ....................................................................................................... 6
2.1
2.1.1
Marketing Objectives ............................................................................................................ 6
2.1.2
Marketing Goals.................................................................................................................... 6
2.1.3
Market Situation.................................................................................................................... 7
2.1.4
Market Segmentation ............................................................................................................ 7
2.1.5
Market Targeting................................................................................................................... 8
2.1.6
Strengths and Weaknesses .................................................................................................. 10
2.1.7
Budgets ............................................................................................................................... 11
2.2
Holistic Marketing ...................................................................................................................... 11
2.3
Key Areas of Coca Cola Integrated with Holistic Marketing Concept ....................................... 12
2.3.1
Internal Marketing............................................................................................................... 12
2.3.2
Performance Marketing....................................................................................................... 12
2.3.3
Integrated Marketing ........................................................................................................... 13
2.3.4
Relationship Marketing ....................................................................................................... 14
2.4
Holistic Marketing and Vision, Mission of Coca-Cola Company .............................................. 15
2.5
Analysis of Internal Marketing of Coca-Cola with Competitors ................................................ 15
(b) ............................................................................................................................................................ 17 2.6 3.
Steps to Incorporate Holistic Marketing in Coca-Cola ............................................................... 17
TASK 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 19 3.1
Developing Marketing Strategies................................................................................................ 19
3.1.1
Strengths of Coca Cola Brand ............................................................................................. 19
3.1.2
Weaknesses of Coca Cola Brand ........................................................................................ 20
3.1.3
Opportunities for Coca Cola Brand .................................................................................... 22
3.1.4
Threats for Coca Cola Brand .............................................................................................. 23
3.2
Marketing Strategies Developed for Coca Cola Company ......................................................... 24
3.3
PEST Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 24
3.3.1
Political Analysis for the Coca Cola Company................................................................... 24
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5.
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3.3.2
Economic Analysis for the Coca Cola Company ................................................................ 25
3.3.3
Social Analysis for the Coca Cola Company ...................................................................... 26
3.3.4
Technological Analysis of Coca Cola Company ................................................................ 26
TASK 3 ............................................................................................................................................... 27 4.1
Key Success Factors for Marketing Organization ...................................................................... 27
4.2
Marketing Planning and Operation ............................................................................................. 29
4.3
Monitoring and Controlling the Markets Efforts ........................................................................ 30
4.3.1
Sales Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 30
4.3.2
Market Share Analysis ........................................................................................................ 31
4.3.3
Profitability Analysis .......................................................................................................... 31
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 31
Reference .................................................................................................................................................... 32
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1. Introduction According to Moutinho and Southern (2010), a marketing management is practical application of marketing techniques; therefore, according to Wilson and Gilligan (2005), marketing management process should be taken into account as compound of elements that significantly aim to identify five different steps. Likewise, in a study by Loudon et al (2004), the marketing management process consists of analyzing the market opportunities, researching and identifying the target markets, developing marketing strategies, planning marketing principles or marketing tactics, and implementing and controlling the marketing actions. As this paper presents the marketing management process for Coca Cola Company, therefore, the next section of the paper addresses the process of marketing management in the context of Coca Cola Company. Marketing management has been found critical for organizations, as it can bring about numbers of opportunities for the company in future. Considering the importance of the marketing management for the organization, this paper aims to evaluate and analyze the marketing structure and marketing behavior of the Coca Cola Company using marketing principles. To make the paper comprehensive, different marketing tools have been used such as to present the key inputs of the marketing plan of the company, market segmentation model has been used and to incorporate the holistic marketing concepts, competitor, company and customer analysis have been performed. Other than that, in order to conduct the micro and macro environmental analysis, SWOT and PEST analysis has been done. The SWOT analysis aims to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats present for the organization while PEST analysis shows the external environmental factors such as political, economic, social, and technology.
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Additionally, marketing mix has been used in the paper for evaluating the marketing planning and operations of the Coca Cola Company.
2. Task 1 (a) 2.1 Key Inputs of Marketing Plan According to McDonald (2007), marketing plan refers to the broad analysis of the business market in which an organization is participating, together with encompassing the strategies that should be implemented, accompanied by the tactics required in the implementation of the organization‟s objectives. For the development of an effective and efficient marketing plan, following key inputs are examined by the company. 2.1.1 Marketing Objectives The main input of the marketing plan is the marketing objective of a company. It helps in deciding what marketing objective the organization wants to accomplish through the marketing plan (Cohen 2006). This could include, launching of new product, expansion of territories of marketing, increasing prices of the product etc. 2.1.2 Marketing Goals Marketing goal refers to the detail summary of marketing objectives. It includes the answer to who, how, what, when and where to each of the marketing objective. Each of the marketing goals has its own sequence of formal stages having the detail analysis of the objectives (Cohen 2006).
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2.1.3 Market Situation In order to analyze the market situation, the company is required to recognize the target market of its product. Coca Cola‟s target market is very huge as it persuades various satisfaction requirements of different consumers. These consumers include healthy diet conscious people, average consumers. Moreover, most of the Coca-Cola products are designed by keeping in view the satisfaction needs of all age group individuals. The market for the company is comparatively huge, that encompassed both the genders allocating large product expansion. The broader territories, with different lifestyle and culture people are the potential consumers of the coca cola products (Cohen 2006). 2.1.4 Market Segmentation Market segmentation refers to the process that helps the managers in understanding the fact that what are the prospects of the market that are most inclined to purchase their products (Croft 1194). In this process, first think is analyzing the category of needs of the product. In addition, the expectations of the customers towards a product are also highlighted. Furthermore, the segment of marketing is could further be classified in to various parts: 2.1.4.1 Geographic Geographic segmentation refers to the knowledge of the appropriate locations for conducting a business in order to maintain track of the business rules and on the other hand achieving the expectation of the business to go beyond the company‟s vision (Malcolm McDonald 2004). Hence, Coca-Cola Company is operating in more than 200 countries all around the world including various Asian countries, Western Europe and North America. Moreover, the company
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also serves an exclusive bottler for the whole of the Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, Monaco etc. 2.1.4.2 Demographic According to Stevens (2006), this refers to have understanding about the knowledge of the people about the cultural characteristics of the peoples of different cultures. This helped the company to make amendments and changes in the product and operation according to the cultural needs of the people. The information about the age, sex, family size, income is included in the demographic information of the company. It has been observed that mostly young individuals of teenage are the potential consumers of the Coca-Cola. 2.1.4.3 Psychographic Psychographic refers to the information about the patterns of the opinions and views of the different customers in different territorial boundaries (Keirle 2002). This type of knowledge helps the company to be fit in the lifestyle and opinions of their customers. It has been observed that in characterizing its psychographic segments, the company has used its different advertisements like “Thanda Matlab Coca Cola,” which brings revolution in the soft drink industry as the same was designed to highlight the middle class working sector, which makes Coca Cola drinks as a part of their lifestyles. 2.1.5 Market Targeting After market segmentation, the company makes an evaluation of each of the sector identified in order to make recognition of the sector that is most suitable to enter in (Beri 2007). Therefore, following is the evaluation of the different market segments of Coco-Cola.
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2.1.5.1 Evaluation of Market Segments Age The target audience of the company is mainly teenagers and the people older than these youngsters. The age range of the people is 15-25 including those who has reached up to 40 plus. Gender It has been observed that mainly a large percentage of females are adding to the consumer ratio of the company. Lifestyle When evaluating the lifestyle of the consumer group it was found that the people with busy schedules, facing problems of shortage of time are include in the target market. In addition, the mobile users are also found as potential consumers of the product. Society Status The society status of the consumer of Coca-Cola ranges from upper lower family class to lower class. Family Mostly the consumers are those who are dependent on their family for their expenses. Profession Students and family oriented people are the consumers of the various products of CocaCola.
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Habits The habits that are identified in the consumers of Coca-Cola products include the people who love to be exposed to media, mobile lovers, music lovers and television watchers. 2.1.6 Strengths and Weaknesses After identification of market, the company is required to make analysis of its strengths and weaknesses in order to capture market. According to Böhm (2009), SWOT analysis is such a strategic planning tool that is employed to assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved for an organization in a business. Below is the SWOT analysis tool that is used to identify the internal as well as external factors revolving around the objectives of the business. Strengths
The leading brand in the beverage industry
Operation at the largest scale
Vigorous revenue growth in three major areas
Strong International branding
Portfolio
with
diverse
Weakness
Negative publicity
Low profile products
Decline in cash from operating activities
range
of
products
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Lack of aggressive product development and diversification
Opportunities
Successful brands with extended marketing
Buy out the competition
Growing bottled water market
Diversify into new lines of products
Threats
Intense competition
Dependence on bottling partners
Slow growth of carbonated beverages
New and fierce competition
2.1.7 Budgets This is the most important input of a marketing plan as every business activity always needs money for the implementation process. Therefore, every marketing plan requires cost budget analysis to be incorporated in the marketing plan so that an estimation of the overall marketing plan could be made (Cohen 2006). It includes the financial budget of Coca Cola Company. 2.2 Holistic Marketing Govindarajan (2007), defines holistic marketing as the concept of marketing based on the developing, designing and implementing the marketing agendas, processes and actions in order to make recognition of their extensiveness and interdependencies. It has been viewed that
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successful companies adapt marketing changes according to the changing world. They keep changing their market places and market spaces. The approach of holistic marketing is further divided into four broader areas for recognizing the range and complications of marketing activities. 2.3 Key Areas of Coca Cola Integrated with Holistic Marketing Concept 2.3.1 Internal Marketing According to (Sheth & Sisodia 2006), internal marketing could be defined as the concept that ensures that every employee of the organization is involved in the implementation and practicing of suitable marketing strategies. In considering the internal marketing of Coca-Cola, it includes the internal management support and encouragement in order to motivate the employees with an objective to serve the customers efficiently and increasing market for the product. Coca-Cola has a numerous range of product but the company only focuses on the few in order to build the brand name of the company among the customers. 2.3.2 Performance Marketing This ensures the economic, brand and customer equity concepts, ethical issues, environmental concerns, legal and community activities for improving the performance of the product to increase sales revenues of the company (Sheth & Sisodia 2006). For this purpose, community water programs are proposed for assisting healthy watersheds and sustainable plans to make the balance in the water used. Another example for the efforts by
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the Coca-Cola Company includes Advertising and Marketing to Children policy, Coca-Cola Scholars‟ Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation etc. 2.3.3 Integrated Marketing Integrated marketing means to create integration between the marketing mix i.e. product, price, place and promotion in order to create, deliver and communicate values of the organization (Sheth & Sisodia 2006). Product The integration of product means combining product variety, quality, design, product features, packaging, size, services offered for the product and warranties at one place (Stone 2001). Coca-Cola Company is dealing with 3000 products and 450 brand names, which includes number of energy drinks, tea, coffee, juices, water etc. The company uses integrate marketing approach by introducing new flavors of the product according to the needs of the customers. Price Price refers to the actual amount that is being demand for per unit of product. It generally includes the discounts, allowances, payment period and credit terms that are being demanded from the target market purchasing their product (Stone 2001). The pricing policy used by the Coca-Cola Company in following holistic marketing strategies is the competitive pricing method. Seasonal variations in different brands are exercised with different penetrating methods for discovering different markets. Promotion
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Promotion is a significant part of an integrated marketing that encompasses sales promotion activities, advertising strategies, forces effecting the positive enhancement of sales figure, public relation creating activities, and direct marketing policies (Stone 2001). Coca-Cola uses advertisement means like television, internet, and mobiles for making promotion of its product at international levels. Place Place covers the analysis of the channels, routes that could be used to transport the inventory or a product to the original market. Moreover, it also includes the distributing areas of the firms‟ product (Stone 2001). In the prospect of integrated marketing approach, Coca-Cola distributes it product to the ultimate customers through the distributing chains of customer and retailer agents that supplies the final product to the retailers, retailers that are responsible for delivering the product to customers. 2.3.4 Relationship Marketing In holistic marketing, this type of approach is used to create and establish powerful relations among the buyers, employees, distributing channel members and other investing partners of the company (Sheth & Sisodia 2006). It has been observed that Coca Cola Company works on the exclusive marketing agenda of not selling their products alone. They also aim to sell experiences and holding up strong relationships in order to provide better solutions. The company also focuses on the interaction activities, self-fulfillment, happiness among the society etc.
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2.4 Holistic Marketing and Vision, Mission of Coca-Cola Company Mission statement of the Coca-Cola Company refers to maximizing the shareowner value over a period. For this purpose, the company is striving towards to create value and removing constraints for its marketing strategies. They aim to serve the consumers, customers, society and the entire world (Group 2001). Furthermore, the company adopted the holistic marketing strategies in order accomplish its mission as to refresh whole of the world. They need sustainability to survive in the competitive world. The Coca-Cola philosophy is to focus on the market and working smartly in order to achieve the goal (Company 2011). The Coca-Cola Company is among the world‟s leading beverage company that has been refreshing its consumers through its sparkling and still brands. The company was established in 1886 and owned fourth position in the alcoholic-free beverage brands among all the beverages and drink producing companies at the international level. The company has its operational reach in more than 200 countries all around the world with recorded 1.7 billion consumers serving per day. Coca-Cola offers more than 3500 varieties of product including juices, water, energy drinks, teas, coffee, and beverages produced based on milk and soy extracts. According to the fact sheet released by the company, it could be observed that, the company has generated operating cash flows of $9.5 in the year 2010. 2.5 Analysis of Internal Marketing of Coca-Cola with Competitors According to Kotler and Armstrong (2008), competitor analysis is one of the most important assessments required in the marketing and strategic management that includes the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors in the market. The competitor analysis further helps in assessing the offensive as well as defensive strategic context by which it can recognize the opportunities and threats for it. The competitors of nonalcoholic beverage industry include the bottlers and
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distributing agents of the company‟s product coupled with chained stores and private owners. The major competitor of the company is Pepsi Co. Inc. moreover, other significant competitors of the company includes Nestle. When making comparison to internal market of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co. it could be observed that Coca-Cola focus on the competitive pricing, advertising and promotional campaigns, and product innovations. They also focus on using new vending machines and dispensing machines (Company 2011). Contrary Pepsi Co. is practicing the commendable balance between the promotional and communicational strategies to target their audience through different popular celebrities. Further in following the holistic market concept to deal with complex situations, Pepsi Co. concentrate on price policy in order to provide best quality products to the customer at lowest possible prices (Thomson 1998). Glancing at Nestle, it does not give a stiff competition to Coca-Cola, as its main business is the diary products. However, the company has adopted the smart strategies of holistic marketing by incorporating the benefits of its workers in the accomplishment of company‟s objectives. The company focuses on the fact that the satisfaction of its internal market is a step in understanding the needs and abilities to manufacture the better quality products. Furthermore, it is observed that different departments of the company work together under the broad concept of holistic marketing (Nestle n.d.).
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(b) 2.6 Steps to Incorporate Holistic Marketing in Coca-Cola In order to incorporate the efficient and effective holistic marketing strategies to give better response to quick changing environment, the company should further concentrate on broadening such issues (Kotler, Pfoertsch & Michi 2006).
The activity of re-engineering is best suited for the company focusing on the relationship development in the business industry circle. Therefore, Coca-Cola should appoint teams and group to take management of Customer-Value Building processes in order to break down gaps between different departments.
Outsourcing could be the next best strategy for creating willingness to buy bulk of material from outside sources.
Coca-Cola should keep continuing studies about the coming best practices in the beverage industry in order to improve its performance.
It should also collaborate with the quality providing suppliers rather than the quantitative approach towards the supplier.
The merger or acquisition with the companies that are operating in the same business in order to gain competitive advantage would be a better option.
Increased attempts towards the globalization will provide additional benefits to the company.
The company should also design and make implementation of certain strategies that resulted in the processes that make quick response to rapidly changing environment.
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Further, different strategies could also be developed to make encouragement and empowerment among the employees of the company for producing more thoughts and innovative ideas and take decisions and initiatives to business problems.
Moreover, the reduction in the levels of company would also be an advantage to make closeness among the company‟s employees and customers.
It is considered that in coming times those organizations would be successful in which marketing department is not a separate department.
Building of brands through performance is highly appreciated when it is made through performance of the company‟s employees rather than through the promotional methods.
In addition, the companies fulfilling its corporate social responsibility as the customers are always eager to know the role and contribution of the company towards the community and the society.
According to McDonald and Dunbar (2004), market segmentation is such process that split the customers, or potential customers in a market into different groups or segments. The market segmentation of the Coca Cola Company is those people who drink daily while the geographic is generally identified where due to weather there is higher demand of drink. In addition, the marketing structure of the company also identifies to those people who take this drink daily or weekly (Harrell, 2008).
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3. TASK 2 3.1 Developing Marketing Strategies In order to develop the market strategy of the Coca Cola Company, it is significant to conduct SWOT analysis of market position of the company. 3.1.1 Strengths of Coca Cola Brand The strengths of the Coca Cola are assessed in the context of its competitors present in the market, and are mentioned below: 3.1.1.1 The Leading Brand in the Beverage Industry Coca Cola is the world‟s largest non-alcoholic beverage brand with strong brand recognition across the world. Furthermore, the company has stronger leading brand value and a brand portfolio than its competitors such as Pepsi, which ranks second in brand value and brand identity. However, Pepsi has beaten the Coca Cola at different brand value with strong marketing segmentation and strategy, Coca Cola always succeeded to regain its position due to strong brand portfolio, as it owns four of the top five soft drink brands in the world including Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. 3.1.1.2 Operation at the Largest Scale The Coca Cola Company and brand with $24 billion revenue possesses the largest operational scale in the world. The Coca Cola is the largest manufacturer, distributors and marketers of the non-alcoholic brand. The sale of the company is expanded to more than 150 countries while serving 52 billion beverages to different types of consumers. However, the strong brand identity of the Coca Cola is due to operations that are supported by a very strong infrastructure.
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3.1.1.3 Vigorous Revenue Growth in Three Major Areas With the most successful brand, the Coca Cola Company is one of the largest revenue generator companies and this revenue growth is earned from three different areas i.e. Latin America, „Pacific Rim and East, South Asia‟ and investment in bottling. Together, these three areas accounts for 34% of the total revenue of the company. 3.1.1.4 Strong International Branding Coca Cola is one of those brands stated to be very strong at international levels. This strong international branding of Coca Cola Company is the result of its strong marketing strategy that it has adopted in the past and now the company makes the most of this strong international branding. 3.1.1.5 Portfolio with Diverse Range of Products Having the largest brand portfolio enables the Coca Cola as the superior to other brand in the market as it offers wide range of drink products such as Coke, Diet Coke, and other natural juices. 3.1.2
Weaknesses of Coca Cola Brand
3.1.2.1 Negative Publicity and Controversies However, Coca Cola has the strongest brand value yet negative publicity has caused the brand damaging the reputation due to be involved in controversies and lawsuits related to human relationship. The controversies usually revolves around the violation of human rights by the company making it under-criticism regarding the relationship with countries such as Middle East and United States of America.
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3.1.2.2 Growing Market of Bottled Water The changing needs and demands of consumers in the market have led to increased market of bottled water. However, the consumption of bottled water is estimated to increase in the future, now is new market is being generated for flavored water. The Coca Cola has not yet succeeded to gain maximum market share in the bottled water market that can decrease its market advantage and strong market position. Comparatively, Pepsi, Nestlé Waters and Groupe Danone Water Division possess better market share in the bottled water market and this keeps the Coca Cola behind its main competitors. 3.1.2.3 Low Profile Products However, the Coca Cola Company possesses numbers of different products with vast brand portfolio there are some products that are considered as low profile products of the Coca Cola Company. The low profile brand of the Coca Cola is less popular due to lack of strong marketing strategy by the company. 3.1.2.4 Decline in Cash from Operating Activities Due to intense competition, the company has been facing decline in the cash from its operating activities. As it is assessed that in the year of 2006, the company has decreased 7% cash flow from its operating activities. 3.1.2.5 Lack of Aggressive Product Development and Diversification However, the Coca Cola brand has been innovative and diversified compared to other competitors but its product development and product diversification has not been strategic to achieve the maximum market share. There is lack of aggressive marketing strategy by the company through offering diversified products in the market.
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3.1.3 Opportunities for Coca Cola Brand 3.1.3.1 Successful Brands with Extended Marketing The Coca Cola Company has been very popular and has many successful brands in its portfolio, based on its strong brand recognition and successful brands the company has opportunity to continue and use its brand value to increase its market share. There is great opportunity for the company to extend its marketing to other low profile products, as it could be advantageous for the company to sell low profile products to the same extend as they do for other products. 3.1.3.2 Buy Out the Competition Another opportunity for Coca Cola is to buy out its competition, as it is not difficult for the Coca Cola with the power of strong and successful brand. By buying different drink brands, the Coca Cola can have increased market share and increased profit in the industry. One of the advantages of such business activity is that the company would not need to be bothered about the competition. 3.1.3.3 Growing Bottled Water Market There is growing market for bottled water and Coca Cola to expand its products portfolio and have increased market share can manufacture and introduce the bottled water. Since Coca Cola is the leading brand in drink, with strong and aggressive marketing tactics, it can obtain maximum market share. 3.1.3.4 Diversify into New Lines of Products It is very important to win the customers that it has diverse range of products from soft drink to juices and other energy drink. However, the company has already introduced many energy
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drink and juices products but due to lack of strong brand identity, they are all fail. The company can incorporate innovation into the product line through adopting diversification. 3.1.4 Threats for Coca Cola Brand 3.1.4.1 Intense Competition The Coca Cola is the leading non-alcoholic and beverage brand it faces intense competition in different markets. This competition is not limited to single brand of the company but rather expanded to numbers of brands offered by the Coca Cola Company. One of the biggest competitors of the Coca Cola brand is the Pepsi Company that also operates in different regions along with Coca Cola. Other competitors are Nestle, Groupe DANONE and Cadbury Schweppes. The intense competition affects the overall business of the company such as pricing strategy, advertising and promotion, sales and marketing. Most importantly, such intense competition affects the market share of the company that it has to share with other brands and competitors. 3.1.4.2 Dependence on Bottling Partners Coca Cola largely produces its revenue by selling syrups to bottlers on whom it possesses no interest or rights. Moreover, most of the operation and distribution of the company is because of these bottling partners. As an independent company, the bottling partner makes its own decisions that can influence the business operation of the Coca Cola while Coca Cola has no interest right over these partners. On the other hand, many bottlers have right to produce and distribute their own products.
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3.1.4.3 Slow Growth of Carbonated Beverages U.S. is the largest market of the Coca Cola and due to change in the consumers‟ behavior, there is slow growth of carbonated beverages. Many consumers now seek other alternative drink rather than having carbonated drink, as it is harmful for health. This can affect the business operation of the company and makes it to develop rather stronger strategy that could persuade the consumers to buy carbonated products again. 3.2 Marketing Strategies Developed for Coca Cola Company According to Loudon et al (2004), the development of marketing strategies can be referred as a process, which involves the following: identifying the strategic options, assessing the options and selecting the most suitable strategy. Like other organization, Coca Cola is a growth-oriented organization, which focuses on the growth as basic objective; its marketing strategy may be product or market expansion strategies. However, the expansion strategy of product or market includes the growth by saturation of the existing market. 3.3 PEST Analysis 3.3.1 Political Analysis for the Coca Cola Company Since the product offered by the Coca Cola Company falls within the food category that is under FDA (Food and Drugs Administration), the business operations of the Coca Cola Company can be affected by the role of the government that is played in relation to regulations of the food products (Eldred 2008). Moreover, there are expected set of fitness determined by the government and the company has to comply with these set of fitness, therefore, if company does not meet the standards of the determined set of laws and regulations by the government, it has to go through legal trials and others. The changes in the government laws and regulations such as
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changes in standards, taxation policy and environmental laws both in the domestic as well as foreign jurisdiction can be the political factor affecting the business operations of the Coca Cola Company. Changes in the business environment of the non-alcoholic beverage that may be competitive product and pricing strategy of the competitors and their potential to have sustainable share in the total sales in the global market due to competitors can be more likely to have strong influence on the business activities. Moreover, the changing political condition in the international market such as civil unrest, and change in the government other restrictions can cause restrictions on the company‟s potential to transfer the capital across the countries. In previous years, Coca Cola had to face threat in the result of U. S war against Iraq and Afghanistan as the changing political scenario had led the company a unpopular brand in the Middle East (Bell 2004). 3.3.2 Economic Analysis for the Coca Cola Company Economic condition has significant effects on the economic growth of the company as certain changes in the economy of nation are reflected upon the stable growth of the company. Recent recession and down economy of the U.S. greatly affected the company‟s progress. Moreover, global economic crisis and economic downturn led to high oil prices that also increased the food prices as food industry largely depends on the petroleum industry. Besides, the global credit crisis has also affected the business operation of the company as it has led to the bankruptcy at large to different investment and commercial banks (Bell 2004). All these economic conditions provide good opportunity for unemployment to grow and increase the worldwide recession. Since the inflation can cause the higher cost of goods while decreasing the purchasing power of consumers, it is most likely to lead to low sale of company‟s products. In addition, the growth competition between Coca Cola and Pepsi has made the management to
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respond to changing behavior of consumers and in the result of this, the Coca Coal Company has to share the market profit with its competitors (Bell 2004). 3.3.3 Social Analysis for the Coca Cola Company The changing lifestyle can greatly affect the purchasing behavior of consumers and results in lower sale of products. Since the Coca Cola Company deals with the product that falls within food category and food has always been health effective factor, different rumors and controversies regarding unhealthy effects of non-alcoholic beverages such as Coke has provided the consumers with thought about inefficiency of such drinks in relation to health. Moreover, nowadays, there is increasing change in consumers‟ lifestyle motivated towards living a healthy life, which intends to switch the drink (Eldred 2008). Compared to Coke, consumers now prefer to have other drinks that are healthier and have less negative effects on health such as tea, coffee, juices, and flavored milk. 3.3.4 Technological Analysis of Coca Cola Company The continuous emergence of new technology affects the advertising, marketing and other promotional activities of the Coca Cola brand while other global television that are using special effects in the advertising has also affected the way the company had been creating its advertisements (Bell 2004). However, the need and purpose of using new and advanced technology is to improve the viability and ultimate effects of the advertisement it can make the product image attractive and prominent (Eldred 2008).
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4. TASK 3 4.1 Key Success Factors for Marketing Organization When the process of the development of the various market strategies have completed, the firm then start planning market tactics. According to Aggarwal (2001), market tactics refers to the company‟s judgments in respect research and development strategies, production procedures, and marketing field as these are attempted towards making competition in various market aspects. Most of the firms adopt marketing mix to achieve its marketing objectives. Marketing Mix refers to the combination of controllable marketing elements that are used by the organization to follow the optimal level of sale in the identified target market. Moreover, this mixture of variables helps in making various business decisions related to the success of the growth sale of the product. Furthermore, in making an evaluation of the current and to-date condition of a company and in analyzing the future results, the tool of marketing mix is best known for that purpose. The following is the marketing mix for the Coca-Cola Company. It is observed that many products are defined as just material objects that you buy and take with you at your home. However, the product is considered as much more than that. In marketing, companies should make consideration regarding the three stages of the product (Baker & Hart 2007). These stages include the core product stage, actual product stage and augmented product stage. All these add to the lifetime reputation of a product. Coca Cola Company has a broad variety of product in its manufactured goods line including Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Thumps Up, Maaza etc. Furthermore, the packaging of different products also varies ranging from 300mL, 600mL, 1.25 liters, 2 liters and 375mL cans.
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According to Stevens & Loudon (2005), price is very important element of marketing mix as it can have greater impact on both the supply side and demand side for the product. In other words, it could be said that price of the product of Coca-Cola plays a significant role in the decision making process of the buyers. This element could create huge gaps in diverting the consumers from the original product to the substitutes. In order to save the company from the competitor‟s effect, the pricing policy should be developed by keeping the buyers and external impacts in mind. Price strategies are important for Coca-Cola because it help in determining the figure of sale and profit of the company gained on per unit of the product. Place refers to the distribution channel adopted by the company for selling its product. The process starts with the manufacturer and ends up with the ultimate consumer (Stevens & Loudon 2005). It is very important for a company to select suitable channel of distribution as this in turn determined the sales and cost level of the product. There are four distributing strategies including intensive distributing strategy, selective distributing strategy, exclusive distributing strategy and direct distributing strategy. It is clear from the publicity and reputation of the company‟s product that the company has chosen intensive distribution strategy as this strategy refers to the situation in which the product of the company is available at every shop or outlet. Coca Cola‟s product could be found at superstores, local shops, service stations, airports cafeteria and elsewhere. It has been observed that the Coca-Cola Company has to look after many distribution issues consisting order processing, inventory control, material handling, transportation and warehousing. It means that the company could not delay its stages for delivery to the consumers.
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Further, selecting about the roadways, air routes and water roads is very important decision for the manufacturer of soft drinks. Effective communication to target market is very essential for the accomplishment of the objective of the company. It provides support towards marketing the right product at right place at and at right time (Kurtz & Boone 2008). For this purpose, the companies adopt promotional mix to achieve their target. This includes personal selling, use of advertisement technology, promoting through sales campaigns and through creating public relations. The company also used the some additional promotion schemes like arranging contests, distributing coupons, and free samples to tell again and expose the potential users. 4.2 Marketing Planning and Operation According to various researches, as soon as the marketing strategic objectives have been identified, the company starts planning for the implementation of these strategic objectives (Wilson & Gilligan 2005). The activity of implementing the chosen strategy is very important aspect of the marketing management process. The process of implementation could be defined as the phase of turning the plans into the action and engages all those activities that are used to put the marketing plan to work. A powerful implementation of the plan depends on the how effectively company makes combination of its people, business structure, and culture into a unified platform in accordance with its marketing strategy. It is said that good and effective implementation plays an important role in the success of the planning strategies. Those strategies that are successfully implemented are considered as well planned and organized.
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The marketing management of Coca-Cola also focuses on the promotion of marketing activities among its employees, as the marketing through proper advertisement would help in attracting the huge number of target market. In addition to this, the distribution of the Coca-Cola brands should be efficient in using the suitable and convenient routes for transferring product to wholesale markets and retailers (Kotler, Cunningham & Turner 2001). 4.3 Monitoring and Controlling the Markets Efforts After the successful implementation of the market strategy and market planning, the next step is to monitor and control the effects of the marketing strategy on the potential markets. According to Saxena (2009), monitoring enables the decision maker to use such mechanism that could help them to ensure the successful implementation of the marketing plan. However, it is found that a successful market planning always needs to consider the ultimate interest of the organization and other important units present within organization. Other than that, Kurtz et al (2009) defined the monitoring as one of the most significant parts of the marketing, as to them, the success and failure of the marketing planning could largely rely on the monitoring of the planning. In order to monitor and control and marketing management process of Coca Cola, there are three basic analyses tool used to evaluate if the marketing planning developed meets the objectives of the company. These marketing monitoring and controlling analyses tools are as follows: sales analysis, market share analysis and profitability analysis. 4.3.1 Sales Analysis Total revenue of the Coca Cola Company has increased to $ 35.119 billion in 2010 compared to previous year that was 7510 million in 2009. This increased in the total revenue of the
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company is due to increased in the total sale of the company‟s brand. Moreover, the increase in the price and product range has also increased the revenue growth of the company. In order to make sale analysis of the Coca Cola, the total sale of the year can be divided into different segments. The division of total sale of the company will help to recognize the positive and negative aspects of the company‟s brand. 4.3.2 Market Share Analysis In order to conduct the market share analysis, the company will be analyzed against its competitors such as Nestle, Pepsi and others. Such analysis against the competitors will be carried out by comparing the company‟s brand that could increase the market share of the company. 4.3.3 Profitability Analysis The profitability analysis can be helpful for analyzing the cost of the marketing planning against the profit gained from products, sales, and other market segments.
5. Conclusion Market management process is a business area that is broadly focused on the practical implication of the marketing methods and strategies in the firms overall operation. In applying the marketing management process to the trademark company like Coca-Cola, different aspects of marketing in the business operations conducted by this company has been highlighted. After having the glance at the different marketing management stages of the Coca-Cola Company, it could be concluded that the company has achieved the brand name due to its unique market segmentation and distribution techniques. These processes are designed after taking into account
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the whole world as a single market unit. Furthermore, it has also been observed that the company uses the uniform strategy for marketing all over the world.
Reference
Baker, Michael John, and Susan Hart. The Marketing Book. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007. Bell, Lonnie. The Story of Coca-Cola. Black Rabbit Books, 2004. Beri. Marketing Research. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2007. Cohen, William A. The marketing plan. J. Wiley & Sons, 2006. Company, The Coca-Cola. "The Coca-Cola Company Fact Sheet." 2011. http://www.thecocacolacompany.com/ourcompany/pdf/Company_Fact_Sheet.pdf (accessed June 4, 2011). Croft, Michael J. Market segmentation: a step-by-step guide to profitable new business. Routledge, 1194. Eldred, Murray J. The Emperors of Coca Cola. Lulu.com, 2008. Group, MPI Media. Coca-Cola: The History of an American Icon. MPI Media Group, 2001. Keirle, Ian. Countryside recreation site management: a marketing approach. Routledge, 2002. Kotler, Philip, Margaret H. Cunningham, and Ronald E. Turner. Marketing Management. Pearson Education Canada, 2001. Kotler, Philip, Waldemar Pfoertsch, and Ines Michi. B2B brand management. Springer, 2006. Kurtz, David L., and Louis E. Boone. Contemporary Business 2009 Update. Cengage Learning, 2008. Majumdar, Ramanuj. Product Management in India . PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2004. Malcolm McDonald, Ian Dunbar. Market segmentation: how to do it, how to profit from it. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004. Nestle. "Our Vision." http://www.nestle-nordic.com/corporate/no/nestle+_nordic/vision/ (accessed June 8, 2011). Sheth, Jagdish N., and Rajendra S. Sisodia. Does Marketing Need Reform?: Fresh Perspectives on the Future. M.E. Sharpe, 2006.
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Stevens, Robert E., and David Loudon. Marketing planning guide. Routledge, 2005. Stone, Phil. Make marketing work for you: boost your profits with proven marketing techniques. How To Books Ltd, 2001. Thomson, Kevin. Emotional capital: capturing hearts and minds to create lasting business success. Capstone, 1998. Wilson, Richard M. S., and Colin Gilligan. Strategic marketing management: planning, implementation and control. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005.
