ASSIGNMENT

On
Case Study

Course Code: MKT 601

Course Title: Marketing Management
Trimester: Fall - 2021
MBA Program
Batch: 77

SUBMITTED TO
MD. Rabiul Kabir
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Business Administration
Stamford University Bangladesh

SUBMITTED BY

Sathi Ghosh
ID No: MBA 077 18584

Date of Submission: 27-10-2021

STAMFORD UNIVERSITY BANGLADESH

Question
1. What is the nature of Coca Cola business? Why it is called Coca-Cola?
2. What is the SWOT analysis of Coca-Cola?
3. What is the marketing strategy of Coca-Cola?

Executive Summery
The Coca-Cola Company was founded by Dr. John Stitch Pemberton in 1886. Today, the
corporation is the world's top beverage maker, with operations in more than 200 countries with a
headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. It manufactures over 300 beverage brands and serves over 1.06
billion beverages each day throughout the world. Coca-Cola, as the world's largest beverage
business, controls nearly the entire carbonated beverage market. Aside from that, Coca-Cola
maintains its position as the world's top firm by employing SWOT analysis to assess the macro-
environment in which Coca-Cola operates.

Introduction
Coca-Cola is the world's biggest beverage corporation and the world's top soft drink manufacturer and
marketer. Coca-Cola is now drinking more than 600 million times every day throughout the globe,
and this number is steadily increasing. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, is not the kind of firm to rest on
its laurels; instead, it views the future as a challenge, continually seeking new markets and methods to
expand its market share in regions where it already has a strong presence. It is the world's biggest
manufacturer and distributor of soft drink syrups and concentrates.
As we all know, Coca-Cola is currently one of the largest firms in the world, offering a variety of soft
drinks. But, despite its long history of success, the Coca-Cola Company is still a conventional
company that is touched by and affects a variety of communities.
Every day, Coca-Cola sells about one billion servings. Every second, more than 10,450 drinks are
drinking. In 2003, the corporation made $4,347,000,000 in profit. It can be found on all seven
continents, and 94 percent of the world's population recognizes it. How did Coca-Cola rise from
modest beginnings as a home-brewed Georgia-based patent medication to become the global soft
drink behemoth it is today? Coca-Cola employed a variety of technologies to reach the top of the soft
drink market, developing new technologies and paradigms that burst the status quo like a soda bottle
cap. Coca-Cola refined Coke as a beverage and distributed it over the globe using technology. Even
today, the soft drink business in the United States is built on this premise. The Coca-Cola Corporation
is presently the world's biggest soft drink company. In the United States alone, 800,000,000 servings
of "Coca-Cola" are sold each year.

Study
Nature of Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company manufactures and distributes carbonated beverages. In 1894, it was a risky
start for a concept, but strong sales of the new Coca-Cola fountain beverage thrilled the store's owner,
Joseph A. Biedenharn. He started selling Coca-Cola by bottling it in a common glass container known
as a Hutchinson. He subsequently filed a complaint with the company's owner, Asa Griggs Candler.
They had the first bottling arrangement in 1899, when they were granted exclusive rights to bottle Coca-
Cola across the United States. Between the 1900s and the 2000s, the firm began to expand fast, aided by
significant advancements in bottling technology that enhanced productivity and product quality.
Furthermore, Coca-Cola began to develop abroad.
To ensure that its major bottling partners could lead the system in dealing with global merchants, the
Company promoted and invested in a number of bottler consolidations (Investors et al., n.d.). The Coca-
Cola Company is a company that prioritizes the requirements of its consumers, customers, and franchise
partners. Take a walk around the market and listen, watch, and learn. They operate effectively, are
adaptable to change, and take responsibility for their own activities (Investors et al., n.d.)

Political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal analysis are all part of the external
analysis. To begin, political refers to the stability of political problems in a nation and the degree to
which government political issues interpose in a country, affecting enterprises and businesses. Coca-
Cola is a non-alcoholic beverage that falls under the category of food. In terms of rules, the government
has authority over the production process of these items. Companies who do not comply with the
legislation are penalized by the government. This will result in competitive product and price policy
pressures, making it more difficult to retain or gain market share in the global market. Second,
economics is about how local businesses are influenced by other local businesses.

The company's activities were impacted by the downturn in 2001. Because interest rates have been
decreased as a result of the global crisis, Coca-Cola can borrow money and invest in new goods. It may
also borrow to fund new product and technology development. The corporation may offer its goods at a
reduced price by discovering new cost-effective items, allowing consumers to buy more Coca-Cola
products at a lower price. Third, enterprises are more likely to prosper if they can adjust their goods and
services to existing sociocultural circumstances, such as demographic changes such as population size,
age distribution, and ethnic mix, which may have a direct influence on present and future business.

Why is Coca-Cola Called Coca-Cola?

Pemberton first developed an alcoholic cocktail called French Wine Coca while manufacturing and
experimenting with his therapeutic beverage. In 1885, he registered the drink, but Atlanta's
prohibition rules barred him from marketing it. He turned and made a non-alcoholic version, in classic
entrepreneur flair. This time, however, he prepared the syrup to resemble the French Wine Coca.
Pemberton went to his colleague and accountant, Frank Mason Robinson, who offered the name
Coca-Cola for the syrup mixture. Coca was made from Coca leaves, while Cola was made from kola
nuts.
He felt the terms "coca" and "cola" would look well together aesthetically, so he changed the "k" in
kola nuts to a "c."
Pemberton's beverage had a few snags at the time, since it included coca leaves at a time when
cocaine was the subject of a national discussion. The chemical had been used medicinally in the past,
but its more sinister consequences were being investigated. Because cocaine is a highly addictive
chemical, the drink's designers did not want to be associated with the creation of a cocaine addiction
in the marketplace; nevertheless, they did want to retain some coca extract in the soda's syrup to
preserve the trademark "Coca-Cola." Coca-Cola still had a trace of cocaine in it by 1902 — roughly
1/400 of a grain per ounce of syrup. The soda was no longer cocaine-free by 1929, yet it was still
permitted to keep its moniker.
Coca-Cola modified the recipe in 1985 and debuted "New Coke," but customer testing found that the
vast majority of people liked the previous flavour. Coca-Cola reintroduced a version of the original
recipe that used high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar as the primary sweetener, dubbed
Coca-Cola Classic.
Coca-Cola is a worldwide known brand today, because to its excellent product, innovative marketing
efforts, and corporate values. With dozens of selections including Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Coca-
Cola Life, and other Coca-Cola brands like Powerade, Dasani, Fanta, Minute Maid, and Fresca,
they're sure to have something to quench your thirst. Which Coca-Cola beverage or marketing
campaign is your favourite? Leave a comment below! Thank you for taking the time to learn why
Coca-Cola is named Coca-Cola!
Swot Analysis
Before going to SWOT analysis, first we’ve known what SWOT actually is. The alphabets in the
word SWOT sands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats. In SWOT analysis, we basically
to discuss about the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats of Coca-Cola Company. So, here
goes the SWOT analysis of Coca Cola Company. Now we are going to discuss elaborately on the
points given above in SWOT Analysis table.

Strengths
i. The best global brand in the world in terms of value. According to Interbrand, The Coca
Cola Company is the most valued ($77,839 billion) brand in the world.
ii. World’s largest market share in beverage. Coca Cola holds the largest beverage market
share in the world (about 40%).
iii. Strong marketing and advertising. Coca Cola‟ advertising expenses accounted for more
than $3 billion in 2012 and increased firm’s sales and brand recognition.
iv. Most extensive beverage distribution channel. Coca Cola serves more than 200 countries
and more than 1.7 billion servings a day.
v. Customer loyalty. The firm enjoys having one of the most loyal consumer groups.
vi. Bargaining power over suppliers. The Coca Cola Company is the largest beverage producer
in the world and exerts significant power over its suppliers to receive the lowest price available
from them.
vii. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Coca Cola is increasingly focusing on CSR
programs, such as recycling/packaging, energy conservation/climate change, active healthy
living, water stewardship and many others, which boosts company’s social image and result in
competitive advantage over competitors.

Weaknesses:
i. Significant focus on carbonated drinks. The business is still focusing on selling Coke, Fanta,
Sprite and other carbonated drinks. This strategy works in short term as consumption of
carbonated drinks will grow in emerging economies but it will prove weak as the world is
fighting obesity and is moving towards consuming healthier food and drinks.
ii. Undiversified product portfolio. Unlike most company’s competitors, Coca Cola is still
focusing only on selling beverage, which puts the firm at disadvantage. The overall consumption
of soft drinks is stagnating and Coca Cola Company will find it hard to penetrate to other markets
(selling food or snacks) when it will have to sustain current level of growth.

iii. High debt level due to acquisitions. Nearly $8 billion of debt acquired from CCE‟s
acquisition significantly increased Coca Cola's debt level, interest rates and borrowing costs.
iv. Negative publicity. The firm is often criticized for high water consumption in water scarce
regions and using harmful ingredients to produce its drinks.
v. Brand failures or many brands with insignificant amount of revenues. Coca Cola currently
sells more than 500 brands but only few of the brands result in more than $1 billion sales. Plus,
the firm’s success of introducing new drinks is weak. Many of its introduction result in failures,
for example, C2 drink.
Opportunities:
i. Bottled water consumption growth. Consumption of bottled water is expected to grow both in
US and the rest of the world.
ii. Increasing demand for healthy food and beverages. Due to many programs to fight obesity,
demand for healthy food and beverages has increased drastically. The Coca Cola Company has an
opportunity to further expand its product range with drinks that have low amount of sugar and
calories.
iii. Growing beverages consumption in emerging markets. Consumption of soft drinks is still
significantly growing in emerging markets, especially BRIC countries, where Coca Cola could
increase and maintain its beverages market share.
iv. Growth through acquisitions. Coca Cola will find it hard to keep current growth levels and
will find it hard to penetrate new markets with its existing product portfolio. All this can be done
more easily through acquiring other companies.
Threats:
i. Changes in consumer tastes. Consumers around the world become more health conscious and
reduce their consumption of carbonated drinks, drinks that have large amounts of sugar, calories
and fat. This is the most serious threat as Coca Cola is mainly serving carbonated drinks.
ii. Water scarcity. Water is becoming scarcer around the world and increases both in cost and
criticism for Coca Cola over the large amounts of water used in production.
iii. Strong dollar. More than 60% of The Coca Cola Company income is from outside US. Due
to strong dollar performance against other currencies firm’s overall income may fall.
iv. Legal requirements to disclose negative information on product labels. Some Coca Cola’s
carbonated drinks have adverse health consequences. For this reason, many governments
consider to pass legislation that requires disclosing such information on product labels. Products
containing such information may be perceived negatively and lose its customers.
v. Decreasing gross profit and net profit margins. Coca Cola’s gross profit and net profit
margin was decreasing over the past few years and may continue to decrease due to higher water
and other raw material costs.
vi. Competition from PepsiCo. PepsiCo is fiercely competing with Coca Cola over market share
in BRIC countries, especially India.
vii. Saturated carbonated drinks market. The business significantly relies on the carbonated
drinks sales, which is a threat for the Coca Cola as market of carbonated drinks is not growing or
even declining in the world.

Marketing Strategies of Coca-Cola

Product strategy 

Coca-Cola has a wide range of products, and they are soft drinks these products are offered globally,
and its product strategy can be studied by marketing mix. The following are products like Coca-Cola,
Diet Coke, Light, Minute Maid, Coca-Cola Life, PowerAde Zero, Coca-Cola Zero, and Sprite Fanta,
etc. These products are sold in various packing and sizes. They have a significant share in the market
and generate enormous profits for the company.

Pricing strategy

Coca-Cola's price remains fixed for about 73 years. It cost only five cents over time. Competition
increases in the market with competitors like Pepsi is the biggest competitor of Coca-Cola. Because of
this, the company has to make its pricing strategy flexible. If the company follows this strategy, then
consumers of their product start doubting its quality, so this significantly drops the price or its value if
the company increases its price unreasonably, and people switch to the alternative.  

Place strategy 

Coca-Cola is the global industry, and they have a vast network of distribution, their products are sold
in more than two-hundred countries. They have six operating regions: Latin America, Africa, Europe,
Pacific, Eurasia & North America. The company depends on its bottling partners and for packing and
distribution. The bottling partners are responsible for manufacture, packaging, and shipping to the
agents then transported by road to stockiest then to distributors to retailers and then to the final
customer. This is the channel through which it is distributed daily. The coca-cola products are
available in almost all retail outlets, supermarkets, grocery stores, etc. its products are also distributed
in different restaurants and hotels globally. Coca-Cola has an extensive network of a reverse supply
chain that collect the leftover glass bottle and reuse it, thus saving the cost and resources.

Promotion strategy  

Due to intense competition in the market, Coca-Cola focuses on different promotional and marketing
strategies. They mostly focus on aggressive marketing. According to statistics, Coca-Cola spent 4$
million in 2016, and in 2018 it spends 4.1$ million in promotion of its brand. It utilizes both
traditional and international mediums for the advertising of its brand.  

Classic bottle

When the company was losing market in 1913, it arranged a global contest for designing the bottle.
The company's primary purpose is to indicate to its customers that Coca-Cola is the most exceptional
product and to be confused by any other brown beverages. The winner of the contest uses the cocoa
pod's design in such a beautiful way that the company starts promoting shape and logo. Then plastic
replaces by the glass as strand means of drinking globally. 

Company font and logo design

The company decided to write the logo in the Spenserian script to differentiate from its competitors.
The recipe and logo remain the same, but packaging modified with time. The way the company uses
its logo in marketing strategy remains imprinted on consumers' minds for over a hundred years.

Simplicity

Coca-Cola never deviates from its track even though it becomes a massive industry. Across many
decades the marketing strategy communicates the same strong message of happiness, enjoyment, and
pleasure. Never go out of its style and easily translated worldwide. 

Localised positioning

In 2018 the company launched its campaign share a coke in almost fifty countries, and this campaign
went very successful. They print messages, images of celebrities of the region, and these messages are
according to the local culture of the area, and language. In this way, they target the local market. This
is an excellent example of how localised positioning applied to the global market.

Sponsorships 

Coca-Cola is a well-recognised brand for its sponsorships. Its long sponsorships history includes
American idol, the Olympic Games, NASCAR, and many more. 

Socialisation

With the advancement in technology, online communication channels become the most significant
source of marketing. And Coca-Cola takes advantage of all social media platforms and create a profile
on it. It also takes part in an online advertisement. Like on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat.
They are available on all social media platforms. Their marketing strategy is so unique, especially
considering how unique the brand is and attracting dozens of people. The primary purpose of Coca-
Cola is brand recognition, awareness about the brand.    

Global outreach

Coca- Cola Company is globally known for its largest soda industry, and it is operating in more than
200 countries.  Whenever any major tragedy happens in any region, the Coca-Cola company is here
and support the people whatever possible to them they do to give relief to the people from the disaster
and make all the reasonable recovery efforts. These initiatives go unnoticed by media but noticed by
people on the ground who are directly affiliated.

Conclusion
The Coca-Cola Company is one of the most well-known and well-known soft drink companies in the
world. The Coca-Cola Company has undoubtedly become a part of people's life, with over 3000 items
distributed in over 200 countries. The success of the Coca-Cola Company is due to the individuals who
put up their best effort to complete the work at hand. As a result, the Coca-Cola Company looks after
its workers by providing a positive working environment and collaborating with unions and
government authorities to ensure their safety. The Coca-Cola Company recognizes that in today's
business climate, technology is critical to operating a large corporation like Coca-Cola. As a result, the
Coca-Cola Company employs a variety of technologies, including developing databases and data
warehouses for its customers and suppliers, as well as doing business with consumers and other
companies over the internet. The Coca-Cola Company even has its own shopping website,
www.cocacolastore.com, where you can buy products. The Coca-Cola Company also advertises its
goods on search engines like Google and Yahoo to ensure that its brand reaches more consumers every
day. Coca-Cola has spent over $2 million on marketing and advertising alone. Coca-Cola is well-
known in many nations as a result of this. In addition, the Coca-Cola Company advertises its goods on
myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, in line with current trends. The Coca-Cola Company understands
that no company can function without a strategy. Because the Coca-Cola Company has been able to
raise the entrance barrier to the beverage industry to such a high level, new businesses are hesitant to
compete with Coca-Cola. Furthermore, the Coca-Cola Company has agreements in place with many of
its suppliers (primarily bottling companies) to deliver their services solely to Coca-Cola. As a result,
newcomers will find it very hard to keep up with Coca-Cola and other well-known rivals such as Pepsi.
Coca-success Cola's isn't something that happened overnight. Since John Pemberton invented the
Coca-Cola secret recipe in 1886, a lot of time has passed. Who would have guessed that his invention
would have such a global influence and convert Coca-Cola into a household name after more than a
century.