The Key Input Factors that Influence the Organization
The Coca-Cola Company is considered as the globally recognized leader in manufacturing the non-alcoholic soft drinks and encompasses over 200 countries. The product portfolio of the company includes over 400 brands, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, bottled water, and juice products. It is crucial to examine the core input factors that shape the company’s performance.
Its social factor includes modern consumers that are pursuing a healthier lifestyle and becoming more health-conscious, which caused the company to develop healthier alternatives. The technological factors set by the company aim at providing the quality beverage brands that predict and address the customers’ desires and needs.
From the ecological point of view, the company states for being responsible by helping build and support resilient communities and follow sustainable practices. Its economic factor implies being a “highly efficient, lean and fast-moving organization” (Baah & Bohaker 3). Considering the decrease in inflation and unemployment rates, the present economic performance facilitates a positive condition for Coca-Cola to integrate its strategy.
The Strategy and Desired Outputs of the Organization
The Coca-Cola pursues its fundamental strategy by being socially responsible, building a various product portfolio, establishing a beneficial network between customers and suppliers, and maximizing profits. According to Baah & Bohaker, the Coca-Cola Company’s strategy is to “become a globally known business” (15).
The company implements a generic strategy by using a differentiation for creating value for the consumer. By emphasizing on the importance to its customers and producing high-quality products, Coca-Cola as well achieves customer loyalty. The Coca-Cola Company actively applies big data to advance “sourcing, inventory management, product innovation, and consumer perception” (Mazzei & Noble 408). Coca-Cola uses data from satellite imaging, orange growth historical evidence, and climate information to systematize the taste of its juices.
The organization’s grand strategies aim at achieving its long-term objectives. As such, it should follow the “concentrated growth, market development, product development, vertical integration, innovation, and concentric diversification” (Baah & Bohaker 17).
In concentrated growth, the company managed to increase its profits by dominating the market through technological innovation. Concentric diversification is another approach to develop the non-carbonated drink portfolio. Furthermore, Coca-Cola created a strategy to achieve target goals within the increase in health and obesity concerns. Therefore, the company has the potential to develop its global market share by implementing a growth-oriented strategy that will be in line with its environmental inputs, history, and resources.
The Issues the Company Should Address
One of the most vital issues that should be addressed is the zero-waste strategy that is widely applied by leading companies by using new materials and new technologies. The reports of Coca Cola include several beneficial works, including cutting the weight of 20-ounce PET plastic bottles by more than 25% and shaving 30% from the weight of 12-ounce aluminum can. Another benefit was “lightening their 8-ounce glass bottle by more than 50%” (Song, Li, and Zeng 204).
Ultimately, the 2011/2012 report of the company demonstrated that Coca Cola saved 180 million dollars from reducing their packaging. Another yet critical issue to address is the increase in health and obesity concerns. As such, Coca-Cola developed long-term objectives and expanded to healthier drink alternatives such as Vitamin Water.
Difficult Aspects of the Company’s Performance
One of the problematic aspects of The Coca-Cola Company is to comprehend how it managed to maintain its leading role in the global market and brand itself as a healthy option. It is a weak point of the organizational behavior that causes difficulties in addressing the needs of health-conscious consumers. By producing the Dasani brand of bottled water in 2004, the company failed to brand into healthy beverages, since it had acute side effects, including cancer. With that said, the healthy beverage marketing established itself as the difficult target to be entered by Coca-Cola.
Works Cited
Baah, Sandra, and Linda Bohaker. “The Coca-Cola Company.” 2015.
Mazzei, Matthew J., and David Noble. “Big Data Dreams: A Framework for Corporate Strategy.” Business Horizons, vol. 60, no. 3, 2017, pp. 405-414. Elsevier BV.
Song, Qingbin, Jinhui Li, and Xianlai Zeng. “Minimizing the Increasing Solid Waste through Zero Waste Strategy.” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 104, 2015, pp. 199-210. Elsevier BV.