Key Success Factors of Coca-Cola

Strategic planning is the process which is associated with the analysis of the vision that a particular organization is having. Besides this the implementation of strategic planning also helps in analysing the goals and objectives that an organization is having. This report discusses about the strategic planning of the Organization Coca-Cola. Besides this the report is also associated with identifying the critical success factors as well as the primary objectives of the organization Coca-Cola. Besides this a mission statement has been provided for conducting business with the clients. Followed by the identification a formal organizational chart has been prepared (Orser Jr 2016). Followed by the creation of the organization chart the current system has been analysed so as to identify the specific control weakness which are to be addressed by making use of new system. A document flowchart has been prepared along with a data flow diagram of the existing system has also been prepared. The new system that is going to be used has been described in brief along with its features.

Key Success factors or the KSFs are those factors which act as a very important aspect for achieving future competitive success amongst the other players of the industry. The key factors of Coca-Cola mainly includes the resources, products, attributes, market, competencies achievements from the market and many more (Masterman 2014). Some of the key success factors of Coca-Cola has been described in brief and this includes the following:

1. Strong global presence: Coca-Cola is one of the carbonated soft drink company and its products are generally sold by using the vending machines, in stores and in restaurants in almost more than 200 countries of the world. During the 20^thcentury the marketing tactics and the adopted global expansion strategies by Coke helped the organization in dominating the world of soft-drink industry.
2. Licensed Bottlers: The bottling structure of Coca-Cola was associated with permitting this firm to gain an advantage related to the immeasurable growth opportunities existing all over the world. In addition to this advantage, this particular approach has also been associated with permitting the organization to gain an opportunity of serving to diverse geographical areas. The bottles are first concentrated by the Coke manufacturers which is then sold to the licensed Coca-Cola bottlers in order to sell the products ll over the globe (Mikulewicz et al. 2015). For the bottlers having territory limited contracts with the organization are associated with the manufacturing of finished goods in the bottles or cans. And once the manufacturing finished goods is completed they get distributed to the various Coca-Cola vending machines and to the retail shops.
3. High utilization of the fixed assets: the bottling system that Coca-Cola is having allows it to operate in a global scale associated with the preservation of the local approach as well. The different bottling firms of the organization are generally controlled locally along with being owned by autonomous business persons and they are generally authorized to trade brand of Coca-Cola Corporation. Due to the reason that the organization is not having control possession of the bottling system, so its most of the revenue comes from the sales of the bottles.
4. Advertising and Differentiation: Coke is associated with competing upon the advertisement as well as on differentiation rather than on the pricing. This has been initially leading to receiving of more profit along with disallowing the massive depression in the profits. A huge amount of money is required by the Soft drink industry for advertisement and marketing (Taylor 2014). Approximately $1.3 billion was invested by Coke and the associated bottlers in the year of 2000. Depending upon the various situations the advertisements are decided.
5. Cherished brand name along with being well recognized: Cokes competitive spot is greatly affected by the Brand recognition. The brand name of Coca-Cola is almost known to about 90% of the world. The products of Coca-Cola are generally sold globally by the main brand name which makes it the best known brand name of the globe.
6. Retail and distributed network: A significant margin of 15-20% is provided to the retailers by the Coke and all this margins are sufficient enough to make the retailers work with the products of Coke (Pagani and Pardo 2017). Besides this there also exists a strong network of convenience stores, vending, restaurants, fast food fountains and many more.
7. Capabilities of the product innovations: Coca-Cola is associated with providing of offers at the product line and this is done in accordance to the specific needs, preferences and tastes of the customers and this includes various products like Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla and many more.

The current environment of Coca-Cola is changing in a continuous manner. Some of the major factors that are responsible for making the organization think strategically includes the advance in the technology and competition. According to the Food and Drug Administration FDA Coca-Cola is a non-alcoholic beverage in the food industry (Liebowitz 2016). Besides this the government is also associated with regulating the manufacturing procedures and in case if it is seen that the companies are not meeting the government standards then they are fined. Besides this the organization has also been impacted due to some political factors. . Besides this in many countries this organization has been subjected to Occupational Safety as well as the Health Act as well as to some state, local, and foreign environmental regulations (Pansari and Kumar 2017). So whenever the organization starts to distribute any product in a specific country then they need to meet all the terms of products that they supply. By meeting the standards they would become capable of avoiding the conflicts. Besides this it is necessary for the organization to consider the beliefs that the peoples of a specific region are having (Ling 2017). Changes taking place in the laws and in the regulations along with the changes taking place in the political regulations and civil wars are considered to be most important political factors that are having a huge impact upon the organization.

Political Factors Affecting Coca-Cola

Depletion of the water is generally considered to one of the biggest environmental factor affecting the business of the organization. The major reason lying behind this is because of the reason that water acts as the major resource of the organization. Besides this there are also certain set of ecological factors which are responsible for effecting the performance of the organization and this mainly includes the pollution of air, global warming and many more. Along with this certain environmental factors like he earthquakes floods and more are also likely to have a direct impact upon the performance of the organization. Coca-Cola is a huge organization and it is generally expected by the Stakeholders as well as the general public and the other non-governmental organizations that Coca-Cola would be behaving in a social responsible manner ad would also be associated with illustrating the commitment while dealing with a wide range of environmental issues (Kumar and Reinartz 2018). Negligence in meeting this expectation might lead to damaging of the brand image. The issues are generally addressed in accordance to the CSR policy and this policy is mainly aimed at dealing with the various type of problems related to excessive consumption of energy and water, problems due to depletion of natural resources, labour and human rights and many more.

Technology is generally considered to be one of eh major and most important factor responsible for analysing any of the industry. Some of the prominent technological factors that has been associated with having a huge impact upon the organization includes some industry specific technological innovations and breakthroughs, decrease in the life cycle of the technology and many more. Coca-Cola is seen to be very proactive while taking advantages from the technology so as to gain a competitive advantage in the market. This is generally done by making use of certain technologies like the vending machines connected to the internet so as to track the sales, and also to report any kind of inventory or service related issues to the nearby distributing centre (Sheth 2017). Besides this for the purpose of promoting its products the organization has also been associated with the utilization of social media so as to run the different kind of advertisements and get connected to more customers.

There exists various type of rules and regulations that are related to the health and safety of the employees, employment laws, competitive rules, protection laws and other regulations. All this factors needs to be adhered fully by the organization. Changes occurring in all this rules and regulations are likely to have a huge impact upon the performance of the organization in direct as well in indirect ways and this ways are totally unpredictable. Dealing with the legal issues is a regular problem faced by the organization due to the size of the organization and the scope it is having (Baah and Bohaker 2015).

Environmental Factors Affecting Coca-Cola

Besides this the sales of Coca-Cola has also been hugely impacted due to certain economic factors and all this factors re beyond the control of company. Some of the economic factors includes the level of economic growth in a specific country or in the industry, rate of tax and currency, the rate of exchange, cost of labour, rate of interest and many more. The Global Economic and Financial Crisis that occurred in the year of 2007-2009 is considered to be a relevant example of the economic factor which effected the organization. Besides this when compared with the other business it was seen that the crisis had been associated with impacting the organization to a very less amount (Kuo and Rice 2015). The fluctuations taking place in the exchange rate is generally considered to be one of the most important economic factor which effected the organizations performance in an adverse way. One such instance occurded due to the devaluation of the Venezuela currency which lead to the reduction in profit of the organization by 55%.

Customer’s acts as the real source of the sales and profits so it is essential to improve the consumer brand loyalty along with satisfaction and acceptance. All this acts as the fundamental for long term action of the organization Coca-Cola. It is better to say that the organization is just a partner of the business and not a simple product supplier (Hastings and de Andrade 2016). Below are the main five principles of the CRM that is to be used by the organization Coca-Cola:

• Focusing upon the customers
• Gaining of advantage from the listening skills
• Overcoming of the various objections, problems and the complaints made by the customers
• Maintenance and improvements in the self-esteem
• Making the angry customers to calm down and making initiative so as to change the mind and views that the customers are having.

Several new things are to be included in the new CRM system. Some of this includes the speed of delivery, and the ability of getting connected to the retailers and distributors all through the globe as quickly as possible. It is possible to improve the customer service and satisfaction by making use of the better CRM (Paniagua and Sapena 2014). The usage of the CRM would be helping in getting the information that are required from the customers. The IT system would be associated with the collection of the data and which would be followed by the analysis of the data so as to provide information. This information would be helping in getting a better product that would be suiting the needs of the customers.

The usage of the SAP CRM, the organization, Coca-Cola would also become of capable of handling the customer service support and this would help them in directly talking with the person of eh company for certain problems faced regarding a particular product. Besides this there exists various kind of services all around the world and customer service is not only provided by means of feedback, emails or telephones but also by means of monitoring and different kind of analysis (Rawal and Upadhayay 2017). For this reason the use of the collaborative CRM would be helping the organization in providing a customer service which is more efficient and would help in gaining of more customer satisfaction.

Technological Factors Affecting Coca-Cola

According to the reports this organization has been capable of growing along with the demands as they are capable of providing solutions according to the needs of the customers. Coca-Cola has always been associated with focusing upon the ways needed for satisfying the customers by adaptation of the new infrastructure of CRM along with the ERP and a well maintained SCM system. This adaptations has been associated with helping them in achievements of the goals that are required for satisfying the customers. In this way they have been capable of remaining at the top of the beverage industry (Bajwa 2013).

Some other strategies that are to be included in the CRM from the environmental and external environment of Coca-Cola are listed below which would also be helping in effective customer acquisition strategies and retention of the customers in a positive way.

The major reason for the organization to retain its old customers along with development of the customer value is entirely dependent upon the acquisition of new customers. Some of the major customer acquisition strategies has been listed below:

1. Promotion of sales:Promotion of sales can be stated to be any of the behaviour that is associated with triggering of the temporary incentives which is generally aimed at the prospects of the customers, channel partners on the sales persons. Despite of the promotion of the sales might be directed at salesperson and the members of the channel but the main concern is regarding the promotion of saes at different prospects. The promotion of the sales is associated with offering a temporary as well as immediate inducement so as to buy a particular product. Consumer sales promotion can be categorized into different kinds and this mainly includes the following:
2. Sampling:This is a process in which free samples are provided to the consumers.
3. Free trails:The organization is associated with offering products depending upon the approval to their customers and this might be including providing of free tasting in the supermarkets and many more.  
4. Discounts:This includes the deduction in the price for a certain time.
5. Coupons:This is one type of money that is to be provided to the customers and can be redeemed during the purchase at the POS.
6. Advertising:This is the process which is generally considered to be the primary method of generating new customers in a Business to Customer environment. This is generally defined as the creation and delivery of the messages to some targeted audience by making use of the purchase of time or space in the media which are generally owned by others (Laswai 2013). Advertisement is generally not sufficient for generating the behavioural outcomes but it can predispose the audience so as to make sure that the audience are having the intension of buying the products depending upon the things that they have learned or felt about a particular product.

The organization, Coca-Cola has not been capable of understanding the customer information on a timely manner. For this reason the organization has been facing a lot of problems while trying to be in the top position of the market. There are many reports which depicts the fact that some customers wanted to sue the Organization as the organization entirely ignored certain aspects. The aspects mainly included ignorance of the feelings of the customers, ignorance or delay while responding to the feedbacks of the customers and besides this there were also many customers whose legitimated rights and interests were not guaranteed at all. Besides this whenever a customer complaint is received the different and numerous complex communication network would be leading to delays in solving the problems. This in tur would be affecting the efficiency of the CRM (Mutua 2016).

The CRM strategy can be enhanced by different ways. The organization must reach out to the end users and should try to convince them regarding the value they can get from the products of the organization. For doing so the organization needs to produce much more healthy products. Besides this there is also a need of approaching the HR department in order to establish new processes for the employees of the organization. The major aim of developing the new objectives is to make the employees aware of the products that the organization is having and show them that the products are much healthier than the previous products. Employees in turn would be associated with reflecting their impressions to the customers in case in the organization considers the employees as good marketers for the company (Rawal and Upadhayay 2017).

Legal Factors Affecting Coca-Cola

In addition to this it is also necessary for the organization to stay away from the usage of text messages. Coca-Cola is a multinational company and for that reason it is necessary for the organization to get in touch with the sympathy strip in accordance to the case of each company or in accordance to the case of each region or country (Mulu 2015).

Additionally, the organization is highly dependent upon certain external resources and this mainly includes the human resource activities in each country where the organization is operating. CRM would be helping in setting an ideal process for different countries and also for the purpose of promoting the performance that the different operations in various countries and this is done so as to prioritize the different operations of the organization in different regions.

Besides this there is also a need of knowing the various culture in various sections of the world where the company is operating. This would be helping the organization in the creation of new communication channels so as to accommodate with the different culture of different countries not only by translating the language but also by other means. Besides this there also exists different taste of the product and this varies from country to country one such example is the difference in taste in between the can products and glass products. For this the organization must be associated with showing a responsible and clear fact as many of the customers think that there is no transparency in this type of issue (Laswai 2013). Besides thins another thing that is to be done by the company so as to have an effective CRM is that unlike the other companies it could also includes a written warning in the products. This warning would be mainly regarding the danger and the effects that might occur due to the usage of high calorie products. It is also essential to mention if it proper for the usage by all age groups along with the health circumstances.

Conclusion:

Coca Cola has been associated with taking a lot of steps that are needed for winning back of the customers trust and also for the retention of the exiting customers as well. The organization had been associated with the creation of new fan pages in various social media sited which has seen to become very popular amongst the customers. Besides this usage of the social media helps the customers in receiving updates regarding the different recent actions taken by the organization. Besides this the organization is also associated with group message in in different social networking sites so as to receive feedback from the customer and provide them with solution online. Advertising in the social media sites by Coca Cola helps a lot in gaining more customers along with gaining of all the details of the customer from the social sites so as to provide them with some kind of appropriate personalized service so as to have new customer along with retaining the existing customers.

Economic Factors Affecting Coca-Cola

The report helps in concluding to the fact the usage of the advance CRM strategy would be associated with helping the organization, Coca Cola to achieve all the goals that they are having without any loss in the market. Besides this it is also possible for them to provide certain offers along with introduction of some online contest for the customers. In which the customers would be capable of playing and winning exiting prizes. In addition to all this the creation of the freestyle vending machine is also another technological innovation where the customers are capable of making their own drinks by making use of different combinations. Promotion in different top online social media can help in gaining the largest number of fans. Besides this the CRM would also be associated with providing assistance in the collection of data from the vending machine, mobile, Customer service, online network and provide solution and give personalized service to the customer. Usage of the new freestyle vending would be helping the organization Coca-Cola in winning back there customer. The implementation of a proper CRM would be responsible for keeping the organization Coca-Cola in the top of the list in the Beverage industry.

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