Most important External Environment Factor:
Out of the few factors of external environment, rivalry would be the most important factor affecting Coca-Cola. There is vagueness in the way that Coca-Cola approaches its rivals. However, the rivalry between Coca Cola and its nearest competitor, Pepsi creates a rivalry ante, which drives out other players in the market. Advertising and promotional activities thus play a crucial role.
Most important Strength and Weakness:
There are many strengths of Coca-Cola as a brand. The brand has been able to set a unique value proposition and success throughout the markets that it has entered globally. The second strength would be the high valuation of the Company. With a worth as high as 79.2 billion dollars, it is one of the strongest Companies in the world. The global success and presence of the brand can also be taken as one of its strengths. There are more than 200 markets where Coca-Cola is present and thus the brand awareness is incomparable.
Other strengths of the Company would be having the biggest share in the market. The main brands in the Coke portfolio that provide it success are Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Limca, Maaza and Diet Coke. The Company also boasts with a robust system of distribution that is customized across regions. It has the largest distribution in the world. There is also subtle effectiveness in the unique marketing techniques used by the Company. The mass target allows the Company to experiment and succeed at the regular as well as endorsed advertisements. Because of this ease of accessibility as well as promotion, the brand has been able to establish great customer loyalty.
Weaknesses in the SWOT of Coca Cola
The weaknesses of the Company can be seen in two major aspects: the first is the low product diversification and the second is the health concerns. The nearest competitor of Coke, Pepsi has started its diversification into snacks and other segments with some famous brands, whereas Coke is not present in that particular segment. The diversification of risks for managing revenue portfolio is thus limited (Marketing91.com, 2014). Additionally, the presence of the Company in health beverage segment is missing. Obesity is a growing problem and many Companies are taking initiatives so that they can enter the healthy food segment to target the growing health conscious customers. Coca-Cola, being the biggest carbonated drink manufactures faces this weakness of not being able to cater to the changing needs of its target segment. This inability may cost the Company its market share in some of the developed markets.
Competitive position and capabilities:
The brand of Coca Cola falls under the category of non-alcoholic beverage drink. It also provides some authentic benefits like digestion and refreshment. We could say that there are three major features of the brand which are established as its competitive advantage. The first is the elegance in design, the second is the quality and the third is its worldwide popularity at national and international levels. Another advantage lies in terms of the efficient packaging that the Company provides its customers.
Organization Structure and Effect on performance:
The structure followed by Coca Cola is the International Division. There is a separate operation of the international employees and they functions as isolated units from the headquarters. Each continent has separate divisions and Presidents, who have the authority to monitor each continent activity (Cokemnc.blogspot.com, 2016). There are five such divisions for Coca-Cola. This type of structure helps the Company achieve utmost efficiency. It also helps the Company achieve its “Think Global, Act Local” strategy. Thus, we could say that this is a favorable Company structure.
References
Cokemnc.blogspot.com,. (2016). The Coca-Cola Company: Organizational Structure. Retrieved 24 January 2016, from http://cokemnc.blogspot.com/p/organizational-structure.html
Marketing91.com,. (2014). SWOT of Coca Cola - SWOT analysis of Coca cola. Retrieved 24 January 2016, from http://www.marketing91.com/swot-coca-cola/
