Question

Even established super brands like Coca Cola constantly need to evolve and change the way they do things. Coca Cola’s ambitious sustainable packaging goal which focuses on the entire packaging lifecycle, including what their bottles and cans are made from, through to how they are disposed of, recycled and repurposed. Coca Cola know that their consumers care about these pollution issues so they need to work with their bottling and other partners to make these initiatives happen.

Consider Coca Cola’s microenvironment actors and the macroenvironment forces that are involved in the long-term strategic direction for Coca Cola. Select on 1 microenvironment actor and one 1 macroenvironment force and discuss what Coca Cola should do with or about them.

Answer 1

CASE ANALYSIS FOR COCA COLA

Microenvironment actor - Customers

Coca cola as a brand is popular among wide range of age group from kids to teen to young adults. It has attracted many consumers over the years by producing variety of products. It ranges from fruit pulp tropical drinks to diet cokes to meet the needs of the customers. But one age group of customers that have always been neglected are the older generation(People aged mostly 60 and above) - What the Coca-cola company can do differently is maybe create a more useful beverage for this group of people because surely one would not expect a 70 year old woman to have soda when her health might be a concern. A multivitamin beverage, a drink which replenishes sodium/calcium/iron - any such product might be the key to the entire world drinking a coca cola product a year later.

Macroenvironment force - Technological

When we talk about a sizeable force like technology, what we forget while analysing such a force is that technology is a big reason why customers might keep coming back to a shop. The production side of it is so crucial for the brand itself, that one forgets how much it adds to the value. Currently, what The Coca-Cola Company and it's subsidiaries(like Sprite, Minute Maid, Fanta,Kinley etc) do is, produce the syrup concentrate and supplies them along to various bottlers around the world who hold territorial contracts with Coca Cola; these bottlers produce the finalized product after incorporating the artificial sweeteners, filtered water, etc. As customers, including myself, we are not new to the fact that a same can of Coke might taste different in different parts of the world and this is completely due to the fact that bottling happens territorially. What the coca-cola company can do is maybe just leave the bottling part of the production entirely to the bottler's scrutiny and produce a universal formula for a product that is ought to taste the same, everywhere around the world. A big reason why Coca-cola products taste different around the world has a lot of factors in play including what people around the world prefer to drink, including the minerals in their water. But keeping these products aside, the coca cola company can also produce this universal brand with a set formula of ingredients for sale which might benefit a certain customer base.