Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz
When the chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company made his maiden visit to India in August 2017, it was clear that he wanted the Indian branch of the company, Coca-Cola India Private Limited, to achieve many ambitious goals. These included reducing the sugar content in the company's products, introducing more juice-based drinks and water, and making small entries into the dairy segment. For a company that had long stressed its carbonated and fruit-based drink segments, Coca-Cola India Private Limited was now indicating its strong intent to steer away from its core competency. The aim was to recast the company as a "total beverage company," with possible ventures across all relevant beverage categories. Should the company take a chance and move away from its core competency? Should it tweak existing products, seek to extend its brands, or try to create entirely new offerings? How could Coca-Cola India Private Limited succeed in its shift towards "total beverage" solutions, and what challenges should it prepare for as part of this shift? Sandeep Puri is affiliated with Asian Institute of Management. Shreya Gupta is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
Swot Analysis of "Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz" written by Sandeep Puri, Archit Kacker, Shreya Gupta includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Coca Cola facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Branding, Manufacturing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Coca Cola, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Coca Cola operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Coca Cola
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Coca Cola
Strengths Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Coca Cola in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Coca Cola
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Coca Cola does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Coca Cola has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Coca Cola is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Innovation driven organization
– Coca Cola is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Coca Cola has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Coca Cola to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Coca Cola has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Coca Cola digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Coca Cola has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Coca Cola has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Coca Cola is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Coca Cola is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Coca Cola in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Coca Cola has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Coca Cola in the sector have low bargaining power. Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Coca Cola to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Coca Cola has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Coca Cola 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Coca Cola needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz, in the dynamic environment Coca Cola has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Coca Cola has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Coca Cola is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Coca Cola needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Coca Cola to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Coca Cola has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Coca Cola supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Coca Cola vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Coca Cola has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Coca Cola even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Coca Cola is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Coca Cola has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz are -
Loyalty marketing
– Coca Cola has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Coca Cola can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Coca Cola has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Coca Cola to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz case study. Coca Cola can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Coca Cola can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Coca Cola can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Coca Cola can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Coca Cola can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Coca Cola has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Coca Cola to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Coca Cola to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Coca Cola to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Coca Cola to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Coca Cola to increase its market reach. Coca Cola will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Manufacturing automation
– Coca Cola can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Coca Cola to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Coca Cola is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Coca Cola in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Coca Cola is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Coca Cola in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Coca Cola can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Coca Cola with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Coca Cola can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz .
Environmental challenges
– Coca Cola needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Coca Cola can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Coca Cola needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Coca Cola needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Coca Cola will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz, Coca Cola may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Coca Cola.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Coca-Cola India: More than Just Sugar and Fizz is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Coca Cola needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
