Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over
Describes Douglas Daft's first quarter as chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Co. Highlights actions taken to resolve issues that arose under M. Douglas Ivester's 26-month term.
Authors :: Michael D. Watkins, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Cate Reavis
Swot Analysis of "Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over" written by Michael D. Watkins, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Cate Reavis includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Douglas Coca facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Managing people, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over casestudy better are - – technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Douglas Coca, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Douglas Coca 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Douglas Coca
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Douglas Coca
Strengths Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Douglas Coca in Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Douglas Coca are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Douglas Coca in the sector have low bargaining power. Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Douglas Coca to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Douglas Coca to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Douglas Coca to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Douglas Coca 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Douglas Coca is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Douglas Coca is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Douglas Coca 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Douglas Coca is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Douglas Coca has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Douglas Coca has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Learning organization
- Douglas Coca is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Douglas Coca is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Douglas Coca has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Douglas Coca to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Douglas Coca
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Douglas Coca does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Douglas Coca is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Douglas Coca has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Douglas Coca products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Douglas Coca needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over, in the dynamic environment Douglas Coca has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Douglas Coca has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Douglas Coca has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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 Douglas Coca 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Douglas Coca 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael D. Watkins, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Cate Reavis suggests that, Douglas Coca is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over, it seems that the employees of Douglas Coca don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Douglas Coca 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.
Opportunities Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over | 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Douglas Coca in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Douglas Coca can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Douglas Coca can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
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. Douglas Coca can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Douglas Coca 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Douglas Coca can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Douglas Coca 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.
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 Douglas Coca 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 Douglas Coca 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 Douglas Coca to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Douglas Coca 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Douglas Coca has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Douglas Coca to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over case study. Douglas Coca 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 Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Douglas Coca 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. Douglas Coca 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Douglas Coca can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Douglas Coca operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Douglas Coca in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Douglas Coca 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Douglas Coca business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Douglas Coca can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Douglas Coca in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Douglas Coca has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Douglas Coca needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over, Douglas Coca may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Douglas Coca high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Douglas Coca is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Douglas Coca needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Douglas Coca demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Coca-Cola Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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 Co. (B): Douglas Daft Takes Over 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 Douglas Coca needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.