MULTINATIONAL

COMPANY REPORT:

10 Commerce
Will Roberts

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Company Overview:

The Coca Cola company first came to be on May 8, 1886 by pharmacist Dr. John S. Pemberton as a
remedy for headaches, heart burn and nausea. Today, Coca Cola engages primarily in the
manufacture and sale of syrup and concentrate of Coca Cola carbonated beverages (Yafai, 2016).
Coca Cola is now one of the world’s largest multinational companies and is operational in over 200
countries worldwide with gross revenue over $35 billion dollars per year, making it the 84 th largest
economy in the world. Coca Cola owns over 500 sub brands under its umbrella including; Sprite,
Fanta, Powerade Mount Franklin and Pump.

(Coca Cola Investor Relations, 2019)

How the company has gained a competitive advantage:

Much of Coca Cola’s astronomical success is due to the company upholding a competitive advantage
from the moment it was patented in 1893. Coca Cola pioneered the carbonated, syrup-based
beverage market and was the original Cola flavor, meaning there were no competitive brands in this
field. When eventual competitors begun to arise such as Pepsi Cola in 1898, Coca Cola played to
one of its major strengths, marketing. Through their marketing campaigns, Coca Cola has become
one of the world most recognizable brands and as more competition in the industry began to grow,
this led to a higher expenditure on marketing and advertising to acquire new customers and to retain
old ones (Pratap, 2019). Throughout the decades and multitudes of marketing campaigns, Coca-Cola
has remained consistent when communicating one strong and effective message: pleasure.
Enduring, simple slogans such as “Enjoy” and “Happiness” never go out of style and translate easily
across the globe. As well as idyllic language, Coca Cola also uses personalization marketing
strategies such as the “Share a Coke” which was first launched in Australia where 150 of the

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Multinational companies: Coca Cola
countries most popular names were printed onto millions of bottles. This campaign was so successful
and unique, that the company expanded it to more than 50 more countries.

(Bm, 2019)

Use of technology in the corporation:

Coca Cola uses various innovative technologies to rebrand, advertise and become a greener
business. In 2009, Coca Cola introduced more sustainable bottles and packaging by using less
petroleum to produce products. The company also has plans for every bottle or can that they sell
worldwide, to recycle the equivalent by 2030 as well as producing entirely recyclable packaging.
As well as innovative “green” technology, Coca Cola also uses Social Media Networking and online
advertising as it is the most efficient, and effective means of using technology to connect with
consumers and receive feedback on products. Coca Cola has recently become the No.1 brand on
Facebook with over 107 million followers and a further 4 million on Instagram. Furthermore, Coca
Cola uses technology to innovate and create new beverages based on changing consumer tastes, for
example Cherry flavored Coke, or Vanilla flavored or perhaps most prominently, consumers not
wanting high levels of sugar in their beverages, so the company create Coke Zero through its
advanced technology processes.

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Multinational companies: Coca Cola
 (Statista, 2018)

Relationship between the corporation and the country of origin:

Coca Cola Amatil is one of the largest bottlers of non-alcoholic beverages in the Asia-Pacific region
and one of the worlds 5 major coca cola bottlers (CCA, 2020). Coca Cola Amatil has over 100 years
of history in Australia and is listed in the top 100 companies on the Australian Stock Exchange. Coke
was being imported from the United States throughout the early 1900s to Australia, but it wasn’t until
1938 that Coca Cola begun local production. In WWII, the US would make Coca Cola available to all
service men and women wherever they were, whatever the cost. This massive task was provided by
a manufacturing plant in Brisbane which ran 24 hours a day to service the United States. This made
for an excellent relationship between Coke Australia and Coke USA. Coca Cola has now been
embraced in Australia, found at every store where nonalcoholic beverages are available and is
employing over 3000 Australians.

Reasons for global expansion:

Coca Cola’s business model was to create a product for a small price and produce that product on a
mass scale so that the business could turn over the best possible profits. Coca Cola became an
incredible success in America, said to be a part of the very fabric of the country itself. So, the
company began to sell the license to the formula globally and begun production shortly after WWII.
During World War II, a group of employees known as “Technical Observers” were dispatched with the
United States Army to set up, supervise and monitor the operations of bottling units that would
distribute Coca-Cola to US troops abroad. It was a simple act that would go on to establish Coke as a
global corporation by introducing the product to countries around the world. Since then, Coca Cola
sales have skyrocketed. As seen below, as the war began, Coca Cola sales triple in just 5 years as
they begin globalization.

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Multinational companies: Coca Cola
 (ResearchGate, 2008)

(Pinterest, 2019)

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Multinational companies: Coca Cola
SWOT Analysis:

As seen above, Coca Cola’s brand value is worth over $77 billion. This allows them to spend a huge
amount of their revenue on advertising and marketing, bringing them even more customers. The
companies strong marketing campaigns such as “enjoy a coke” or “share a coke” are simple yet
extremely effective. A major weakness for Coca Cola in recent times is the massive decline in
demand for sugary drinks. As seen in the graph below, for the first time in history, the diet of an
average American contains more bottled water then soda due to new research on sugar and health
trends. This sudden change in product sales exponentially affects the company. In 2020, the
company is looking at its first ever annual negative growth in its history.

(visualcapitalist.com, 2020)

Coca Cola has many new opportunities to succeed through these weaknesses as they innovate and
develop new (healthier) drinks such as Vitaminwater. Developing new drinks and buying into sub
brands enables Coca Cola to build and continue into the future of an everchanging world of
consumers. As the threat of a sugar tax in America and other countries looms closer, Coca Cola itself
are at a large risk of an exponential decline in global sales.

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Multinational companies: Coca Cola
References
Bm, 2019. [image].
CCA. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.mycca.com.au/welcome> [Accessed 17
August 2020].
Coca Cola Investor Relations, 2019. [image].
Coca-cola.com.au. 2020. Coca-Cola Australia. [online] Available at: <https://www.coca-
cola.com.au/en/home> [Accessed 17 August 2020].
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2020. Matter | Definition, Characteristics, States, Examples, & Facts.
[online] Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/science/matter> [Accessed 13 August
2020].
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2020. The Coca-Cola Company | History, Products, & Facts. [online]
Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Coca-Cola-Company> [Accessed 17
August 2020].
Pinterest, 2019. [image].
Pratap, A., 2020. Coca Cola History.
ResearchGate, 2008 [image]
Statista, 2018. [image].
visualcapitalist.com, 2020. [image].

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Multinational companies: Coca Cola