Milestone 1
Coca-Cola is a leader in the international soda and soft drink industry. Coca-cola originated in the 1880s in Atlanta, Georgia, but remains a constant household name around the world to this day (Coca-Cola History). While Coca-Cola has many major competitors such as PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper, and every grocery chain has their own brand of soda, Coca-Cola still has the competitive advantage over these competitors. Coca-Cola is the brand to beat, as they are leaders in innovation and advertising (Sattar, 2021). They are the most chosen consumer brand in the world, not just their soft drink competition (Richter, 2019). Coca-Cola also has the competitive advantage in customer service. Their new products are making soft drink distribution and consumption more user friendly and remain consistent with their online chats and help to customers (Guo & Wen, 2021).
Much like their products, Coca-Cola specializes in a unique and well thought out supply chain. The numbers are high all around, from the number of factories to the over one hundred people that will touch a bottle of Coke before it is opened by a consumer. Because Coca-Cola is an international company, they have to insure that their products will pass ll inspections no matter where it is sold, so there are high quality controls for their sodas. The company even has frequent meetings with their suppliers around the world. All of the hassle in the supply portion of the company is there because the demand for Coca-Cola products has been so high for so long. Coca-Cola’s key product is the bottle of coke. It is sold at many kinds of stores internationally. The packaging system has changed in the past, but the inside has remained the same for the most part (Shrum, 2019).
Coca-Cola’s home country is the United Stats. The GDP in the United States in 2021 was almost $23 trillion (World Bank). The company, however, is international, and is veery popular in the Great Britain markets as well as in the German markets (Ridder, 2022). The GDP in Great Britain in 2021 was $3.19 trillion, and the GDP in Germany in 2021 was $4.22 trillion (World Bank). The United States GDP was the highest by far out of these three. The reason to look into the GDP in countries where coca-cola is prevalent is because the fluctuations in GDP will typically affect the companies profits. A company’s profits will tend to follow the GDP fairly closely (Hansen, 2015). When the GDP grows, the economy will do better. This will, in turn, provide opportunity for economic growth for companies. Coca-Cola has more opportunity for economic growth in a country with a faster growing GDP than one with a slower growing GDP. This is all relative, though. Looking at the countries above, the United States has a much larger GDP than Germany. This does not, however, mean that there is no room for economic growth in Germany, just that it will be on a smaller scale. Because of a higher and more boosted economy, there will be more opportunities for investments, as people will have more money to invest than when the economy is failing. For all of these reasons, it is important to keep track of the GDPs in the countries that the company is present in, especially when the company holds such a large percentage of the GDP as Coca-Cola does (Stone, 2017).
References
Coca-Cola History. The Coca-Cola Company. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/history
GDP (current US$) - united states. Data. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=US&most_recent_value_desc=true
Guo, X., & Wen, M. (2021). Research on competitive strategy of Coca-Cola Company. Proceedings of the 2021 3rd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2021), 203. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211209.467
Hansen, S. (2015, October 30). What is the relationship between corporate profits and GDP? Nasdaq. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/what-relationship-between-corporate-profits-and-gdp-2015-10-30
Richter, F. (2019, May 16). Infographic: The World's most chosen FMCG Brands. Statista Infographics. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/chart/13893/most-chosen-fmcg-brands/
Ridder, M. (2022, January 13). The Coca-Cola Company: Unit Sales Volume Share by Region 2020. Statista. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/725027/coca-cola-unit-sales-volume-worldwide-region/
Sattar, S. B. (2021, November 9). 5 major competitive advantages of Coca Cola. The Strategy Watch. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.thestrategywatch.com/competitive-advantages-coca-cola/
Shrum, A. (2019, January 8). The Coca Cola Supply Chain & Manufacturing Process explained. Dynamic Inventory. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.dynamicinventory.net/coca-cola-supply-chain/
Stone, C. (2017, April 27). Economic growth: Causes, benefits, and current limits. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/economic-growth-causes-benefits-and-current-limits