Fortune 500

The Coca Cola Company

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Abstract

Fortune 500 is a yearly ranking of corporations which are top 500 in terms of revenue. It is also referred to as Global 500. Compilation and publishing of the list is normally done by the Fortune magazine (Bernard, 2014). This paper focuses on one of the companies in the Fortune 500-the Coca Cola Company in terms of line of business, countries of operation and implementation of the 4P’s marketing strategy (Bernard, 2014).

The Coca Cola Company

The Coca Cola Company was at position 58 in the Fortune 500 list of the year 2014 with revenue amount in the tune of $46,854 million (Bernard, 2014). The Coca-Cola Company is a worldwide non-alcoholic beverage company. It deals with manufacturing, distribution and marketing of non-alcoholic beverage syrups and concentrates throughout the world (Company, 2007).

The company deals with manufacturing and selling of non-alcoholic beverages, majorly carbonated soft drinks. It also deals with beverages which are non-carbonated. The company also involved in manufacturing and distribution of juices and some juice and juice drinks as well as some water products for example the Dasani. Furthermore, the company has some interests in canning and bottling operations (Company, 2007).

The Coca- Cola Company operates in over 200 countries throughout the world (Singh & Sikka, 2011). It is very difficult to find a country today where Coca-Cola is not in existence. Some of the countries in which the company operates include the United States, Britain, China and South Africa (Singh & Sikka, 2011). The United States houses the capital of the company. The company is so popular that current records indicate that there are only two countries in which the company is not in operation; Cuba and North Korea (Singh & Sikka, 2011).

The Coca-Cola Company and 4P’s marketing mix.

The product, price, place and promotion together make the 4P’s marketing mix. These factors have an implication in the Coca Cola Company.

Product

This includes the product features, brands, designs and packaging. Here the company makes energy drinks, soft drinks, juice drinks, tea and coffee, sports drinks and water. Coke is the most popular brand of the company. However, there exists other product brands such as Fanta, Sprite, Stoney, Krest, Minute Maid, Powerade, Mello Yello Fuze Tea, Nos and Dasani water (Company, 2007).

The company has a different packaging due to the different sizes of various drinks. The most common sizes are 300ml, 500ml, 1.5 liters and 2 liters (Company, 2007). For cans, the most common size is 375ml.Design of the Coca Cola products are also unique (Company, 2007). For instance, there is a lot of uniqueness in the bottle of the Coke brand. It is very difficult to find any other drink bottled in a similar bottle (Company, 2007).

Price

The price of the products of the Coca Cola is dependent on the different product types as well as their sizes. Most of its products are sold at reasonable products and therefore are afforded by majority of the people in various classes of life. This has made their prices to be readily accepted by the customers. The company does aggressive advertising of its products and keeps in mind the competition offered by local as well as international competing brands so as to avoid being outcompeted by their competitors (Company, 2007).

Place

The Coca Cola Company is a multinational company and has several sales offices throughout the whole world (Company, 207). The products are mostly sold in local shops and supermarkets as well as restaurants, cafes and gas stations. The company aims at ensuring convenience to its customers to find the drinks at any place whatever the time (Company, 2007).

Promotion.

According to Company (2007) the Coca Cola Company is one of the best companies in terms of advertising its products. It is renowned for its ability to attract famous people to assist in advertisement of its products, z concept known as celebrity advertising. Some other methods used by the company in advertising include placing advertisements in magazines and TV’s and sponsorship activities. Their adverts keep on changing as well with time. More recently, the company has made customizing of their Coke bottles possible as a way of promoting their products. This has never been done before.

In implementing the above concept, some differences are encountered from one country to another. Some of the differences include;

Different government policies and limitations. Government policies regarding operation of the Coca Cola Company is different from country to country. For instance, there are some countries which limit its operation so as to promote local companies. Implementation of the 4P’s marketing mix in such countries therefore becomes difficult (Singh & Sikka, 2011).

Human resource challenges. Different people in diverse countries have diverse cultures and conceptions. For instance, it is difficult to find staff in various fields in some countries than finding in others due to differences in cultures. These differences may lead to conflicts during implementation the marketing mix strategies (Singh & Sikka, 201).

Cultural differences. Different people in different countries have some difference in attitudes and traditions towards the Coca Cola products. In some countries, the people’s cultures are receptive of the products while in others the case is opposite. This makes it difficult to implement the concept (Company, 2007).

Difference in resource endowments. Some countries are richer than others and therefore have good facilities such as roads and communication networks. Implementing of the 4P’s such as promotion therefore becomes easier than doing so in a country where such networks are poor (Company, 2007).

In conclusion, the Coca Cola Company is indeed one of the largest companies in the world. It has done much to ensure that its 4P’s marketing mix concept is implemented. However, this has not been achieved in some regions due to the reasons stated above. Much therefore needs to be done to ensure that the concept is implemented in all regions of its existence.

References

Company, W. (2007). The Coca-Cola Company: An illustrated profile of a worldwide company. Atlanta: Coca-Cola.

Bernard, T. (2014). Fortune 500. Time New Media.

Singh, s., & Sikka, b. (2011). Marketing mix model for mutual funds an analysis of 4ps marketing mix model (Neue Ausg. ed.). Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.