Strategic Management Module 4 Case Strategic Choice Essay

Executive summary
The Coca-Cola Co always attempted to differentiate its products from those of competitors stressing the unique taste of its products. This strategy has brought the company a tremendous success and today the Coca-Cola Co. is one of the leaders in the beverage industry in the world. Nevertheless, the company could introduce a low cost strategy, which could be particularly effective in the time of economic recession and made its products more available to consumers worldwide.

Introduction
The Coca-Cola Co. is one of the leaders in the world beverage industry. The company holds a strong position in the market due to its extensive experience and differentiation of the unique taste of its drinks compared to those of its major rivals. The company protected its products from being used by other rivals keeping in secret the receipt of its drinks and working hard on the improvement of the taste of its products, adapting them to changing needs of customers. However, such a strategy, being quite effective, needs further improvements because the company has to improve its performance in the competitive struggle in global terms and the reduction of costs could be an effective strategy that will improve the position of the company in markets of countries of the third-world.
The effectiveness of Coca-Cola’s strategy
In actuality, the differentiation strategy used by the Coca-Cola Co. is quite effective because it allows the company to hold the unique position in the market and to offer products that have different taste compared to the major rivals of the company. In such a way, the company attempts to enhance its position in the market developing unique receipts of its drinks and offering them to customers, who are already accustomed to Coca-Cola’s drinks. The company has a long history of the development of the unique receipts which are the know-how of the company and are protected by patents.
At the same time, customers can distinguish the original taste of Coca-Cola and they are accustomed to this specific taste. In fact, the taste of Coca-Cola’s drinks became one of the major factors of the company’s success in the market. Customers enjoy products of Coca-Cola. This is why the company carries on implementing its traditional strategy in its competitive struggle in the market. However, the company faces the growing competition as the market expansion becomes limited as the Coca-Cola Co. and its major rivals operate internationally.
Sustained competitive advantages of Coca-Cola
Nevertheless, the strategy of differentiation of its products has brought the Coca-Cola Co. a sustained competitive advantage because its rivals cannot create products identical to those of the Coca-Cola Co. In fact, the company has managed to create the unique product and customers are accustomed to the taste of Coca-Cola’s drinks. As a result, they tend to consume Coca-Cola’s drinks because they prefer the unique taste of these drinks. In fact, the consumption of Coca-Cola’s drinks has already become a habit for many consumers. Therefore, the company can count on the sustainable development of its business as customers are loyal to the brand and its products due to the unique taste of these products. In this regard, the overall marketing success of the differentiation strategy used by the company reveals the effectiveness of this strategy for the marketing success of the company.
Unaddressed threats and missed opportunities
At the same time, the company underestimated the risk of the appearance of substitutes, which could replace traditional Coca-Cola’s drinks. In this regard, the appearance of alternative drinks that substitute Coca-Cola’s drinks can be a serious challenge to the position of the Coca-Cola Co. in the global market, especially taking into consideration growing customers’ concerns about the negative impact of Coca-Cola’s drinks on their health. In such a way, the company may lose its position in the market, if substitutes offering healthy drinks appear in the market and start competing and replacing Coca-Cola’s products.
At the same time, the company has lost the opportunity to use the strategy of mergers and acquisitions more effectively to enhance its position in the market and to decrease the competition in the beverage industry in global terms. The company shares markets with its major rivals but mergers and acquisitions, being applied by the Coca-Cola Co. at a wider scale, could allow the company to take the dominant position in the global market. In such a situation, the only threat to the position of the Coca-Cola Co. would be the threat of substitutes that could challenge the almost monopolistic position of the company in the world beverage market. Even though the company applied the strategy of mergers and acquisitions but the company failed to use the full potential of this strategy.
Possible alterations in the strategy used by Coca-Cola
In such a context, it is possible to suggest the Coca-Cola Co. to change its marketing strategy. In fact, the company can enhance its differentiation strategy through the introduction of the low cost strategy that could improve the competitive position of the company in the global market and enhance its position in international markets. In actuality, the introduction of the low cost strategy can be an effective alteration in the traditional strategy conducted by the company, which was oriented on the differentiation. The company can use the low cost strategy to back up its differentiation strategy because the low cost of production and delivery of its products to customers will allow the company to decrease the price of its products. As a result, customers will be able to buy more products of the Coca-Cola Co., while its prices will be in an advantageous position compared to its major rivals. Taking into consideration the global scope of operations conducted by the Coca-Cola Co., it is possible to presuppose that the low cost strategy will help the company to take the lead in the industry and outpace consistently its major rivals. In addition, the low cost strategy will increase the effectiveness of the organizational performance and provide the company with larger financial resources, which the Coca-Cola Co. will be able to invest to expand its market share and to conduct aggressive marketing strategy.
Suggestions on Coca-Cola’s strategy, mission and vision
In such a context, it is possible to suggest the Coca-Cola Co. to change its strategy and to introduce the low cost strategy to back up its differentiation strategy. In such a context, the company will have to change its mission and vision as well. To put it more precisely, the company should stress that its mission is to offer products of the high quality and affordable price, which customers can purchase and enjoy whenever and wherever they need them. The unique taste of Coca-Cola’s products will be combined with the low price of the company’s products. Therefore, the company should focus its vision on the development of new products with traditional taste and affordable price.
Conclusion
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the Coca-Cola Co. holds a leading position in the international beverage market. At the moment, the company uses the differentiation strategy that helps the company to offer products with unique tastes. However, the company can introduce the low cost strategy to enhance the position of the company in the world market and to offer products at lower price. In such a way, the company can improve its marketing position and enhance its marketing performance. The company has an opportunity to take the dominant position in the market and to minimize the risk of substitute, if the company implements the suggested strategy.