COCA-COLA VIDEO REACTION PAPER

Presented to the Faculty of School of Business and Governance

Ateneo de Davao University
E. Jacinto Street, 8000 Davao City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Subject

MGT 426: Strategic Management
EMBRADO, KNEERIZZA NECA
ESTIMADA, JASPER NIKKO
GARZON, MAE ANN
GATCHALIAN, SHEEN FREDERICK
GAUDICOS, ELLAH

JANUARY 14, 2016

Andy Warhol once said, A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better
Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the
Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it. Alan Rickman said,
Im still living the life where you get home and open the fridge and theres half a pot of yogurt
and half a can of flat Coca-cola. These are few of the remarks showing how Coca-cola is well
loved all around the world.
No one can say he or she does not know Coca-cola. Coca-cola is one of the largest and
popular brands around the world. It is introduced to different countries and is loved the same. It
is one of the companies looked up to by different firms, even those of different industry, because
of its success in business. It has already satisfied many people from one generation to another
and is still a going concern. Coca-cola surely is a firm that has passed the test of time and
continues to move forward and to serve many more consumers who craved for its unique and
delicious taste.
The group was shown a video presentation concerning Coca-colas success. It was a short
video yet it has given us enough information to have a complete grasp of the companys
continuing success. Given that, we are tasked to share our reaction to the video or to the success
of Coca-cola as a whole. Hence, we discussed, as a group, regarding our differing yet
intertwining points of view resulting to the following reactions.
According to one of our members, the Coca-Cola Company is known to be the world's
largest beverage company and the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of nonalcoholic carbonated beverages. Its success can be attributed to its brand strength, continual
investment in its brands and successful strategic acquisitions. Coca-Cola has a long history
which contributes to its present position in the market. The company offers a wide variety of
beverages to its customers and keeps on adding new promising beverage categories to capture
larger market share in different segments. The company has a dedicated team members involved
in processes related to organization and production and they are very prompt in handling any
kind of competitive, socio-political and economic changes in the environment. The company has
a strong structure to take care of all the challenges related to cost reduction across the industry
and to maximize profit with strong branding and promotion.
Moreover, it can be observed that Coca-Cola is adopting Differentiation and Cost
Leadership strategies. In terms of Differentiation, the firm attempts to be diverse from its
competitors by adding something to its product that will provide a unique value to
its customers. This is achieved through well-designed and managed marketing activities resulting
to perceived superior quality product and high branding image. Further, Cost Leadership is
achieved not only through economies of scale, but also through effective and efficient
distribution networks and manufacturing systems. Initially, it used the Market Penetration
Strategy and become established in its home market by increasing market share and product
usage. Then, it used a Market Development Strategy by expanding its operations into foreign
markets. Later, it developed new products (Product Development) and then started operations in
the carbonated soft drinks market (Diversification Strategy).
Apparently, the companys success depends on their ability to connect with consumers by
providing them with a wide variety of choices to meet their desires, needs and lifestyle choices.

Their success further depends on the ability of their people to execute effectively, every day. To
become more competitive and to accelerate growth, they have fully-utilized their assets namely,
their brands, financial strength, unrivaled distribution system, global reach, and the talent and
strong commitment of their management. The companys effectiveness and profitability is
obviously well-supported by their strong competitive position and market share. Its international
success is achieved by the companys strategy and tactics, which complement each other
providing the optimum return that is bounded by efficiency.
Another member also shared that Coca- Cola was founded hundred years ago and until
now it is still existing and booming. Based on the short clip presentation about the animated
history of Coca- Cola the following were the reason on how Coca- cola maintain its name and
brand in the market and sustained competitive advantage against its competitor: preservation of
their formula, adapting to change, unique trade dress, and their corporate social responsibility.
Coca- cola continues to preserve its recipe and keep it secret. There are only few people
who knew the full secret recipe and the syrup is being made only in factories in Atlanta then
these syrup is sold to different Coca- cola bottling companies who add carbonated water to the
secret formula and bottled the same and distributed across different countries worldwide. The
company until now being on top by preserving and keeping their formula secret to prevent and
avoid imitators and competitors to copy their product.
Second, Coca- cola continues to adapt in changes. Coca- cola improve their design, label,
and product appearance in order to cope up with changes. They create different products such as
juices, carbonated lemon soda, etc. and create different variations of carbonated coke in order to
serve different kinds of customer (e.g. coca- cola zero, diet coke, caffeine- free coca- cola, cocacola cheery and vanilla, etc.). Also, Coca- Cola make use the advantage of technology in their
bottling process and distribution. In order for Coca- cola to serve their customer with ice cold
soft drinks they distribute refrigerator and cooler to their retailer store.
Thirdly, Coca- cola has a unique trade dress from its competitor. They are the only soft
drinks company who has a contour bottle. Having a unique trade dress could help to avoid
imitators and the product could easily be recognized by the consumer.
Lastly, the Coca- cola had made good reputation to the stakeholders because of its social
responsibility. They sponsors Olympics games and provide projects for the betterment of
environment, community, and health.
Coca- cola starts from a the discovery of John Pemberton originally intended as patent
medicine and today it become a world- class brand in the industry of beverages. The success of
coca- cola is a very inspiring story. They keep their name on top for hundred years and surpass
different dilemma and obstacle in the industry.
Here is another reaction from another member of our group. It is undeniable that even if
Coca-Cola has been around for more than a century already, its popularity never faltered. Until
now, it is the most popular refreshment and it is so famous that when one sees its logo or even
just the contoured bottle, people would definitely recognize it almost anywhere in the world.

The great Coca-Cola recipe was developed in 1886 by a pharmacist named John
Pemberton who developed the syrup, mixed it with water, and sold it at the pharmacy. It is
amazing to think that the incident of having Coca-Cola syrup mixed with carbonated water
which became the leading soft drink of all time was firstly made as a mistake of one of the
employees of Pemberton at the time. He never knew how much his product would be affecting
the world just over a hundred of years later.
When John Pemberton sold the secret formula to Asa Candler in 1888, it became the time
in which Coca-Colas popularity has started to increase more steadily and rapidly, owing to the
latters effort to widen the market of Coca-Cola. He developed different marketing stunts to
promote Coca-Cola and distributed to more locations in America. In this time, they shipped the
syrups in barrels (which were painted red for that matter) and was sold in soda fountains. Then,
Thomas and Whitehead had come up with an idea to sell Coca-Cola in bottles so that the
consumers can take them home and enjoy it anytime and anywhere. This idea appealed to
Candler as stupid but then it was this strategy actually that made Coca-Cola more available to a
wider market. Because it was already bottled, it became more popular than it already was and
competitors were trying to imitate Coca-Colas logo and look, and so comes the birth of the
contoured bottle trademark of Coca-Cola in 1916. It was a very clever strategy of the bottlers at
the time because this strategy helped them avert further imitations of Coca-Colas image and
look because it was already trademarked. Moreover, it assured the customers that they were
really getting the real thing. It helped them not to be confused by the growing number of
imitators that Coca-Cola has during that time.
In 1919, Asa Candler sold the company to a group of investors. Robert Woodruff then he
became president of the company. I think that his skills were a very big factor to the worldwide
popularity of Coca-Cola because it was him who had envisioned Coca-Cola being distributed to
other parts of the world outside the United States and being enjoyed by people anytime and
anyplace. Under his leadership, bottling plants of Coca-Cola popped up in various locations
around the world. He directed the companys efforts to globalization making the company the
first truly global brand. I am amazed at how brave Mr. Woodruff was at the time because it was a
risk to try to go global since people from around the world have different preferences regarding
taste, some cultures like to eat spicy foods, others want their food sweet, and these differences
made the risk for Coca-Cola not to be accepted. But apparently, Mr. Woodruffs strategy was a
very clever one since his visions for the company really came into a reality as Coca-Cola is now
distributed in over 200 countries and it still is the leading brand in its industry for ages.
How Coca-Cola maintained its market position really puzzles me. It has a lot of
competitors out there but its popularity is never cannibalized by these competitors. Well, for me,
personally, Coca-Cola still has the best taste of them all. And I know many people also have the
same opinion as me. All I can say is that Coca-Colas story and their strategies are truly
remarkable and that other companies can learn from it, too.
Another member also shared that when you hear of word, soft drink, the first thing that
comes to mind would be Coca-Cola. This product already exists for more than a hundred years
and was able to withstand the difficulties throughout its existence. One would definitely be
interested as to how this company was able to grow from a simple drink sold at soda fountains to
a company that operates in more than 200 countries.
The group thinks that Coca-Colas success is attributable to the strategies that it has
implemented: first, being the first mover in the soda industry it had acquired such as greater
market share compared to competitors. Second, it also uses marketing penetration strategy.

During 1888, after John Pemberton sold his recipe to Asa Candler, the latter developed different
kinds of marketing strategy in order to promote Coca-Cola and through his efforts Coca-Cola
became popular throughout America. Third, using trade dress to promote product where CocaCola create the contra bottle, which it uses even today, in order for customers to identify CocaCola product from other competitors. Last, by implementing development strategy. This strategy
is done by presenting products or services into a new geographic area (David,2011). This is
evident after Asa Candler to a group of investors and when Robert woodrift became the
presedent Coca-Cola was able to expand its operations throughout the globe and become the first
truly global brand.
Today, cola-cola is still experiencing success and growth thanks to the strategies that it
had implemented in the past. From a simple drink sold at soda fountains to a product that is
available to anyone, any time, any place. Thus, we can infer that the strategies that a company
implements would greatly affect a company success in the long term.
Coca-cola is really on top of its game now. Many firms were inspired and imitated its
strategies to make their companies grow and prosper. Who would have thought a simple
initiative could boom and become one of the biggest and successful business companies now?
The success of Coca-cola truly is an inspiration and a challenge to all businessmen and
entrepreneurs out there. It brings to us the idea of striving hard and making the appropriate
decisions because success does not emerge out of luck alone. It requires critical thinking,
perseverance and the right timing. All these can be achieved if there would be proper strategic
management. In terms of business, Coca-cola truly is our epitome of success now.
Hence, our group would like to end this reaction paper by wisdom from Bryan Dyson,
former CEO of Coca-cola Co., Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the
required time to your family, friends and have proper rest. Value will only have value if it is
valued.