Company Analysis - Report

Company Analysis - Report

The Coca-Cola Company

Chirteș,Alexandra 4118340 Constantinescu,Alex 4110978

Davis, Rachel 4132777 Grosu,Matei 4145216
Kaya,Taylan 4197046 Luca,Ştefan 4327969

BIIT
Fontys Hoegeschool
Venlo
20th October 2020
Table of Contents

ii
1 Introduction................................................................................................................................ 1
2 Basics of the company............................................................................................................... 1
2.1 History of Coca-Cola......................................................................................................... 1
2.2 The Coca-Cola System at a glance.................................................................................1
2.3 Objectives and priorities................................................................................................... 1
2.4 The vision of Coca-Cola................................................................................................... 2
3 Management - The Direction For Success.................................................................................2
3.1 The Coca-Cola System..................................................................................................... 2
3.2 Governance....................................................................................................................... 2
3.3 Management Charter........................................................................................................ 3
4 Introduction to Coca-Cola’s materials:.......................................................................................3
4.1 Ingredients:........................................................................................................................ 3
4.2 Reducing added sugar:..................................................................................................... 4
4.3 Sustainable Agriculture:.................................................................................................... 4
4.4 Water management:.......................................................................................................... 4
4.5 Packaging materials, recycling and world without waste:...............................................5
5 Service....................................................................................................................................... 5
5.1 The types of services offered by Coca-Cola....................................................................5
5.2 A sustainable future.......................................................................................................... 6
6 The marketing of Coca Cola – Their recipe to a successful brand............................................6
6.1 Coca Cola – not just a product, but a symbol..................................................................6
6.2 The “Share a Coke”-campaign | Personalizing a brand..................................................7
6.3 The new sharing can – share a drink with someone.......................................................7
6.4 A successful relaunch of the Campaign..........................................................................7
6.5 Coca Cola in pop culture.................................................................................................. 8
6.6 Coca Cola – designing Santa Claus, the ultimate symbol..............................................8
6.7 To summarize Coca Cola’s marketing strategy...............................................................8
7 Finance...................................................................................................................................... 9
7.1 Financial Successes and Failures......................................................................................... 9
7.2 Financial Statements............................................................................................................. 9
7.3 Industry Analysis.................................................................................................................... 9
7.4 Financial Ratios................................................................................................................... 10
8 HR - Coca-Cola Caring For Their Staff....................................................................................11
8.1 Human Rights - All Employees Are Treated Equal.......................................................11
8.2 Staff Training - Safe Guarding The Future Of Coca-Cola.............................................11
8.3 Everyone Has A Chance At Coca-Cola.........................................................................11
8.4 The Coca-Cola Foundation - Caring For All..................................................................12
9 Information............................................................................................................................... 12
9.1 Communication............................................................................................................... 12
9.2 Digital evolution............................................................................................................... 12
10 IT.............................................................................................................................................. 13
10.1 Big data technology......................................................................................................... 13
10.2 Artificial Intelligence........................................................................................................ 13
10.3 Social Media.................................................................................................................... 13
10.4 Technology...................................................................................................................... 14
10.5 Technology make your life easier..................................................................................14
10.6 Augmented reality........................................................................................................... 14
11 Conclusion /Advice................................................................................................................... 14
12 Sources.................................................................................................................................... 15
13 About the chapters................................................................................................................... 18
1 Introduction
What really happens in a company as big as Coca-Cola?

With the help of over 700.000 employees working for various departments, the Coca-Cola
brand built an empire that sells beverage concentrates, syrups, and finished beverages
(including sparkling soft drinks, water and sports drinks, juice, dairy and plant-based drinks,
tea, and coffee) all around the globe. Creating products as successful as the ones made by
Coca-Cola require a lot of steps and careful decisions. From choosing the right materials,
having a good marketing strategy, and handling the after-care services to making sure that
the personnel is working in a safe environment are all crucial steps in creating a good final
product, and Coca-Cola is all about that.
In our presentation, we discuss topics such as the basics of the company, management,
production environment, finance, personnel, information, and IT. Another major topic for
our presentation is the goal of Coca-Cola. Some of their main focuses right now include
reducing the use of plastic and manufacturing as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.

2 Basics of the company

The Company of Coca-Cola is one of the best-known beverage businesses. It is
recognized by 94 percent of all the population on earth, as one study shows.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, this massive trademark is selling its drinks in stores,
restaurants, and vending machines.

2.1 History of Coca-Cola

Over 134 years ago, on May 8, 1886, the first glass of Coca-Cola was sold to a pharmacy
in downtown Atlanta. Serving nine drinks per day in its first year, Coca-Cola was meant to
be a helpful drink in treating headaches.

2.2 The Coca-Cola System at a glance

Now, the company manufactures over 4.700 products for more than 500 brands, all being
sold in 200 countries around the world. This is being possible with the help of 700.000+
employees working for the brand and their bottling partners.
Coca-Cola is marketing, manufacturing, and selling beverage concentrates, syrups, and
finished beverages such as sparkling soft drinks; water and sports drinks; juice, dairy, and
plant-based drinks; coffee and tea.
By the end of 2019, the company of Coca-Cola had approximately 225 bottling partners
and 900 bottling plants worldwide. All of this while they were having the serving number of
2 billion bottles a day.

2.3 Objectives and priorities

As the world changes, so are the priorities of the company. Coca-Cola prioritizes
sustainability as they are trying to make changes such as: reducing the added sugar from
the drinks, recycling all of the materials, treating wastewater to high standards, and
reducing their carbon footprint.
One of the biggest objectives of the company is transforming its portfolio. Some of these
changes include making packages smaller so they can easily control the sugar intake,
reducing sugar across all of their product lines, and offering more drinks that have
additional nutrition and hydration benefits.

1
2.4 The vision of Coca-Cola
The vision of Coca-Cola is to keep on creating the drinks that people love and enjoy. The
company wants to promote sustainability as pollution becomes the major problem of our
society.
They also plan on becoming the leading 24/7 beverage company. What Coca-Cola means
by that is that they want to make sure every customer has a drink choice for every moment
of the day. They want to be as inclusive as possible in order to keep all of the customers
satisfied.

3 Management - The Direction For Success

The Coca-Cola Company started in 1932 and has since seen many different directors and
many different strategies throughout its history. But they always stayed true to their main
goal which was to bring refreshing beverage to the world.

3.1 The Coca-Cola System

The Coca-Cola Company together with their bottling partners are collectively known as the
Coca-Cola System. This system is divvied into manufacturing concentrates, bottlers and
the distribution. The Coca-Cola Company manufactures and sells concentrates for their
beverages which are then transported to authorized bottling partners. These partners add
the still or sparkling water and sweeteners depending which product it is to the concentrate
and take care of the distribution. The finished product selling is done by the Coca-Cola
Company. Some products are finished made by the Coca-Cola Company themselves
where as the most bottling companies are not owned or controlled by the Coca-Cola
Company but have to follow the policies and directives from the Coca-Cola Company.

3.2 Governance
The core business of the Coca-Cola Company is innovation, creation and marketing as well
as the concentrate. The Coca-Cola Company has over 500 brands which is all looked after
by the various leaders which on top has the chairman and chief executive officer James
Quincey.
The management is broken down in sub areas which are led by many people which are too
many to list. The Senior Leadership is there to "build a culture of success that fuels (the)
transformation and supports growth worldwide" (The Coca-Cola Company (n.d.) (2.)). It
consist of eleven people in different but high positions including the CEO James Quincey.
Next to note is the Operations Leadership which is in charge of "deliver(ing) more than 1.9
billion servings daily across 200+ countries and territories around the world"(The Coca-
Cola Company (n.d.) (2.))This area is also subdivide into different geographical areas.
There is the team for Asia Pacific Group, Europe Middle East and Africa Group, Latin
America Group, North America Group and the Global Ventures. under each sub area minus
global venture there is a group president and a president for sub divided areas within the
division. The Company has another 14 vice presidents which are for Chief of Internal audit,
Strategic Security, General Tax counsel, Investor Relations Officer, Controller, Global
Finance Operations, Flavour Supply, Next Generation Services, Corporate Treasurer,
Global Community Affairs and President for Coca-Cola Foundation, Flavour Ingredient
Supply, Mergers and Acquisitions, Assistant Controller and Chief Accounting Officer and
Scientific and Regulatory Affairs. And lastly they have a board of directors which "strongly
believe in the bright future of (the) brands, (the) business and the positive impact (they)
have, and should have, on local communities." (The Coca-Cola Company (n.d.) (2.)). "The
board has a number of committees to assist in discharging its duties. These include an
Audit Committee, a Talent and Compensation Committee, a Committee on Directors
and Corporate
Governance, a Finance Committee, a Management Development Committee, a Public
Policy and Sustainability Committee and an Executive Committee." (The Coca-Cola
Company, 2020(1.)) It consist of eleven people who all are directors in other companies
and work as well in the Coca-Cola Company. And it is always open for feedback from
shareholders which they will incorporate in their new management goals when it passes
the annual review of the committee about the company policy. Furthermore they engage
with the key shareholders to drive the progress on their priority issues.

3.3 Management Charter

They have several management goals for the future on which they already are working at
the moment. I will list and describe shortly about a selection of them.
In every market around the world they are reducing the added sugar in their drinks as well
as developing a next generation of sugar alternative. They want to continue to change and
refine recipes to lower the sugar level in all beverages. Furthermore, they have and are
expanding their range of drinks by adding water, coffee, tea, dairy, fruit juices and plant-
based options.
The Coca-Cola Company's highest Priority lies at the sustainability issues and aspects. It
has reduced its carbon footprint by 24% in ten years and are further trying to lower it every
year. As a global player Coca-Cola sees itself as an important role in the World without
waste. They are developing new types of bottles and packaging and also think up and
implement ways of taking back and collecting their bottles in many countries in the world. A
commitment to replenish the water they use in their drinks and the production of them is
also a key goal that the company has in mind.
The company has a high priority on human rights and empowering women in their own
company as well as globally. Many programs are done to help with these two goals. Last
but not least on this incomplete list is the point they call "giving back" . Every year they
donate and help many communities throughout the world by giving back a bit of their profit.
They always follow their "business principles and practise foster an innovative and
collaborative culture, which is committed to ethical behaviour, accountability and
transparency." (The Coca-Cola Company, 2020(1.))

4 Introduction to Coca-Cola’s materials:

The Coca-Cola company is one of the biggest, if not the biggest one in the beverage (soft
drink) industry. Therefore, the materials represent a highly complex topic which include
ingredients that are used in the process of producing the beverages, but also include the
company’s priorities and progress such as reducing added sugar, water management,
agriculture and its initiative to make the world a better place (according to Coca Cola
slogan:
„World Without Waste”).

4.1 Ingredients:
This worldwide known drink, Coca-Cola, has some main ingredients that make the
beverage as it is, and these are: carbonated water which is used to provide the beverage a
sparkling taste, sugar (sucrose or high fructose corn syrup), caffeine which is used to give
the consumer some energy, phosphoric acid which is used to give the Coca-Cola a tangy
taste. In addition, the drink contains small amounts of phosphorus within it, caramel color or
E150d which is a caramel coloring used in acidic environments such as soft drinks and
gives the beverage its dark brown color and last but not least, natural flavorings that are
used to give the soda a unique taste, and they consist of a variety of plants and vegetable
extracts with which is created a secret mixture. One interesting fact about ingredients is
that, in the beginning, the company was using cocaine in the Coca-Cola as a stimulus
and it once
contained nine milligrams per glass. Moreover, the ingredient was officially removed from
the recipe in 1903 leaving caffeine as the main stimulus.

4.2 Reducing added sugar:

The company’s target is to offer more choices with less sugar, as leading health authorities
have recommended that individual persons should not consume more than 10% of their
total calories from added sugar. Therefore, in 2019 the company succeeded to remove
approximately 350.000tons of added sugar through 275 product reformulations. Also,
according to Coca-Cola’s annual report more than 1000 new products were launched in
2019 of which more than 400 were low or no-sugar. In addition, the leadership of the
company tried to provide choices that hold up with what customers want and need. In order
to do so and to reduce added sugar, a lot of recipes were changed, and the company
promoted lower and no-calories beverage options. Moreover, the Coca-Cola firm
succeeded in making smaller packages more available to enable portion control.
As the company is serious about removing as much sugar as it can from its beverages, it
started to develop the next generation of sugar alternatives. As a result, the Coca-Cola
corporation brought in 2019 to the market new sugar alternatives that help at keeping the
tastes that people love, but with less added sugar and lower calories. For example, the
worldwide sale of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar grew by double in 2019, for the third year in a row.
What is more, average calories per pack dropped by 1.7% in that year and approximately
45% of the firm’s drinks portfolio is low or without sugar. In addition, Coca-Cola’s new
„Trademark” recipe which consists of 30% less added sugar accomplished to remove around
280.000 tons of added sugar.

4.3 Sustainable Agriculture:

As it is reported, sustainable agriculture is a very important aspect for the Coca-Cola
business. In 2019, 54% of the Coca-Cola most important raw materials were obtained
sustainably compared to 44% in 2018. Also, the quality and integrity of Coca-Cola
production depended on a healthy supply chain with successful farming communities and
ecosystems. Moreover, the Coca-Cola organization gets a large range of agricultural
ingredients, involving sugar, corn, coffee, tea, soy and fruit juices and it expends the range
of ingredients with herb, nuts and milk. As the company desire a better future, it is currently
keeping up with SAGP (Sustainable Agriculture Guiding Principles) compliance of 13
priority ingredients that represent near 80% of the total annual agricultural ingredient
purchases. Last year, 54% of these ingredients were SAGP compliant (from 8% in 2013,
when the program started). What is more, as climate is changing the weather begins to be
more erratic and extreme, so more sustainable agricultural practices will be a vital part in
marketing resilience across the Coca-Cola’s supply chain and in the communities that
produce all agricultural ingredients needed in the production of beverages. Also, the raw
materials used in Coca-Cola’s products account for 20% to 25% of the company’s footprint
and roughly 85% of its water footprint.

4.4 Water management:

Water is a very important subject in every industry, particularly in the beverage industry. As
the Coca-Cola corporation has been a leader in water for the last ten years it has a big
responsibility regarding water and water waste. Having said that, 160% of the water that
had been used in the production of soft drinks was returned in nature and communities
during 2019. Also, Coca-Cola gives examples on how to protect local water resources,
promote responsible water use and, moreover, they make sure that clean water is available
for everyone. During 2019 the company tried to improve the productivity of the water it
uses. Now it is needed 1.85 liters of water per liter of final product. This is an 18%
improvement since 2010. More, the organization multiplied its reused water and has
ongoing projects to improve the reusage of water. As it is written before, Coca-Cola tried to
replenish water to nature, and it has been accomplished by returning more than 1,5 trillion
liters of water since 2012.
4.5 Packaging materials, recycling and world without waste:
In the production of beverages that Coca-Cola corporation sells are used materials such as
PET, aluminum, glass, cartons and pouches. Regarding PET (a type of plastic that is used
for bottles) which is a versatile, lightweight and highly recyclable material is very used in
packaging the products. In 2019 there were 16 markets that offered 100% recycled PET
bottles. Also, since the end of 2019, 7 out of 10 of all bottles in Australia were made out of
recycled plastic. the company is using plant-based materials in order to reduce the footprint
of CO2. Another material used by Coca-Cola company is aluminum which is lightweight,
high-value and highly recyclable and it can be recycled at a high rate. Another element that
is used by the firm is glass, which is heavy, breakable and low-value material. Also, glass is
less likely to be recycled.
One of the company’s biggest projects is „world without waste” which consists of recycling
as many cans and bottles as it is possible. Some interesting facts about this operation are
that globally, 88% of the company’s packages can be recycled, 20% of the recycled
material is in the packages that are used and just 10% of the recycled PET is used in the
packaging. Finally, 60% of the bottles and cans that were introduced into the market in
2019 were refilled, recycled or collected. That percentage has increased with 4% since
2018.

5 Service
Service is an action that belongs to the primary process of a business. It is performed to
satisfy a need, fix a problem or to fulfill a demand. The primary processes consist of the
core and primary activities that are essential to a business. Service is the last part of the
primary activities.
The company of Coca-Cola sells a wide range of drinks all around the world. The service
department is the one that supervises and improves the products after reading the
feedback from consumers. Their goal is to keep the customer happy after the purchase of a
product. The reason behind it is that most people value a business on the quality of its
service, so Coca-Cola wants to provide serious and professional after-sale service for their
clients.

5.1 The types of services offered by Coca-Cola

The company of Coca-Cola sells their drinks in plastic bottles in sizes of 2 liters, 1.5 liters, 1
or 0.5 liters and cans of 0.33 and 0.25 liters.
As of what can the Coca-Cola service help you with, they answer questions about their
products, packaging and the equipment they are selling, as well as handle the complaints
coming from sales centers about damaged products or the cold drink equipment.
The Coca-Cola service can be reached in many ways. Customers can contact the
consumer relations via phone, mail and even social media. Another way you can contact
services from the beverage business is by going under the ‘Contact us’ section on their
website. There you can choose to get in touch with your “virtual agent”, who you can ask
your question or write your problem to. Another thing you can do is fill out the ‘Contact us
form’ where you can select what topic you are writing about. You can write to Coca-Cola
about things regarding advertising, the company, ingredients, media inquiry, product
availability, promotion and rewards, quality, and vending or you can submit an idea.
Some of their frequently asked questions are about their promotions, the ingredients,
mostly the amount of sugar used in the drinks, and about the company. The facts that
clients are becoming more and more interested about what is being used in their drinks has
had a major impact in the plans of the company.
5.2 A sustainable future
Because the Coca-Cola company values the customers and their opinions so much, they
are now making a lot of changes to keep the clients happy and healthy.
Pollution is a serious world issue, reasons why helping the planet for a better future became
one of the top priorities of Coca-Cola in the past years.
After receiving a lot of complaints about the amount of plastic waste their company
produces, they started a recycling campaign and are now bottling only with reused plastic.
This kind of feedback is also what made the company to plan on reducing the added sugar
across their product lines and treating the wastewater with high importance. Another
important factor in becoming a much more sustainable company is reducing their carbon
footprint. Keeping the customers healthy is another major thing for the future of the
company. They are now releasing more plant-based drinks with high nutritional value.

6 The marketing of Coca Cola – Their recipe to a successful brand

The softdrink known as Coca Cola is one of the most recognized beverages all around the
world. What made the product so successful and why does the Coca Cola Company
overshadow other beverage-manufacturers with the greatest of ease?
One would think that Coca Cola in its core is just like any other consumer product; it is not
an investment in any shape or form and therefore targets an aspect of the consumer’s
physiological needs according the Maslow’s hierarchy. In this case the need for water is
targeted.
While the product is not strictly made for those who lack basic needs like food, water,
warmth, and rest, a can of Coca Cola usually costs less than a Euro in most countries.
This means that if a potential customer feels thirsty due to a situational lack of a drink, he or
she will most likely grab the next best cheap beverage and therefore be converted to a
customer.
Now these are the fundamental rules that most beverage-manufacturers operate on, as
they target the emotional customer, not the logical one.
For example, someone who wants to buy a can of Coca Cola most likely does not think
twice whether this is a good investment or not, because it is not an investment at all. An
investment can return capital over time, grow in value, or just improve the customer’s life in
general. An investment does not need to be financial and yet Coca Cola is none of these
things.
It is simply a product to enjoy and consume and once it is consumed, it is gone forever.

6.1 Coca Cola – not just a product, but a symbol

The Coca Cola company not only understood the idea of targeting the emotional customer,
but they have taken it a step further, which is why their success is unparalleled.
Instead of just targeting the basic needs of the customer, they also target the third layer of
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: The need for belongingness and love.
The Coca Cola company has always trained their customers to associate fond memories
and/or happiness with their products.
In their advertisements they rarely talk about the product itself, but instead showcase
people who are visually happy either because of their product or something that involves
their product.
By creating these special moments, The Coca Cola company has accomplished that
customers will not just look at can of Coca Cola as a simple beverage, but they will see it
as a symbol for friendship, happiness, and laughter.
This is so effective because most people already have fulfilled their basic needs. They
have constant access to water anywhere and do therefore not need to grab a can of Coke
to fulfill
something which does not need to be fulfilled - but most people also crave for
belongingness, friendship and overall happiness. It is not something you can simply buy
unlike food or water. There are enough consumer products on the market, but none are like
Coca Cola because the initiative was taken to promote the product to more than just a
simple product. Whenever most people buy a Coca Cola they immediately think of
friendship and a positive feeling comes up. That is one of the reasons why the Coca Cola
company is the leading beverage-manufacturer in the world.

6.2 The “Share a Coke”-campaign | Personalizing a brand

The “Share a Coke”-campaign is one of the most successful campaigns the Coca Cola
company has ever launched. The goal here was to further personalize the relationship to
the customer. People love buying from people, and not from businesses. A common
stereotype of a business is that it consists of people who are after your money. A business
is often a symbol of inhumanity. People, however, are empathic and consider more than
just the customer’s money. People are emotional while businesses are cold-hearted and
logical.
At least that is the common stereotype of the ignorant masses.
Instead of counting on the customer’s to be open-minded and see a business as a group of
people instead of a money-parasites, Coca Cola has decided to establish a personal
connection to their customers. That way, the consumer sees Coca Cola as another
emotional being and not a business.
Again, people buy from people, not businesses.
The campaign was launched in Australia in the year 2011 and featured a new packaging
design. It had the words “Share a coke with…” plus one of Australia’s top 150 most popular
names on it. That way, the Coca Cola company could target roughly 42 percent of
Australia’s population.
The campaign was so well received that it spread around the whole world. China printed
nicknames instead of first names to make the product even more personal and Israel
turned their largest billboards into interactive signs which greeted people by name.
This, of course, lead to the Coca Cola company achieving their goal of establishing a more
personal relationship with their customers.

6.3 The new sharing can – share a drink with someone

Part of the Coca Cola company’s “Share a Coke”-campaign was the new “Sharing can”.
It looks like a typical Coca Cola tin can, but it can be twisted to become two smaller cans.
This had the goal to inspire consumers to share the product with friends and family,
potentially broadening the customer base even further. The main goal, however, was to
inspire happiness and establish a further personal connection as Coca Cola would be
associated with friends, family, and fond moments in general outside of advertisements.
As part of the sharing can’s pilot project, the Coca Cola company distributed their sharing
cans to the citizens of Singapore and recorded their genuine positive reactions, which the
company used to advertise their new product.

6.4 A successful relaunch of the Campaign

In 2016 a new variation of the campaign was introduced in the united states of America.
The new packaging featured lyrics of a popular song. Furthermore, Selena Gomez posted
a photo for the campaign on her Instagram account after she and Coca-Cola briefly went
into cooperation. This photo became the most-liked photo on Instagram at the time.
This form of marketing is very popular even today with brands using the audience of
successful influencers and/or celebrities to make their product or service known to the
public.
Coca-Cola was extremely successful with this, because it already was, at the time, a
recognized brand-name and the audience of Selena Gomez was big enough to kickstart
the “Share a coke and Song” campaign.
6.5 Coca Cola in pop culture
The Coca Cola company values the audiences of others. By partnering up with various
celebrities, TV shows, etc. their product will not only be seen by the greater masses, but
also bought by those who idolize said celebrity, TV show, etc.
In 2010’s Super Bowl XLIV commercial, Coca Cola was featured alongside the Simpsons.
In the clip, Mr. Burns, who in the show is known to be of bitter and semi-cold-hearted
billionaire, was shown to have lost all his fortune and therefore being extremely sad. The
world around him is shown to be full of joy and a happy tune is playing in the background.
Everyone who is happy has a Coca Cola bottle in his/her hand, while Mr. Burns walks by
and is emotionally isolated from the rest. Upon seeing his frown, the happy tune is replaced
by a dreaded tone and someone walks up to him to offer him a Coca Cola, whereafter Mr.
Burns’ frown turns to a smile and the happy tune is continued.
At the end of the commercial the slogan “open happiness” is displayed next to the Coca
Cola logo.
Not only does this form of advertisement once again make sure that the customer
associates Coca Cola with happiness and friendship, but the inclusion of the Simpsons had
the effect that the customer basis has been broadened once again. A portion of the
Simpson’s audience had been converted to customers of the Coca Cola company simply
because Coca Cola was featured in their favorite show.
This form of advertisement is common in the Coca Cola company and one of the reasons
why they are so known.

6.6 Coca Cola – designing Santa Claus, the ultimate symbol

While the myth of Santa Claus has existed long before the Coca Cola company, he had
different depictions all around the world.
In 1931 Haddon Sundblom, a commissioned illustrator of the Coca Cola company, finalized
the design of Santa Claus. The design became the chubby bearded man in red kids now
know to love.
This is important because Coca Cola uses Santa Claus in their iconic Christmas
commercials, where the Coca Cola delivery trucks are decorated with beautiful lights,
families are shown to have a great time together and Santa Claus is shown to drink Coca
Cola. Almost every adult who thinks of Santa probably also thinks of Coca Cola.
Santa Claus is probably one of the biggest symbols the Coca Cola company has ever
created and that is, again, a reason for their success, as Santa himself is associated with
Christmas and Christmas is associated with beautiful memories, family, and friends.

6.7 To summarize Coca Cola’s marketing strategy

The Coca Cola company puts great value into establishing a personal connection to their
customers as well as training their minds to associate Coca Cola with happiness, fond
memories, friends, and family.
Alongside that, they partner up with those who have a big audience to ensure that the
product is presented to as many people as possible.
This also has the effect that a portion of their partner’s audience is converted to a customer
of the Coca Cola company.
 7 Finance
In the early years of Coca-Cola, the company was bought for $25 million by a group of businessmen
led by Ernest Woodruff. In 1919, the company made its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE) for $40 per share. According to the 2019 annual report, the Coca-Cola
shares (KO) have risen so that the company’s market capitalization is $206.5 billion and has had its
58th consecutive annual dividend increase in February 2020.

7.1 Financial Successes and Failures

Coca-Cola has continued to diversify and expand into emerging markets. The company has proven it
can respond to grow and maintain market share as consumer tastes shift.
On one hand, one of the company’s financial successes is its first venture outside of soft beverages,
the Minute Maid Corporation acquisition through a stock swap in 1960. Moreover, the following year
Coca-Cola introduced Sprite, another profitable product estimated at $5 Billion and ranked the third
most popular drink around the world.
In 1982, another major success was the brand’s own use of Coca-Cola trademark by introducing a
low calorie alternative - Diet Coke. In less than a year of being introduced to the market, Diet Coke
had become America’s top sugar-free option, raising the company’s retail sales by 7%. To this day,
Diet Coke is still one of the most successful brands worldwide, present in 185 markets.
On the other hand, one of the company’s biggest failures was determined by Coca-Cola’s action to
outrival the new competitors in the market. In the early 1980’s, Pepsi-Cola started to gain market-
share. On April 23 1985, Coca-Cola replaced its original formula to a new one and the original Coke
was discounted. Such a drastic change had a huge impact in the market, hence the shared dropping
3%. The New Coke was not welcomed by loyal consumers, who decided on boycotting the company.
77 days later, Coca-Cola has publicly admitted its mistake and shifted back to the classic formula
and regained market share. In 1987, Coca-Cola returned this time to Dow Jones stock market.

7.2 Financial Statements

Financial analysis is the process of evaluating businesses to determine their performance and
suitability. Coca-Cola is a publicly traded company, hence why all the company’s financial
statements, such as the balance sheet, income statement, equity statement, and cash flow
statement, are listed on their website and available to the large public for interpretation.

7.3 Industry Analysis

Over the past five years, Coca-Cola has achieved a 25% net profit margin compared to 17.67% of
their competitors. Moreover, the return on equity is 44% for Coca-Cola, in comparison to 31.77% of
the competition, making the company very attractive for investors because its better return on
investment compared to other companies in the industry.
For a company that has been in the market for over a century the market is very saturated, but what
makes Coca-Cola stock lucrative for investors is that their dividend yield is higher than their
competitors (3.41% vs 2.87%). Coca-Cola's strong brand presence around the world makes it
trustworthy for investors.
 7.4 Financial Ratios

Financial ratios can help with the interpretation of financial statements in order to take action and
improve them, as well as helping investors compare the financial performance of various companies
to aid in their decision making process before investing.

Activity Ratios, also known as the operation ratios, are looking at how quickly several accounts are
converted into cash or sales. One of the most important accounts is the Inventory Turnover, which
refers to the period used to produce, keep, and sell inventories. Over the last four years, there was a
decrease in inventory turnover ratio, illustrating that Coca-Cola products stayed longer in the
warehouses and were sold slower than it used to. In 2016 the inventory turnover was 6.6 times,
compared to 4.4 times in 2019. This is not a reason of concern as Coca-Cola products have a long
shelf life.

Profitability ratios are looking at how a company generates profit. One example of profitability ratios
is the Profit Margin Ratio which highlights the profit generated for each dollar in sales. This ratio is
important because if a company has a high profit margin then the business can make less revenue
and still manage to pay off the expenses. In 2016, Coca-Cola’s profit margin was deeply affected by
the ministry of health classification of carbonated drinks as unhealthy, which has caused a large
demand fall for carbonated beverages in North America. In 2016 Coca-Cola had a profit margin of
16%, decreasing to only 4% in 2017. Nevertheless, the company regained its popularity and two
years later, the profit margin increased 24% in 2019.

Liquidity refers to the ease with which an asset can be converted into ready cash, without affecting
its market price, to replace business short-term and long-term debt. There are types of liquidity
ratios: Current Ratio, Quick Ratio, and Cash Ratio. Current Ratio measures the business’ ability to
pay off short term debt, where a ratio of 1 shows the capability of covering the liabilities due. In 2016,
Coca-Cola recorded a great current ratio of 1.28 and maintained a ratio over 1 for the next two years.
However, in 2019 the current ratio dropped to 0.76 meaning that the company is facing liquidity
issues. Moreover, Quick Ratios concentrates on turning current assets into cash to cover debt. In
2016 and 2017 the company had a good ratio over 1, but decreased to 0.95 in 2018 and 0.63 in
2019, caused by a decrease in current assets. To continue, Cash Ratios focuses on paying debt
using liquid assets. Here a ratio under 1 is beneficial as is better to have the cash invested. Coca-
Cola cash ratios have decreased over the past 4 years, from 0.84 to 0.41. This might indicate that
Coca-Cola is not managing their working capital effectively.
8 HR - Coca-Cola Caring For Their Staff
Throughout the Coca-Cola Company there exists a variety of positions of employment as
well as a wide geographical foot print. In total there are more than 700.000 employed by
the Coca-Cola Company and their bottling partners. This number can be broken down to
roughly 10.800 in North America, 2.400 in Latin America, 5.700 in Europe/Middle
East/Africa, 2.900 in Asia Pacific,42.700 from the bottling investments group and 21.700 in
Global ventures. At Coca-Cola the employees are at the heart of the company and should
all have a passion for helping communities. They strive to make a difference for people at
work as well as communities. The safety, health and security of all its people and staff has
and will always come first in the Coca-Cola Company. They made a way of life that values
how the employees work as much as what they achieve. Encouraging curiosity,
empowerment, inclusivity and agility are further straits of the company's key traits for
employees.

8.1 Human Rights - All Employees Are Treated Equal

One of the foundational points to the business is the respect for human rights which makes
sure that every employee can have a "safe, supportive and respectful workplace where the
dignity of every associate is recognized." (The Coca-Cola Company, 2020(1.))This is
ensured by the Human Rights Policy from the company that within the Coca-Cola Company
as well as any owned operations or ones they have management control over is valid. The
suppliers and system partners are also expected to follow rules to have a responsible
workplace which is written in the Supplier Guiding Principles. These are always included in
any contract agreement with the Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company gives
means and training and encourage every "employee to report any violations of the policy
through multiple channels, including an ethics hotline"(The Coca-Cola Company, 2020(1.))
to make sure their policy on Human Rights is throughout the system a key value.

8.2 Staff Training - Safe Guarding The Future Of Coca-Cola

Another foundational point is that the products but also the workplace has to be
unquestionable safe and that every employee should be able to leave work as healthy and
as safe as they arrived. For this the Coca-Cola Company has protocols, training and
resources that are needed to guarantee these guidelines and ensure safe behaviour in all
their actions. For the company this is a fundamental right and they are working very hard
on the goal of zero work-related injuries and illnesses. This is regulated through the Coca-
Cola Operating Requirements which defines policies and standards regarding managing
safety. These guidelines which are valid for every part of the Coca-Cola System ensures
that every facility has a safety management system to improve employee safety and reduce
risks. They should also always think on how to improve and be better. To guarantee these
points and values the company conducts unannounced audits across the direct operations
and bottling partners. To add to employee safety they continuously improve route-to-market
safety. The route between bottling plants and the customer is crucial in the safety concept.
They identify potential safety concerns and work on solutions. Route-to-market safety
guidelines include the storage of the products, the distribution and any movement of an
employee along public roads. Partners work together to navigate every employee safely
around and to understand the risks that exist.

8.3 Everyone Has A Chance At Coca-Cola

The third foundational point is access to equal opportunities. The Coca-Cola Company as a
global operating company took diversity and inclusion into its business strategy. They aim
to create a diverse workforce with 50% of the company driven by women and also in higher
positions. Having an inclusive workplace is for the Coca-Cola Company also a "strategic
business priority that fosters greater creativity, innovation and a connection to the
communities (they) serve".(The Coca-Cola Company, 2020(1.))
8.4 The Coca-Cola Foundation - Caring For All
Finally the Coca-Cola Company has a long history of making investments to improve lives
which is where the Coca-Cola Foundation has been created. It respects human rights
across the world, empowers people access to equal opportunities, supporting more
sustainable agriculture practise or gives back to communities through charitable initiatives.
Worth mentioning under the aspect empowering people access to equal opportunities is
the point of especially empowering women. The foundation made a commitment to help 5
million women entrepreneurs across the global value chain. It sponsors programs that
addresses business barriers which women entrepreneurs face. They meet up with
specialists where ever they are and get access to business skills training, financial services
and/or assets and mentoring networks. The foundation also works together with many
governments and collaborate with other partners to help communities become a better
place.

9 Information
The company wants to keep a good relationship with the customers that is why they want
diversity in their business. To maintain a good customer-provider they come with new ideas
to make their lives easier.

9.1 Communication
Coca-Cola always tried to maintain a good relationship with the customers trying to be a
part of a customer's daily life. They still use social media to create emotions and feelings of
affiliation towards customers. Currently, they include advertising, direct marketing,
interactive/internet marketing, promotions, sponsorship marketing. Also, the direct first way
in which how they send emotion is with the slogan which is “open a coke open happiness”.
They wanted to start a diversity and inclusion communication campaign to spread
awareness about the importance of diversity for their business.

9.2 Digital evolution

Coca-Cola try digitalizes the business very much to make extraordinary experiences for the
customer, consumer, and employee. The company makes an effort to digitalize its
procurement processes trying to implement different tools. They started to implement the
SAP Ariba e-procurement software across their
company which should be complete in 2021. This
software should start to be implemented in late
2020 in their markets. They also selected the
Mercateo platform which can make the report cost-
effectively for small procurement orders to be
available in seven markets by 2020.
Because the technology is used more and more,
they want to use that to explore potential purchases
and interact with brands. Because of the growth of
online shopping they provide consumers with more
https://www.nanalyze.com/2018/01/coca-cola-artificial-
intelligence-big-data/ services and flexibility. One of the biggest growing
parts of online shopping is an online restaurant food
delivery.
The digital evolution part also includes some new ideas for coolers the force of automation
sales, image recognition for ensuring the right present for all their product categories, and
an online 24/7 ordering platform. In 2019 they launched the first service brand of Coca-
Cola Hellenic, Qwell byValser, for delivery in Switzerland. This includes a web-based
ordering platform with who they doubled their numbers of products since 2017.
10 IT
Coca-Cola, being one of the largest companies in the world, try to keep being to date with
the technology. Since the dawn of social networking, the green movement, and the ability
to stay constantly connected to the internet, they have continually harnessed new
technology in a variety of ways.

10.1 Big data technology

Big data is the technology that can maintain more data than a computer. Coca-Cola
collects a very big quantity of data from all the places out of the production and distribution
to sales and customer feedback. With the help of this data, they can embrace new products
and new technology.
Coca-Cola is very well known because it has a very good implementation of Big Data
Technology. With the help of that, it is known to have invested resources into research and
development in areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality.
With the help of the Data, they started monitoring the
self-service machines with the help of the equipped
technologies like touchscreen, wireless connectivity,
and computing power. Because the machines have the
option to mix more flavors depending on how you like it,
they managed to produce new successful flavors for
some of their drinks since they can simply identify the
most popular flavor combo. When they identify a
famous mix, they can launch a new drink that is how
“Cherry Sprite” was produced. In 2019 they continued to
build a strong network of connected vending machines
and coolers that tracks the door openings and makes
automatic stocking.
Coca-Cola uses AI for some of these reasons: To https://www.foodabletv.com/blog/2018/5/21/c
determine the best location for a vending machine, to o ca-cola-launches-new-innovative-freestyle-
engage with loyal customers, to showcase the Coke operating-system
brands and products.
You would say that you do not need AI to make those types of decisions because all you
need for that is just a lot of data using traditional querying methods, which can be true but
one of the reasons is the personality that an AI can have. Furthermore, they use
considerably tools to process the internet to see what the people’s feedback about their
new mixes is.
Coca-Cola wants to use the most accurate, biggest, and most accurate database that will
dominate the most effective AI algorithms. This company has one of the unbeaten storage
of data that can produce nearly 200 billion dollars. They are now analyzing the data from
companies like Walmart which produces for Coca-Cola approximative 4 billion dollars
annually.

10.2 Artificial Intelligence

The artificial intelligence is just got better if you feed it with big data. So that’s why Coca-
Cola have is still in the top companies in the world after so many years of production.The
company is also good at investing in AI bots just like virtual assistants for their vending
machines. This option will personalize the user's experience also help the machines to act
differently in different scenarios. For example, in a hospital waiting room, the machine is
going to be more somber than in a shopping center where the machine is going to be
livelier.

10.3 Social Media

Coca-Cola uses social media for the data. With 2.7 million followers on Instagram and 105
million fans on Facebook, it is collected a lot of information that can be helpful for the
future.
Coca-Cola has more than 3.7 million mentions and more than 59.2 million engagements in
the year 2019. Powered by Artificial Intelligence, imagine-recognition technology the
company can tell when photographs of its drinks are posted online. This can help Coca-
Cola locate where are the most fans and what motivates the people to post the brand
online. The information advice Coca-Cola what and where they can deliver more targeted
adverts which are four times more likely to result in a click.

10.4 Technology
As the US is starting to lose its technological dominance to China or other countries, they
started to be concerned about their DGI (Dividend Growth Investing) stock portfolio. They
want to be sure that every stock they hold is using AI and big data to be sure that their
profits will increase. If the company manages to spotlight more on the technology, it will
increase that dividend by serious amounts in the next years.

10.5 Technology make your life easier

Coca-Cola is focusing more on the customer's inventories to work more efficiently. They
started to use the AI talents of other companies like Salesforce, which has built for them an
app that helps conduct inventories. The idea of this app is that people would not check
anymore every cooler for stock, they now can use the app just to take a picture of a cooler
and the AI of Salesforce that is called Einstein will count the bottles, even the other brands
located in the cooler, and will do some adjustments based on the last purchases and
events that are happening in the area.

10.6 Augmented reality

Coca-Cola started to also use augmented
reality (AR) which is still in tests. They use it
for the people in the deposits from all the
world where computer graphics cover the
user’s view in the real world, suing glasses or
a headset. This facility permits the adept to
receive information about the material they are
servicing. In this case, they can get help from
experts at remote locations to solve and
diagnose problems. The AR helps also to
inspect problems with vending machines and
cruise ships while they are at sea. https://www.ubimax.com/case‐study/coca‐cola‐hbc‐2019

11 Conclusion /Advice
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Opening_030116.jpg

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13 About the chapters
Chapter 1 was written by Alexandra Chirteș on the 18th October 2020 and based upon
keywords and sentences from the other chapters.

Chapter 2 was written by Alexandra Chirteș on the 18th October 2020 and based upon the
sources 1 and 20-24.

Chapter 3 was written by Rachel Davis on the 2nd October 2020 and based upon the
sources 1 and 2.

Chapter 4 was written by Alex Constantinescu on the 6th October 2020 and based upon the
sources 1, 9 and 10.

Chapter 5 was written by Alexandra Chirteș on the 18th October 2020 and based upon the
sources 1, 20, 22, 25-27.

Chapter 6 was written by Taylan Kaya on the 7th October 2020 and based upon the sources
1 and 3-8.

Chapter 7 was written by Luca Stefan based upon the sources 28-31.

Chapter 8 was written by Rachel Davis on the 4th October 2020 and based upon the
sources 1 and 2.

Chapter 9 was written by Matei Grosu on the 14th October 2020 and based upon the source
1 and 11-20.

Chapter 10 was written by Matei Grosu on the 14th 2020 October and based upon the
sources 1 and 11-20.

Chapter 11 was written by ....on the ......... and based upon these sources....

Chapter 12 and the assembly of the report was done by Rachel Davis without changing the
content of the separate chapters.