Impact Of Strategic Development On COCA-COLA AMATIL

Growth and development through application of corporate strategies

The current report focuses upon the aspect of strategic development within an organization. The strategic development goal within an organization focuses upon existing commitment of development along with ensuring future sustainable growth. The strategic development also focuses upon the sustainability of the human and natural resources in addition to capital demand. Therefore, the goal is to meet the present day demand of the customers along with the stakeholders without compromising on the capital resources. The strategic development of an organization is dependent upon the application of a number of strategies. The aim is to strive towards a better future by implementing different business strategies. The loopholes addressed in the context of a particular procedure need to be identified. For the purpose of which a number of different tools such as PESTLE, SWOT could be conducted. These tools help in understanding the strategic positioning of the organization. Additionally, implementation of suitable leadership style also helps in achieving the goals of the organization.

The current report focuses upon the COCA-COLA AMATIL (CCA) company which is one of world’s largest manufacturers of non-alcoholic beverages in Asia-pacific region along with various other countries. Some of the diverse range of products marketed by the company includes carbonated soft drinks, iced juices, energy drinks, spring water, sports drink, ready to eat vegetable fruits snacks and products. The COCA-COLA AMATIL consists of the Coca-Cola Company as one of their major shareholders, holding almost 29.2 % of the shares.  The corporate strategies could be divided into different types depending upon the strategic positioning of the company and a competitor market analysis. In this context, different types of corporate strategies need to be discussed such as the contingency approach, porter’s generic strategy, red ocean strategy.

The company need to constantly change its strategies depending upon the challenges offered by the dynamic market situation. In this respect, the company sets out with a vision of establishing itself within the corporate market. As mentioned by Wirtz  et al. (2016), the company faces cut throat competition in the initial phase. This could be attributed to the emergence of the red ocean strategy which places a rising company at the centre of a fierce competition. In this context, the CCA applied a number of strategies to develop a strong foothold in the current market. The company started out as British Tobacco company limited selling out food and beverages till the acquisition of the coca-cola in 1965. The company them became household name with the purchase of the Coca-Cola bottlers pvt ltd. Later the company rechristened itself to Allied Manufactures and trade Industries Limited (AMATIL) .The Company had since then constantly diversified its products depending upon the target market and diverse customer base. Thus, the company had adopted a contingency approach, where the organization has constantly taken into consideration changing market needs and demands. This helped the company emerge as a global manufacturer of food and beverages. The company soon entered into different product ventures from food and beverages to soft drinks to manufacturing packet ready foods. Therefore, product differentiation was seen which helped the company gain a competitive advantage over other market retailers. However,as argued by Dou et al. (2015), as a beginner a number of challenges were faced by the company. Some of the challenges were faced with regards to cost effectiveness and capturing the target customer bases. In this respect, the concepts of cost leadership need to be emphasized upon by the company.

Business practices and outcomes

The CCA group of organizations follows Porter’s generic strategies, where set out competitive pricing for its chain of commodities. This was particularly useful in capturing a target group of customers who would make purchases based upon suitability of pricing. The second aspect is product differentiation which sets unique brand values to the services and commodities sold out by the company for purchasing by the consumers. The product differentiation plays a pivotal role in providing the company with a competitive advantage compared to its counterparts. The focus of the company is rather narrow in approach and provides the company with a competitive scope or opportunity. Thus, based upon the analysis of the competitive market further advantage can be provided to the company by diversifying its products. The focus is mainly drifted upon cost designing along with product differentiation. However, as argued by Andersen and Andersson (2017), the only difference from competitive advantage lies in that the target customer bases are rather narrow.

A business firm is subjected to a number of criticisms throughout its existence which could be attributed to a wide majority of factors. In this respect, the company needs to develop a suitable and harmonious relationship with its stakeholders. The stakeholders are a group of people who are directly or indirectly involved in the business processes of the company. These include competitors, suppliers, and employees, customers who are directly or indirectly benefitted by the products or services of the company. The greatest threat or challenges are faced by the company from the competitor market which puts constant pressure on the company. As mentioned by Peppard and Ward (2016), the company has to face constant challenges based upon the entry of new firms in the market. The constant rivalry and   random emergence of substitutes possesses challenges to the survival of the company within the competitive market.  As commented by Parola  et al. (2015), criticism is a powerful detrimental tool which possess risk to the sustenance of any organization.

  With the advent of globalization the world has come under one umbrella where every new idea or technology has to go through a number of evaluative stages. The randomly polled opinions about in the social networking sites about the benefits and harm associated with the products and commodities of CCA resulted in putting a random stall in the profitability ratios of the company. The ratio and statistics also points at a rise in the number of health conscious people who are sceptical regrading the impact of consumption of soft drinks, sugar rich beverages and canned and processed foods upon the health of individuals and communities.  As asserted by Wulf et al. (2016), such canned foods have been found to high amounts of cholesterol which can impact upon the health of an individual. Additionally, growing concerns of the media and social activists regrading the environment can also possess a number of challenges to the promulgation of the business objectives of the company. The strategic policy of the company covers the general guideli ne which aims at reducing the carbon emissions during the process of generation of the products. Moreover, falsification of data and records by the media and journalists can result in severe of loss of businesses of the company. There had been past records generated by the media which pointed at the several random and negative health consequences the consumption of processed foods can have upon the health of an individual. As mentioned by Village et al. (2016), organization needs to establish a fluid and transparent communication gradient with the consumers.

In order to analyse the current positioning of the company a PESTLE analysis could be done. The PESTLE performed helped to access the various surrounding and environmental factors governing the functioning of the company. The factors could be broken down into Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental.

Factors	Effects
Political	· Underdeveloped economy · Corrupt government
Economical	· International economies · High inflation rates
Social	· Growing health concerns · Decrease in the demand of carbonated drinks
Technological	· Development of opportunities of new products in terms marketing and production
Legal	· Breaching the health related policies · Defying the CSR policies
Environmental	· Growing environmental concerns · Reducing the rate of carbon emissions

Table 1: PESTLE Analysis

(Source : Maia et al. 2013)

The PESTLE analysis helps analyse a number of factors which directly or indirectly affects the business processes of the organization. In this respect, underdeveloped economy and restriction imposed by a number of governmental policies can affect the growth in businesses of the company. The high inflation rates might affect the cost leadership policies of the company by increasing the taxes applicable on various commodities marketed by the company. Social challenges can be imposed upon by growing health concerns of the consumers which reduces the demand for carbonated drinks. The organization constantly faced technological challenges where there is a need to provide the consumers with better products and technologies. Additionally, defying the health care policies can demand strict legal action against the company. The company needs to focus more upon lowering the carbon emissions for contributing towards a suitable and sustainable environment.

The culture or leadership style within an organization can have profound effect on the business processes of the organization. The organizational culture is very important in the promulgating the values of shared culture within the workforce.  As mentioned by Bengtsson?Palme et al. (2013), a positive work culture plays a pivotal role in employee retention within a company. The organizational culture can be improved further by advocating sufficient training opportunities for the employees. The employees could be provided with sufficient growth opportunities along with valued feedbacks. As commented by Laschinger et al. (2014), provision of performance bonus or incentives cam further help in motivating the employees towards performing better.

Additionally, the different leadership style adopted by the company further helps in providing the company with a competitive advantage. In the context of CCA the strategic leadership style was adopted where the leader provides sufficient help to the employees by enabling them to take suitable decisions. The decisions in this regard are aimed at the long terms strategic growth of the company by maintaining financial stability. Under the leadership of Alison Watkins CCA aims at creating millions of moments of happiness and possibilities for its huge consumer base. The company focuses upon the group strategy of lead, execute and partner (ccamatil, 2017). The company emphasizes upon the spirit of team working to deliver the best of its products and services.

Conclusion 

The current report focuses upon the different strategies adopted by a company for its growth and development within the present market scenario. In this respect the company had begun with a contingency approach where the company had set out from a local food and beverage seller to acquisition of the giant coca-cola bottlers. The acquisition had further set the company at the stroke of a fierce competition. The company need to constantly diversify its products for catering to the ever changing market. In the process of growth the company had faced constant criticisms from multiple stakeholders including shareholders, employees, customers and suppliers to the company. A growing business organization here often faces turbulent situations due to lack of sufficient funds and skilled workers. In this context, the company needs to develop suitable framework and policies where the growth and developmental needs of the staffs are addressed adequately. Thus, the business strategies need to be changes from time to time depending upon the environmental analysis. The environmental analysis can be done with the help of conducting a pestle where the additional challenges are taken into consideration. This helps the organization into developing suitable policies and frameworks which provides a competitive advantage to the organization.

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