The aim of the report is to apply the strategic models according to the case study wherever it is required. The strategic model constitutes a plan or model that is related to the strategic and designed with the motive to bring improvement in the process. Different organisations make use of the strategy models which contribute effectively in meeting the goals. The report includes the answers to the questions which are related to the industry evolution and managing innovation related to the smartphone industry, global strategy that has been followed by the coca cola company and the future coca cola which include the strategic actions that should take for their effective business.
In the present era, the industry is evolving and managing the innovation which offers an advantage to industry. This has been found that there is a first mover advantage in the smartphone industry. In the marketing strategy, the first mover for the industry aims with the motive to gain the advantage by being the first in the market to establish the position. This has been found that there was first mover advantage in the smartphone industry in the market. The industry received the first mover advantage because of the Nokia as it introduced the 9000 Nokia communicator in the year 1996 which was the first real smartphone equipped with specific features (Baguley, 2013). The advantages gained because of the improved internet connectivity and the clients for the internet and non-internet communication services. The industry was able to gain the competitive advantage because of the features that were inbuilt in the phone which include e-mail, web browsing, fax, spreadsheets and word processing into the single device that is pocketable. The technology has been used by companies like Nokia and Samsung to bring the effective features and android version to the customers. The advantage related to the industry has offered assistance to the companies to expand their business in different countries.
The life cycle is the series of stages from the birth or the incorporation stage, its initial growth stage and its stage of expansion in which the business moves to the new market, mature operation stage and ends eventually at the decline as the consumer interest in its products reduce which affect the sales of the products. The life cycle of the smartphone industry is at the maturity stage, in this stage the companies dealing in the smartphone attain the maximum revenue and this is the phrase where the demand of the product reaches to its maximum level (Fowler, 2018).
(Source: La Rocca, La Rocca and Cariola, 2011)
The above given is the lifecycle of the Smartphone industry which shows the different stages and industry is at the maturity stage. Smartphones have become one of the more unsustainable consumer goods due to which the demand for it is increasing. In the year 2015, more than 1.5 billion new smartphones were shipped across the world for making it available to the customers.
Further, this has been expected that there is will be a rise in the demand of the smart mobiles in the next 5 years with the rise in the people who are getting subscribe to the phone. This has been found in the research that the smartphone adoption rate is already at 60% in the developed world and it will lead the growth. Further, this has been found that it is estimated to add a further 2.9 billion smartphone connections by the year 2020 (Fowler, 2018). This has been researched that the average lifespan of the smartphones has resulted in the decline. Further, the rapid evolution of the technology related to the mobile is supported by the marketing and promotion campaign while forming the smartphones. The industry of smartphone is extremely competitive as it involves different companies.
The industry life cycle model elaborates the opportunities that are still present in the market for the smartphone industry which is the maturity stage and this the time when the companies grow to its maximum. In the coming years, the downfall in the industry is not expected as it is the time when smartphone sale is increasing. The smartphone industry has reached on the maturity stage and will remain on the stage until and unless the decline phase comes which will take time.
According to the IDC (international data corporation), this has been found that smartphones shipments will increase and will reach to approx. 1.4 billion units with an increase of approx. 9.8% in the year 2015. IDC reflects there is slower growth in the Latin America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific and will remain till the year 2019 which might lead to the decline stage of the smartphones and then the growth will begin. In addition to this, the updated report of IDC the global shipments have been slipped 0.1% in the year 2017 as the first-ever decline (Thomas, 2015). This shows that there is the possibility of more industry evolution. The companies like Apple, Samsung and other emerging brands in Smartphone said that they have brought maximum in terms of technology. Thus, this might leads to the phase where the decline in the demand of the smartphone can appear until and unless there is emergent of new technology.
This reflects that the industry lifecycle is depended on the new and innovative technology that can bring the rise in the sales and product. The innovation in the product is the only reason which leads to the emergence of the new smartphone and brings the improvement in the demand. Further, the changes in the preference and taste of the people can bring a decline in the industry. The availability of the substitutes in the market is one of the factors that can affect the decline.UK handset market has declined by 8% in the quarter 3rd of 2017 that is possible with upgraded technology in the smartphone industry. In the UK market, smartphone penetration has reached 93% of all the mobile phones that are sold in the quarter. All these aspects reflect the use of Porter’s five forces model that helps in understanding the competitiveness going on in the industry.
In the current era, most of the companies make use of the global strategy which helps them to achieve their goals related to the organisation. Global strategy refers to like the plans of an organisation that has developed to target the growth that goes beyond its borders (David, 2011). Coca-Cola Company has been selected for the analysis of the global strategy that can lead to success. The company is an American corporation that came into existence in the year 1892 and it is primarily engaged in the manufacturing and sales of the syrup and concentrated Coca-Cola. This shows that the company not only offer the concentrated beverage but they also offer the syrups with other products in the market.
The biggest competitive advantage that was gain by the Coca-Cola Company includes the bottling system. The bottling system offers a major advantage and a hike to sales and expansion to the business in the global market (Adamkasi, 2018). Different companies owned the bottles which allow the company enough time through which they can concentrate the drinks. The first bottling agreement took place in the year 1899 when the two young attorneys from the Chattanooga, Tennessee believed that they can bottle the Coca-Cola drink (Coca-Cola Company, 2018). The decision was taken in which it was decided to make the Coca-Cola drink available in the entire US excluding Vicksburg for the one dollar. This advantage is attained by the company for being an American company. The company was able to grab the opportunity because of its presence in the American market. Further, the idea of the bottling helped the company to operate the business in the foreign markets.
Another competitive advantage that is gain by the company include the innovation in the packaging of the products according the choices of the customers related to the package size, type and other which leads to the introduction of the cans and different sizes of bottles including the larger serving that consist of 10, 12 and 26 ounce versions. This innovation has given the new business opportunities to the suppliers and gave a competitive advantage of being a leader as it was the first mover advantage.
(Source: Moye, 2017)
The company has formed the Bottling Investments group that strategically make the investment in the selection of the bottling operations. This group has allowed the company to form a long and effective relationship with the suppliers which work as a competitive advantage. The company can easily get the raw products from the suppliers in America (Coca-Cola Company, 2018). The supplier’s relationship in America not only supported the company in America but it also provides assistance to the company in other countries.
In the present era, the companies are renowned as an owner and manager of global brands. This is possible with the effective adoption of the global integration strategy by the companies. Similarly, Coca-Cola makes use of the global integration strategy in which they get involved in the process of standardization for their operations throughout the world (Frynas and Mellahi, 2015). The different activities that major combines by the Coca-Cola company includes marketing activity, operational activity, selling and distribution activities and many others. The major focus is done on the marketing activities of the company. Coca-Cola combines their marketing activities and standardizes them across the world. The marketing of the Coca-Cola is essential to integrate as the rise in the competition can lead to the challenges for the company related o survival. This is the reason which makes the company promote their products. The global integration leads to the question of the national differences because the company is supposed to take the local responsiveness.
Coca-Cola standardizes the marketing activities by introducing their campaign across the world. This is an effective way through which they can balance global integration and national differentiation (Chernev, 2018). This can be evident from the “Taste the Feeling” global creative campaign which helps the company maintain the one brand approach across the world. The idea behind the creative campaign is to bring the idea of accepting the Coca-Cola drink as a simple pleasure that makes the everyday moments special (Moye, 2016). This campaign is run by the company across the work which shows the feature of universal storytelling with the product at the heart that shows both the emotional and functional elements related to the experience of Coca-Cola.
(Source: Moye, 2016)
The campaign involves the strategy and slogan of the company which reflects the availability, affordability and acceptability of brand across the world. The company is able to maintain sustainable growth with the help of keeping the brand marketing unity which makes the effective integration (Grant, 2016). Moreover, the marketing of the company helps to maintain the balance of relations related to the goodwill and strategies with the bottlers and franchises which makes the process running. The campaign of the company enhances the culture and capabilities across the world.
Coca-Cola majorly faces the two forces which include local responsiveness and pressure towards the global integration. To maintain the balance with the national differentiation and global integration the company apply the IR framework (Rothaermel, 2015). IR framework is introduced with the motive to create a big platform for the study on the global business which assists to create an international strategy that leads to the multi-dimensional contextual setting. IR framework provides an analysis of the global strategy that has been adopted by the Coca-Cola Company. Further, it shows the way through which the company maintain global integration and national differentiation (Meyer, Mudambi and Narula, 2011).
The analysis reflects that standardization of the products will offer high products through the national differentiation will force the company to bring the changes in prices at different places. In addition, market research has been done in particular regions with some specific standards. The company is able to maintain a balance with the help of the brand image that makes the Coca-Cola standardize in an equal manner (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). This brand image is possible because of one of the strengths of the company that is bottling partners. The partner has allowed the Coca-Cola Company to act across the national differences in respect to their local laws, culture and the needs of customers. The global integration strategy of the company has allowed maintaining the differences and similarities in the packaging, distribution and media according to a different geographical area.
Moreover, it has been found that Coca-Cola standardizes their most of the activities across the nation considering that their activities don’t affect any communities across the nation. Though they make some the changes in their activities but their marketing activity remain the same. Further, this has been found that the company has operations across the world due to which they have diverse employees which help Coca-Cola company to understand the culture and values of the different countries across the world. All this employee support and market research help the company to make the right steps that can help the company to take the right decisions without hurting any person’s sentiments. This helps them in managing the balance between the strategy of global integration and national differentiation.
This section of the paper includes strategic decisions with future recommendations to the company so that they can meet their business goals. The company that has been selected for the analysis of the future suggestions for the strategic actions is Coca-Cola.
In the current scenario, strategic action is the key managerial skills majorly for the mid-to-upper level management. The management of the Coca-Cola Company makes use of the skills, behaviour, and knowledge that helps to perform the duties effectively and efficiently (Fligstein and McAdam, 2011). The brand is limited to the drinks that they offer to the customers. Considering the understanding and knowledge about the company it is the high time that the company should start the new product line. This new product includes the innovative chocolates of the company in the flavour of Coca-Cola with different new flavours. This will help the company to expand the business operations with the help of the horizontal integration and vertical integration. This will enhance the profit of the company and will be able to meet the needs of the customers which are the ultimate goal of the company.
In addition to this, the company is aware of the condition of the earth environment due to which their plastic bottles are getting affected. The company is planning for the PlantBottle packing which is considered as the new PET plastic bottle containing the material which includes plant-based. These PET bottles help the company to reduce the dependence on the non-renewable resources and this allows a 100% recyclable bottle (Coca-Cola Company, 2018). The company need to take the strategic actions towards the next generation PlantBottle which will convert the plan into the actions. The company need to look towards the new and upgraded technology that can help to make the effective PlantBottle that leads to the effective recycling of the bottles. This will help the company to effectively manage their business operations in different countries where the plastic is ban and the use of plastic is affecting the environment. Though the new system can include the high cost for the company which will affect the operations and this might leads to the rise in the prices of the product that are offered by the company. Thus, this strategic action is considered as one of the important actions for which there is a need for the team who can analyse all the elements before making effective decisions towards the success of the business.
Conclusion:
In the end, this can be concluded that the evolution is present in every industry with the change in the time and corresponding change in the needs of the customers. The evolution of the smartphone industry has been discussed which shows that the change has taken place due to the availability of new technology across the world. The lifecycle of the smartphone industry has been reflected which shows that the industry is currently at the maturity stage and sooner there might be a change in the demand of products related to the smartphone. Further, the findings related to the Coca-Cola Company have been given which shows their competitive strategy and the way the company is managing their business operations effectively in the global market. Moreover, it shows the balance between the integration of global strategy and the national differentiation which is generally faced by the company when they manage their business across the world. This can be understood with the help of the IR framework and also include the analysis. in the end, there is discussion related to the future actions that are must to be taken by the company for improving their operations and meeting their objectives.
References:
Adamkasi (2018) Competitive Advantage of Coca-Cola [Online]. Available from: https://www.competitiveadvantageanalysis.com/competitive-advantage-of-coca-cola/ [Accessed on 7th December 2018]
Baguley, R. (2013) The Gadget We Miss: The Nokia 9000 Communicator [Online]. Available from: https://medium.com/people-gadgets/the-gadget-we-miss-the-nokia-9000-communicator-ef8e8c7047ae [Accessed on 7th December 2018]
Chernev, A. (2018) Strategic marketing management. Chicago: Cerebellum Press.
Coca-Cola Company (2018) History of Bottling [Online]. Available from: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/history-of-bottling [Accessed on 7th December 2018]
Coca-Cola Company (2018) The Bottle of the Future [Online]. Available from: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/the-bottle-of-the-future [Accessed on 7th December 2018]
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Fowler, G.A. (2018) We’ve reached peak smartphone. What are Apple and Samsung going to do now? [Online]. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/02/02/weve-reached-peak-smartphone-what-are-apple-and-samsung-going-to-do-now/?utm_term=.a525d9b44054 [Accessed on 7th December 2018]
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Moye, J. (2017) Coke’s Way Forward: New Business Strategy to Focus on Choice, Convenience and the Consumer [Online]. Available from: https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/cokes-way-forward-new-business-strategy-to-focus-on-choice-convenience-and-the-consumer [Accessed on 7th December 2018]
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