Coca-Cola: International Business Strategy For Globalization
Dr. Michael Ba Banutu-Gomez, Professor, Management and Entrepreneurship, William G. Rohrer College of Business Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to analyze the efficiency of global strategies. This paper identified six key strategies necessary for firms to be successful when expanding globally. These strategies include differentiation, marketing, distribution, collaborative strategies, labor and management strategies, and diversification. Within this analysis, we chose to focus on the Coca-Cola Company because they have proven successful in their international operations and are one of the most recognized brands in the world. We performed an in-depth review of how effectively or ineffectively Coca-Cola has used each of the six strategies. The paper focused on Coca-Cola's operations in the United States, China, Belarus, Peru, and Morocco. The author used electronic journals from the various countries to determine how effective Coca-Cola was in these countries. The paper revealed that Coca-Cola was very successful in implementing strategies regardless of the country. However, the author learned that CocaCola did not effectively utilize all of the strategies in each country. Key Words: Coca-Cola, International Business, Strategy, Globalization, International Marketing, Labor Relations, Distribution, Diversification, Management, Channels, Costs, Gains and Collaboration. INTRODUCTION CEOs and top management teams of large corporations, particularly in North America, Europe, and Japan, acknowledge that globalization is the most critical challenge they face today. They are also aware that it has become tougher during the past decade to identify internationalization strategies as well as with whom to do business (Krishna, 2005). Entering into a foreign market is like