A

Project Report
On
“International Marketing Strategy of Coca Cola”
By
Atharva Kishor Shinde
(Academic Year 2022-2023)
Submitted
To

Savitribai Phule Pune University

Bachelor of Business Administration
(International Business)
TYBBA IB
Under the Guidance of
Prof. Prakash Vasal
Project Guide

At
PES’s Modern College of Arts, Commerce and Science,
(Business Administration Campus) Autonomous
Shivajinagar, Pune-5.

1
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Atharva Kishor Shinde of TYBBA[IB] has

successfully completed entitled International Marketing strategies of
Coca-Cola project under my supervision and guidance towards partial
fulfilment of Bachelor of Business Administration (IB) degree of
Savitribai Phule Pune University.

(Project Guide & (Name & Sign of

Internal Examiner) External Examiner)

Prof. (Dr.) Neha Dixit Prof. (Dr.) M.D. Alandikar

HOD BBA(IB) (Vice Principle)

2
 DECLARATION

I Atharva Kishor Shinde student of TYBBA –IB hereby declare that this
report on International Marketing strategies of Coca-Cola in India
conducted for the subject “International Marketing” is my original
work. The information and data given in this report is authentic to the
best of my knowledge.

Student’s Name : Atharva Kishor Shinde

Class: TYBBA – IB

Roll No. : 2000405

Place: Pune

Date: 10 / 03 / 2023

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep

regards to my guide Prof. Prakash Vasal for her exemplary guidance,
monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this
project. The blessing, help and guidance given by them time to time
shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am about to
embark.

I am thankful to Prof. ( Dr ) M.D. Alandikar, Vice Principal, Modern

College of Arts, Science &Commerce, Business Administration Campus
for his constant support and guidance.

Last but not the least I would thank my family and friends who have
been my real motivators.

Atharva Kishor Shinde

4
 INDEX

Chapter Page
Name of the Chapter
Number Number
Executive Summary
 Abstract
1  Objectives of the Study 6-11
 Scope of Study
 Need of the Study
 Limitations of the Study

2 Company Profile / Organizational Profile 12-26

3 Research Methodology 27-34

4 Theoretical Concepts 35-41

5 Data Analysis & Interpretation 42-43

Learning of Students
6 43-44
(Findings)
Contribution to Host Organization
7 45-46
(Suggestion / Recommendations)
8 Conclusion 47-48
9 References 49
10 Appendix 50

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 CHAPTER 1

 EXCUTIVE SUMMARY

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage

corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola.
The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets
other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic
beverages. The company's stock is listed on the NYSE and is part of
the DJIA and the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indexes.

6
  ABSTRACT: -

Marketing strategy in a nutshell maps an idea which forms the base of

sustaining business keeping in mind the long-term benefits and
competition in market. Marketing strategy is an idea which grows from
the seed of value proposition enabling the company a step further over
its competitors in terms of brand development and profit making. Its
effects over the companies worldwide have been astonishing,
especially over public-centric domains like automobiles, beverages etc.
A soft drink giant, Coca Cola, is one such example
which market aggressors since has been 1886. Coke as a brand in itself
tries to substitute the entire soft drink markets. The main idea behind
their marketing is they read people’s mind across geographical
boundaries.
They started tying up with various food chains that have widespread
not only in India but a world as a whole.
The report puts light on the financial growth of the company due to
these strategies. How the company is able to maintain the edge over its
peers. The unique feature of their strategy is they tend to change their
tag lines; this
ensures that the target audience is interested in the product and they
feel that the company is doing some innovation. The report also tries to
forecast some of the future strategies that may be adopted by them
and impact in their growth.

Keywords: Marketing strategy, Coca Cola, Beverages, Brand.

7
  OBJECTIVES: -

1. To analyze various aspects of Marketing by Coca-

Cola.

2. To study in brief about the nature and types of

customers of Coca-Cola.

3. To estimate the future trends of Coca-Cola in the

Market.

4. To know various trends in Marketing.

5. To get the customer feedback on Coca Cola.



8
  SCOPE OF STUDY :

The scope of a study explains the extent to which the research area will
be explored in the work and specifies the parameters within the study
will be operating. Basically, this means that you will have to define what
the study is going to cover and what it is focusing on which is
International Marketing strategies of Coca-Cola in India.

9
  NEED OF STUDY:

 Why do we need to study marketing strategy?

Marketing studies gives a unique competitive advantage: One can

learn how to promote yourself and your work. After all, marketing
studies helps you understand the true meaning of value: The value of
the product and the value of the person or brand that delivers said
product.

What can we learn from Coca-Cola's marketing strategy is clearly

depicted it its “Happiness Machine” video. To build a successful global
brand: make human connections, remain innovative, and at the same
time, stay true to simple principles.

 LIMITATIONS OF THE REPORT

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 These barriers or limitations, which hinder our work, are as
follows:

 To make a report various aspects and experiences are needed. But

We have faced some barriers for making a complete and perfect
report.

 Findings are based on the views expressed by the retailers. So it

may suffer from biased prejudices.

 Weather conditions were not favorable.

 Some of the respondents were not co-operative & many seem to be

having no Interest.

 The study has not been intended on a very large scale, have the
possibility of errors, which cannot be ruled out.

 Time limitations.

 Area was specified.

 It is extremely difficult to persuade retailer to respond to

questionnaire.

 The retailer knows us as people from Coke there by the responses

could have been biased.

CHAPTER 2

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  COMPANY PROFILE

 Introduction and Summary of the Company

Coca Cola is known as soft drink of the world (Bell, 2004). It was invest
by Dr John Pemberton,
Who was a pharmacist in Atlanta. The drink did not have bubble at that
time and started selling. At soda fountains. The first slogan for the new
drink was “Delicious and refreshing”. The company has been hugely
successful over the last century and has become an icon of American
culture. Coca Cola is not involved in all the processes that see its
products go to the Hands of consumers. According to the company
website, Coca Cola has entered into partnership. With bottlers around
the world. The website says, “Our Company manufactures and sells
Concentrates, beverage bases and syrups to bottling operations, owns
the brands and is Responsible for consumer brand marketing initiatives.
Our bottling partners manufacture, Package, merchandise and
distribute the final branded beverages to our customers and vending
Partners, who then sell our products to consumers.”

Type Public

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 Industry Beverage
Founded January 29, 1892; 130 years ago
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Founders  John Stith Pemberton (as
Coca-Cola)
 Asa Griggs Candler (as The
Coca-Cola Company)
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Key people  James Quincey (chairman
and CEO)
 Brian Smith (president
and COO)
Products List of The Coca-Cola Company
products
Revenue US$37.27 billion (2019)[1]
Owners  Berkshire
Hathaway (9.28%)
 The Vanguard
Group (7.25%)
 BlackRock (6.56%)[2]
Number of 86,200 (2019)[1]
employees
Website coca-colacompany.com

 History

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In July 1886, pharmacist John Stith Pemberton from Columbus,
Georgia invented the original Coca-Cola drink, which was advertised as
helpful in the relief of headache, to be placed on sale primarily in
drugstores as a medicinal beverage.[5] Pemberton had made many
mixing experiments and reached his goal during the month of May, but
the new product was as yet unnamed and un carbonated.  Pemberton's
bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, is credited with naming the product
and creating its logo.[7] Robinson chose the name Coca-Cola because of
its two main ingredients (coca leaves and kola nuts) and because it is an
alliteration. John Pemberton had taken a break and left Robinson to
make, promote, and sell Coca-Cola on his own. Robinson promoted the
drink with the limited budget that he had, and succeeded.[8]
Coca-Cola's first ad read "Coca Cola. Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilarating!
Invigorating!"[8] Candler was one of the first businessmen to use
merchandising in his advertising strategy. [citation needed] As of 1948,
Coca-Cola had claimed about 60% of its market share.[9] By 1984, the
Coca-Cola Company's market share decreased to 21.8% due to new
competitors.

Environmental Analysis

PEST analysis is valuable while analysing external environment where a

business is conducted or where an organization is planning to start a
business (Henry, 2008). This section studies the environmental factors
that have an impact on operation of Coca Cola.

 Political

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Coca Cola is subjected to strict regulations since its products come
under food category.

However, few changes in law are expected to impact Coca Cola.

Following are some such

Factors:

- The issue of negative impact of Coca Cola manufacturing

plants on environment has been highlighted in many countries.
Laws for environment protection and stringent regulations in this
regard can impact the production process. Coca Cola can work
towards minimizing this impact by improving the efficiency of its
processes and reducing

Wastage.

- Government changes, civil unrest, military takeover and

other disturbances in a country can affect sales and operations of
Coca Cola in that country. Expansion to a new country depends on
the political conditions of the area.

 Economic

Following economic variables can impact Coca Cola

- Economic downturn in a country is going to have a negative

impact on sales of Coca Cola. The impact on the company would
be specially huge since its products are non

Essential.

15
 - Various macroeconomic factors such as inflation and labor
price would impact operations

Of Coca Cola.

- Countries with high income per capita would have more to

spend on products such as

Beverages.

Social

The Coca Cola Company can be impacted by following social variables

 Social

The Coca Cola Company can be impacted by following social variables

- Soft drink beverages are considered unhealthy and people are getting
health conscious.

1. Customer analysis – STP analysis

This section looks at how Coca Cola views it customers and the way it
designs the consumer

Strategy. STP (segmentation, targeting and positioning) analysis is used

to study customers.

 Segmentation

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According to Weinstein (2004, pp4) market segmentation is the process
of portioning market into groups of potential customers with similar
needs and/or characteristics who are likely to exhibit similar purchase
behaviour. Objective of such a process is to analyse and understand
market, identify opportunities and use or develop competitive edge to
capitalize on those opportunities. The Coca Cola Company segments
the customers based on the following criteria

- Geographic segmentation: Coca Cola has segmented the

worldwide market on the basis

 Targeting

Coca Cola target different segments with different ads. Primary market
of Coca Cola is younger people in the age bracket 10-25 with people
from 25-40 comprising of secondary market. Cola products are targeted
towards people who want strong flavour, while diet cola and its
variants are targeted towards the sub segment that is health conscious.
Coca Cola uses non cola beverages to target the health conscious
segment of the market. Some of the products such as Sprite specifically
target teens and college going youth while others such as Limca target
young working population.

 Positioning

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Coca Cola position its products as refreshing and thirst quenching. The
products are said to bring joy, as apparent from Coca Cola’s latest
tagline – Little drops of joy. The products are associated with having a
good time with friends and family and enjoying everyday life. The
products are also marketed as consistent and of high quality.

2. Competitive Analysis

This section discusses the strategic capabilities that Coca Cola has built
over the years, and how it has helped the company in creating
sustainable competitive advantages.

 SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis would give a good insight of the strategic capabilities

and resources available and the way these capabilities strengthen the
competitive advantage as well as allow the company to exploit new
opportunities (Kotler, 1991). SWOT framework analyses both internal
factors (strengths and weaknesses) as well as external factors
(opportunities and threats) that
define the market environment as well as capability of a firm to
respond to the market conditions.

Strengths

The Coca Cola Company enjoys the following strengths that has seen
the company become the most recognized one in today’s world

- Brand: The Company has a very strong brand across the globe. The
brand has been recognized as one of world’s leading brands by various
studies conducted by Inter brand,

18
Businessweek and other experts. Apart from Coca Cola, the company
owns other top beverages brands such as Fanta, Sprite and Diet Coke.

- Economies of scale: The Coca Cola Company is the largest

manufacturer and marketer of non alcoholic beverages in this world.
The company sells its products in more than 200 countries. The large
scale of operations ensures that the company is able to invest in new
markets and reap benefits when the business grows profitable there.

- The Coca Cola System: The whole supple chain of Coca Cola and its
bottling system is a big strength for the company. It allows the company
to target various markets globally and take the bottlers’ help to gain
knowledge about the local market. It also allows the company to
expand rapidly to new markets without a big upfront investment.

Weaknesses

Though the company has been hugely successful, there are various
weaknesses that need to be addressed by the company. These are:

- Criticisms regarding health and environmental issues: Products of the

Coca Cola Company are considered to be high in calories and harmful
for health. Various groups have advocated healthier drinks over
carbonated ones. In 2006, the Company was involved in a controversy
in India when government agencies alleged that Coca Cola

- Dropping sales in several countries: In recent years, the company has

witnessed zero or negative growth in various key markets. The
performance of the company has been weak in North America, which is
its largest market, in last few years. The company’s performance has
been weak in Japan, Latin America and South East Asia as well.

19
 3. Porter’s Five Force Analysis

This analysis would give us a good idea of the competitive environment

that the company operates in (Porter, 2008). The following factors
define the competitive landscape for Coca Cola

Competition

The largest competitor for Coca Cola is Pepsi Co. They compete in
almost all the markets worldwide. Coca Cola has higher sales
worldwide, though Pepsi Co dominates the US market.
There are other players in various beverages category, but none of
them as large as Coca Cola or Pepsi Co. The new competition in the
industry is to increase the product portfolio and introduce new variants
of carbonated drinks and non-carbonated drinks.
Most of the strengths and weaknesses of PepsiCo are similar to those
of Coca Cola. PepsiCo enjoys good brand value as well as economies of
scale. At the same time, it also has come under criticism for health and
environmental issues. While Coca Cola operates almost exclusively in
beverages segment, PepsiCo derive a big share of total revenues from
non-beverages category
such as chips and oats. This can potentially provide opportunities to
PepsiCo to take advantages of synergy among various products. While
Coca Cola is enjoyed by people from various age groups, PepsiCo mainly
targets young people.

 Threat of new Entrants

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Threat of new entrants is very low in this industry and the following
factors are responsible:

- Brand name: It has taken these companies decades to build their

brand and it’s not easy for a new company to emulate that.

- Distribution channel: The two existing companies have wide

distribution channel across the world and it’s difficult to match up to
that.

- Huge initial investment: The high cost of setting up manufacturing

plants, transportation channel and distribution channel is a big barrier
for new entrants.

- Economies of scale: Both the existing companies enjoy large

economies of scale that help in keeping the costs down. A new entrant
would not be able to match the cost of the biggies and would be forced
out of the business.

 Threat of substitute products

The threat of substitution is high for soft drink industry with products
like bottled water, juices, tea and coffee readily available. To take care
of this, The Coca Cola Company has increased its presence in these
sectors as well. For people who take soft drinks for its caffeine, tea and
coffee can be easy substitutes. In some cases, alcoholic beverages such
as beer can be a substitute as well. It costs nothing for a customer to
substitute a soft drink with another drink and hence there is a high
threat of substitution. Many people are moving towards healthier
drinks and substituting soft drinks with juices etc.
Supplier power

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Supplier power is low in case of Coca Cola. Following are the suppliers
for the company:
- Raw materials such as sugar and water are standard and the suppliers
can be easily replaced without any problems.
- Bottling equipment manufacturers are suppliers for Coca Cola since
the company owns
stake in many bottling units. These equipment can be supplied by many
companies and hence they have low bargaining power.
- Other factors such as labour, power etc. would not be a problem for
the company.
For all the inputs, Coca Cola has higher bargaining power since it enjoys
economies of scale and orders in huge quantities from the suppliers.

Buyer Power

In case of The Coca Cola Company, the bottling units are the buyers
since the company sells the syrup to them and rest of the activities are
undertaken by them independently. But the company owns many of
the bottling plants and in such a case, buyers are the retail outlets.
- Bottling partners have low degree of bargaining power with Coca Cola.
Though the company is dependent on bottlers for selling their product
to the end consumers, they can replace the bottling partners. To start
the business, the bottling company has to invest a lot and this creates a
lock in for them, reducing their power.

4. Strategic approach and competitive advantages

22
The Coca Cola Company is known for its marketing expertise and the
company has always followed a great marketing strategy that is
responsible for bringing the success to the company for over a century.
The biggest strength of Coca Cola is its brand. It has taken a lot of effort
and good strategy to create the widely known brand. Apart from this,
there are various strategies that Coca Cola has followed over the years
in order to achieve competitive advantage using its strategic
capabilities.
These strategies include:

- Marketing and branding strategy: Healey (2008) defines a brand as a

promise of satisfaction and emphasis that good branding reinforces
reputation, generates loyalty and assure quality. Few companies in this
world have developed a brand as strong as Coca Cola. The company has
used its marketing resources to create a brand that is widely known and
has become the biggest competitive advantage for the company. Coca
Cola has been successful in creating brand loyalty among its consumers.
This is a result of
sustained marketing efforts starting from early 20th century. Coca Cola
has adopted innovating marketing techniques right from the times of
Candler and Robert Woodruff. Apart from usual advertising through bill
boards and newspapers, Coca Cola focused on organizations,
universities and colleges and this increased sales while promoting the
brand name.

- Coca Cola’s local strategy: Coca Cola has used its organizational
capability to adopt a local strategy. (2007) – using a mix of central and
local marketing functions in order to achieve maximum marketing and
distribution effectiveness. Using this, Coca Cola maintains the strong
global brand while introducing the local elements in the marketing to
make sure that the product image is in harmony with the local culture.

23
New Product Introductions: Coca Cola follows out to in approach while
developing new products. Coca Cola has always preferred taking note
of customer preferences and designing its products according to them,
instead of taking an internal approach – the process of taking stock of
internal assets and expertise and using them to produce something that
customers would buy.

24
 5. Distribution

Coca Cola has developed its distribution network all over the world. It
follows two types of

Distribution strategy:

- Direct selling: In this method, Coca Cola supply various products to

retailers. These retailers may be retail stores, restaurants, cinema halls
etc. The company uses its own vehicles to deliver the products. Direct
selling brings in only small part of the revenue.
- Indirect selling: Most of the revenue comes from this channel. Coca
Cola gets into partnership with various distributor agencies. The
company supply products to these distributors, who then make them
available to the retailers.
In the traditional model, products are transferred from bottling plants
to large distributors. These distributors then transport the products to
retailers or smaller distributors. Small distributor node is added in case
of rural areas or areas with low density population. The small
distributors then supply the product to retailers. Most of the bottlers
are under contract with Coca Cola. At the same time, the Company has
direct contract with big retailers such as Wal Mart.
Coca Cola Company has introduced an innovative distribution
mechanism in African countries to help the local economy thrive.
According to the company’s report, “Our unique distribution model
allows the Coca Cola system to build relationships with small
enterprises, creating economic opportunity and wealth creation at the
community level in developing markets. These micro distribution
businesses, commonly known as Manual Distribution Centres (MDCs),
25
are run by local small-scale entrepreneurs who employ local workers to
deliver our products to small retailers in their neighbour hoods. They
typically reach consumers in dense urban areas in the developing world
where traditional truck delivery is not feasible.”

Chapter 3

26
  Research Methods and Methodologies

A total of 100 samples were selected from different

populations belonging to the millennium category. They were
different populations as they belong to different universities
and various universities have various cultures followed that
it impacts their buying strategies. For example, Christ
(Deemed to be University) does not allow the students to
drink coca- cola or any other fizzy drink for that matter in the
campus. This will lead to students wanting to drink fizzy
drinks even more as it is not something that is approved of by
the management and being in the rebellious age the
millenniums are currently residing in it is a big driving factor.
The samples have been collected in such a way that it was
only distributed to the millenniums who drink coca- cola. We
have used probability sampling and under this, the technique
we have adapted is the stratified sampling technique where
proportional sampling was used.

27
  What is research methodology?

Research methodology is a way of explaining how a researcher intends

to carry out their research. It’s a logical, systematic plan to resolve a
research problem. A methodology details a researcher’s approach to
the research to ensure reliable, valid results that address their aims and
objectives. It encompasses what data they’re going to collect and
where from, as well as how it’s being collected and analysed.

28
Why is a research methodology important?

A research methodology gives research legitimacy and provides

scientifically sound findings. It also provides a detailed plan that helps
to keep researchers on track, making the process smooth, effective and
manageable. A researcher’s methodology allows the reader to
understand the approach and methods used to reach conclusions.

Having a sound research methodology in place provides the following

benefits:

• Other researchers who want to replicate the research

have enough information to do so.

• Researchers who receive criticism can refer to the

methodology and explain their approach.

• It can help provide researchers with a specific plan to

follow throughout their research.

• The methodology design process helps researchers

select the correct methods for the objectives.

 Types of research methodology

When designing a research methodology, a researcher has several

decisions to make. One of the most important is which data
methodology to use, qualitative, quantitative or a combination of the
two. No matter the type of research, the data gathered will be as
numbers or descriptions, and researchers can choose to focus on
collecting words, numbers or both.

29
Here are the different methodologies and their applications:

Mixed-method

This contemporary research methodology combines quantitative and

qualitative approaches to provide additional perspectives, create a
richer picture and present multiple findings. The quantitative
methodology provides definitive facts and figures, while the qualitative
provides a human aspect. This methodology can produce interesting
results as it presents exact data while also being exploratory.

 Types of sampling design in research methodology

When creating a sample design, a researcher decides from who or what

they’ll collect data. They also choose the techniques and procedures
they’ll use to select items or individuals for the sample. There are
several types of sample design that fall into two main categories:

Probability sampling

This sampling method uses a random sample from the pool of people
or items you’re interested in, called the population, and is random or
chance sampling. Every person or item in the population has an equal
chance of being selected. Using this method is the best way to get a
truly representative sample, and researchers can generalize the study’s
results to the entire population.

30
Nonprobability sampling

Nonprobability sampling is not random, as the researcher deliberately

selects people or items for the sample. Researchers also refer to this
method as deliberate sampling, judgment sampling or purposive
sampling. Every person or item in the population doesn’t have an equal
chance of being selected, and the results are typically not generalizable
to the entire population.

Common data collection methods

Once a researcher has finalized their population sample, they need to

decide how to collect data. There are several options for data
collection, and the best research method to use will depend on the
research topic, methodology, type of data and the population sample.

Although there are many ways to collect data, people often broadly
group them in these ways:

• Interviews: Researchers can carry out interviews in a

structured, semi-structured, or unstructured format,
depending on how formal the questions are.

• Surveys: Surveys can be online or in-person and have

either free-answer, essay-style questions, or closed,
multiple-choice style questions. Depending on the data
required, a survey could also use a mixture.

• Focus groups: Focus groups have interviewees give

their thoughts, opinions, perspectives and perceptions
on specific topics. A moderator usually leads the group

31
 to help guide the discussion and ensure everyone has a
chance to share their thoughts.

• Observations: Direct observation involves observing

the spontaneous behavior of participants without
interference from the researcher, while participant
observation is more structured, and the researcher
interacts with the participants.

• Documents and records: Researchers collect data such

as published reports and official documents of
international bodies, government agencies or private
institutes and internal records such as employees’
payroll, raw material quantities and cash receipts.

Common data analysis methods

Researchers use different data analysis methods depending on whether

the data is qualitative or quantitative. For example:

Qualitative data analysis

Qualitative data is usually in spoken or written information, such as

interview transcripts, video and audio recordings, notes, images and
text documents. Qualitative data analysis involves identifying common
patterns in participants’ responses and critically analysing them to
achieve research aims and objectives.
The most commonly used qualitative data analysis methods are:

32
 • Content analysis: This is one of the most common
methods used to analyze documented information and
is usually used to analyze interviewees’ responses.

• Narrative analysis: Researchers use this method to

analyze content from several sources, including
interviews, observations and surveys. It focuses on
using people’s stories and experiences to answer
research questions.

• Discourse analysis: This method analyzes spoken or

written language in its social context and aims to
understand how people use language in day-to-day
situations.

• Grounded theory: This method uses qualitative data to

discover or construct a theory explaining why
something happened. It uses a comparative analysis of
data from similar cases in different settings to derive
explanations.

Quantitative data analysis

Quantitative data analysis involves turning numbers into meaningful

data by applying rational and critical thinking. Most researchers use
analytical software to assist with quantitative data analysis. The first
stage in analysing quantitative data is validating, editing and coding the
data. Once completed, the data is ready for analysis.

The most commonly used quantitative data analysis methods are:

33
 • Descriptive analysis: This method uses descriptive
statistics like mean, median, mode, percentage,
frequency and range to find patterns.

• Inferential analysis: This method shows the

relationships between multiple variables using
correlation, regression and variance analysis

 Factors to consider when choosing a research

methodology

Here are some factors to consider when choosing a research

methodology:

• The research objective: Consider the research project

objective. When researchers know what information
they require at the end of the project to meet their
objectives, it helps them select the correct
methodology and research method.

• Significance of statistics: Another factor to consider is

whether you require concise, data-driven research
results and statistical answers. Or whether the
research questions require an understanding of
reasons, perceptions, opinions and motivations.

• Nature of the research: If the aims and objectives are

exploratory, the research will probably require
qualitative data collection methods. However, if the
aims and objectives are to measure or test something,
the research will require quantitative data collection
methods.
34
 CHAPTER 4

 THEORETICAL CONCEPT

What Is Marketing?
Marketing refers to activities a company undertakes to promote the
buying or selling of a product or service. Marketing includes advertising,
selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses.
Some marketing is done by affiliates on behalf of a company.
Professionals who work in a corporation's marketing and promotion
departments seek to get the attention of key potential audiences
through advertising. Promotions are targeted to certain audiences and

35
may involve celebrity endorsements, catchy phrases or slogans,
memorable packaging or graphic designs and overall media exposure.

The 4 P's of Marketing

Product, price, place, and promotion are the Four Ps of marketing. The
Four Ps collectively make up the essential mix a company needs to
market a product or service. Neil Borden popularized the idea of
the marketing mix and the concept of the Four Ps in the 1950s.

Product
Product refers to an item or items the business plans to offer to
customers. The product should seek to fulfil an absence in the market,
or fulfil consumer demand for a greater amount of a product already
available. Before they can prepare an appropriate campaign, marketers
need to understand what product is being sold, how it stands out from
its competitors, whether the product can also be paired with a
secondary product or product line, and whether there are substitute
products in the market.

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Price
Price refers to how much the company will sell the product for. When
establishing a price, companies must consider the unit cost price,
marketing costs, and distribution expenses. Companies must also
consider the price of competing products in the marketplace and
whether their proposed price point is sufficient to represent a
reasonable alternative for consumers.
Place
Place refers to the distribution of the product. Key considerations
include whether the company will sell the product through a physical
storefront, online, or through both distribution channels. When it's sold
in a storefront, what kind of physical product placement does it get?
When it's sold online, what kind of digital product placement does it
get?
Promotion
Promotion, the fourth P, is the integrated marketing communications
campaign. Promotion includes a variety of activities such as advertising,
selling, sales promotions, public relations, direct marketing,
sponsorship, and guerrilla marketing.

Types of Marketing Strategies

Marketing is comprised of an incredibly broad and diverse set of
strategies. The industry continues to evolve, and the strategies below
may be better suited for some companies over others.
Traditional Marketing Strategies

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Before technology and the internet, traditional market strategies was
the primary way companies would market their goods to customers.
The main types of traditional marketing strategies includes:
 Outdoor Marketing: This entails public displays of advertising
external to a consumer's house. This includes billboards, printed
advertisements on benches, sticker wraps on vehicles, or
advertisements on public transit.
 Print Marketing: This entails small, easily printed content that is
easy to replicate. Companies often mass produce printed
materials as the printed materials delivered to one customer does
not need to vary from other. Examples include brochures, fliers,
newspaper ads, or magazine ads.
 Direct Marketing: This entails specific content delivered to
potential customers. Some print marketing content could be
mailed. Otherwise, direct marketing mediums could include
coupons, vouchers for free goods, or pamphlets.
 Electronic Marketing: This entails use of TV and radio for
advertising. Though short bursts of digital content, a company can
convey information to a customer through visual or auditory
media that may grab a viewer's attention better than a printed
form above.
 Event Marketing: This entails attempting to gather potential
customers at a specific location for the opportunity to speak with
them about products or demonstrate products. This includes
conferences, trade shows, seminars, roadshows, or private
events.

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  Search Engine Marketing: This entails companies attempting to
increase search traffic through two ways. First, companies can pay
search engines for placement on result pages. Second, companies
can emphasize search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to
organically place highly on search results.
 E-mail Marketing: This entails companies obtaining customer or
potential customer e-mail addresses and distributing messages.
These messages can include coupons, discount opportunities, or
advance notice of upcoming sales.
 Social Media Marketing: This entails building an online presence
on specific social media platforms. Like search engine marketing,
companies can place paid advertisements to bypass algorithms
and obtain a higher chance of being seen by viewers. Otherwise, a
company can attempt to organically grow by posting content,
interacting with followers, or uploading media like photos and
videos.
 Affiliate Marketing: This entails using third-party advertising to
drive customer interest. Often, an affiliate that will get
a commission from a sale will do affiliate marketing as the third-
party is incentivized to drive a sale for a good that is not their own
original product.
 Content Marketing: This entails creating content, whether
eBooks, infographics, video seminars, or other downloadable
content. The goal is to create a product (often free) to share
information about a product, obtain customer information, and
encourage customers to continue with the company beyond the
content.

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Benefits of Marketing
Well-defined marketing strategies can benefit a company in several
ways. It may be challenging in developing the right strategy or
executing the plan; when done well, marketing can yield the following
results.
 Audience Generation. Marketing allows a company to target
specific people it believes will benefit from its product or service.
Sometimes, people know they have the need. Other times, they
don't realize it. Marketing enables a company to connect with a
cohort of people that fit the demographic of who the company
aims to serve.
 Inward Education. Marketing is useful for collecting information
to be processed internally to drive success. For example,
consider market research that finds a certain product is primarily
purchased by women aged 18-34 years old. By collecting this
information, a company can better understand how to cater to
this demographic, drive sales, and be more efficient with
resources.
 Outward Education. Marketing can also be used to communicate
with the world what your company does, what products you sell,
and how your company can enrich the lives of others. Campaigns
can be educational, informing those outside of your company why
they need your product. In addition, marketing campaigns let a
company introduce itself, its history, its owners, and its
motivation for being the company it is.
 Brand Creation. Marketing allows for a company to take an
offensive approach to creating a brand. Instead of a customer
shaping their opinion of a company based on their interactions, a

40
 company can pre-emptively engage a customer with specific
content or media to drive certain emotions or reactions. This
allows a company to shape its image before the customer has
ever interacted with its products.
 Long-lasting. Marketing campaigns done right can have a long-
lasting impact on customers. Consider Popping' Fresh, also known
as the Pillsbury Doughboy. First appearing in 1965, the mascot has
helped create a long-lasting, warm, friendly brand for Pillsbury.2
 Financial Performance. The ultimate goal and benefit of
marketing is to drive sales. When relationships with customers are
stronger, well-defined, and positive, customers are more likely to
engage in sales. When marketing is done right, customers turn to
your company, and you gain a competitive advantage over your
competitors.
 Limitations of Marketing
Though there are many reasons a company embarks on marketing
campaigns, there are several limitations to the industry.
 Oversaturation. Every company wants customers to buy its
product and not its competitors. Therefore, marketing channels
can be competitive as companies strive to garner more positive
attention and recognition. If too many companies are competing,
a customer's attention may be strongly diluted, resulting in any
form of advertising not being effective.

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 Chapter 5

 Data Analysis & Interpretation

Data analysis:
Data analysis, also known as analysis of data or data analytics, is a
process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modelling data with
the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and
supporting decision-making. During the data analysis of this report data
was collected with the help of questionnaires designed separately for
the retailers, Distributors & Consumers. The data was collected, has
been illustrated below through charts and graphical representations. By
applying systematic random sampling 95 consumers have been
contacted and asked regarding the advertisements of Coca- Cola. 55
retailers and 10 distributors of Noida sector 15, sector 16 and near by
areas of sector 63 have been contacted for assessing the effectiveness
of sales promotional activities of Coca-Cola and to judge whether they
are satisfied with the schemes of sales promotion or not.

PRESENTATION & ANALYSIS OF DATA GATHERED FROM

DISTRIBUTORS

The following data shows the analysis of 10 distributors of Noida sector

15, sector 16 and other areas in the vicinity of sector 63.1.
Rating of the sales promotional activities offered by Coca-Cola to the
distributors.
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Analysis:
The above graphical representation shows that out of 10 distributors
only 20% of the distributors voted the promotional activities of Coca
Cola as Excellent, 50% were happy and liked the promotional activity
whereby only 10% of the distributor were just okay with promotional
activity.

43
 Chapter 6

 Findings (learning of students) :

 10 Business Lessons to Learn from International

Marketing strategies of Coca-Cola in India :

1. Think of the customer first and always.

2. Stay active in protecting your market share.
3. To make a lasting impression, keep your branding consistent.
4. Internally, develop your brand so you can succeed externally.
5. Refresh your brand's image regularly.
6. Make a big impression.
7. Start and engage in discussions with your audience.
8. In Local Markets, Get In Touch With Cultures.
9. You will need to test the waters sometimes.
10. Personalise and localise your company’s image.

Chapter 7

44
  Suggestions / Recommendations :

Inorganic Growth and Acquisitions:

The Coca Cola Company has been acquiring various local beverages
companies aggressively over the last decade. Also, the company has
increased its stake in major bottling operations. This has given the
company more control over the entire value chain and allows it to align
the goals of these bottling operations with those of the company. The
company acquired other companies in almost all major markets around
the world. These acquisitions gave head start to Coca Cola in the
international markets and allowed the company to diversify its revenue
stream.

Growing healthy drinks and bottled water: The market for carbonated
drinks is getting saturated in many Western countries and the trend is
to move towards healthier drinks. Also, the market for bottled water is
increasing fast globally. Coca Cola has developed and acquired various
brands catering to these two segments. Coca Cola can use its strong
Brand position in carbonated water to increase its presence in other
beverages category and take advantage of these growing markets
threats.

Changing trends: In carbonated drinks, PepsiCo is the only real

competitor of Coca Cola. But the trend is to move towards healthier
drinks and there is a big threat of substitution facing Coca Cola. Possible
substitutes include coffee, tea, milk, juices and Energy drinks. The

45
company has already taken steps to address this issue by launching
Products in the category of healthy drinks.

Dependence on third party bottling partners: The Coca Cola system of

bottling partners, which is a strength for the company, is potentially a
threat as well. The company does not have the ownership in most of
the bottling operations and makes money by selling syrup to these
bottling companies. The interest of The Coca Cola Company can be
different from the bottling companies as each of them try to maximize
their profits. The major dependence on independent third party
vendors is a major risk to the company. This threat is being addressed
by vertical integration as well as entering into long term Partnerships
with the bottling companies.

Competition: PepsiCo competes fiercely with Coca Cola in most cannot

let down its guard.

Chapter 8

46
  Conclusion

Coca Cola is a truly global company with presence in multiple

countries. The company’s biggest competitive strength comes from the
strong brand that has been developed over 125 years of consistent
marketing efforts. Economies of scale and the network with suppliers
and distributors
also contribute to the success.
Marketing and advertising has been the most important function that
has taken Coca Cola to new heights. The company has adopted
innovating marketing techniques right from the times of Candler and
Robert Woodruff. Apart from usual advertising through bill boards and
newspapers, Coca Cola focused on organizations, universities and
colleges and this increased sales while promoting the brand name.

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48
 Chapter 9
 Reference

 Baker, Michael The Strategic Marketing Plan Audit 2008. P.

3
 http://www.coca-colacompany.com/
 https://www.coca-colaindia.com/about-us/christina-
ruggiero
 https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-of-
coca-cola/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/09/2
6/coca-colas-advertising-and-marketing-efforts-are-
helping-it-to-stay-on-
 https://www.statista.com/
 Bell, L., 2004. The Story of Coca Cola. Mankato: Smart
Apple Media
 Healey, M. 2008. What is Branding? Meese: Revision SA
Henry, A. 2008. Understanding Strategic Management. New York:
Oxford university
 Kotler, P., 1991. Marketing Management. 7th edition. Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice-Hall
 Porter, M. E., 2008. Strategic. Competitive Forces that shape
Strategy. Harvard Business
Review. Cambridge: Harvard Press
 The Coca Cola System. 2011. The Coca Cola System. [online]
Available at: <
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/the_coca-
cola_system.html>
[Accessed on 27th June, 2011]

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 Chapter 10

 Appendix

1. When was The Coca-Cola Company founded?

1892

2. When was Coca-Cola drink invented?

1886

3. Who founded "The Coca-Cola company"?

Asa Griggs Candler

4. Which of the following drinks is not produced by "The Coca-Cola company"?

Pepsi

5. Who invented Coca-Cola drink?

John Stith Pemberton

6. Where were the initial headquarters situated?

Georgia

7. What was Coca-Cola drink used as when it was invented?

Medicine for nervous system disorders

8. What is the only product "The Coca-Cola Company" produce?

Syrup concentrate

9. Which orange juice is produced by one of the acquired company?

Minute Maid

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