Description based on the industry and current trends
Marketing audit can be defined as the review that is done based on the objectives, strategies, activities and the marketing plan of an organization in the industry. The process of marketing audit is helpful for an organization to analyse the external environment effectively and developing the appropriate strategies as well. The report will be based on the marketing audit based analysis of an organization with the help of external environmental analysis. The external environment of the organization will be examined with the help of PESTLE framework. The segment of the market which is divided by the company for providing its products will also be analysed in the report (Meyer, Neck and Meeks 2017).
The company which has been considered for the analysis is Coca Cola company which has its headquarters in the United States. The organization has its operations all over the world. The position that has been developed by the company in the industry has played a major role in the operations all over the world. The segment of the market which has been targeted by the company will be analysed in the report in detail.
The Coca Cola company is an American organization, retailer, marketer and manufacturer of the non-alcoholic based beverage which are provided to the customers all over the world. The organization is famous in the world for the flagship product named Coca Cola. The leading product of the company was developed in the year 1886 by the pharmacist named John Stith Pemberton in Georgia. The formula that was used for the development of Coca Cola was bought by the company in the year 1889. The headquarter of the company was thereby located in Georgia (Coca-cola.com 2018).
The anchor bottler of the Coca Cola company was located in North America. Coca Cola has been able to grow its revenues with the help of various acquisitions all over the world. Coca Cola had taken over the company named Minute Maid in the year 1960. The Indian brand named Thumbs Yup was also acquired by the company in the year 1995. The brand named Odwalla was acquired by the company in the year 2001. Fuze Beverage was thereby acquired by Coca Cola company in 2007. The Columbia Pictures was purchased by Coca Cola company in 1982. The company had grown in the industry with the help of its acquisitions all over the world (Coca-cola.com 2018).
Growth
Coca Cola company had sold the beverage related products in greater than 20 countries all over the world. More than 50 billion beverage based servings were thereby consumed by the customers all over the world. The flagship product of the company had accounted for more than 78 percent of the total revenues of the organization in the industry. The products which are offered by Coca Cola company are thereby provided to customers in different areas of the world which include, 43% of total sales in the US, 37% of total sales in Mexico, Pakistan, India, Japan, Brazil, Australia and China. The company was able to gain the topmost position in the United Kingdom.
The external environment of Coca Cola company can be analysed with the help of PESTLE framework. The ways by which the different external factors are able to affect the incomes of the company can be analysed with the help of the following factors,
- Political factors – The products of Coca Cola company and their prices are affected by the regulations that are developed by the government. The changes that take place in different laws and regulations can thereby have immense effect on the revenues of the company. The laws based on taxes that have been developed by the Australian government are significantly able to affect the revenues of Coca Cola (Michael, Storey and Thomas 2017).
- Economic factors – The products that are offered by Coca Cola company are distributed in an effective manner to the customers in different countries. The countries in which the products are developed are based on different cultures, customs, desires and tastes. The Coca Cola company thereby updates the prices of these products in order to align with the buying capacity of the customers of the country. The products of Coca Cola which are provided to the customers in Australia are priced according to the capacity of buyers of the country (Milichovsky and Simberova 2015).
- Social factors – The majority of the products of Coca Cola company that have been distributed all over the world are able to meet the demands of the consumers. The company has provided many types of products which include, carbonated drinks, sports drink, fruit juices, iced tea, coffee, tea, flavoured milk. The products are based on the preferences and choices of the Australian customers. The health based products are mainly preferred by the conscious customers (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015).
- Technological factors – The different high technology machinery and equipments that are used by Coca Cola company in order to manufacture the products are able to increase the speed of productions. The fast delivery based times and product quality are also based on the high technology equipments which are used by the company. The social media based technology has helped the company to connect with the customers and understand their needs and demands. Facebook has been used as a major platform by the company in order to develop the customer base (Nair and Ndubisi 2015).
- Legal factors – The legal factors that are developed by the countries are built on the methods by which the company is able to create its own policies. The patents that have been gained by the organization in the industry are also based on the legal condition in Australia (Sakas, Vlachos and Nasiopoulos 2014).
- Environmental factors – The different water accessibility based issues that have been faced by the company have affected the production process and revenues as well. The variations that have taken place in the climate have been the major reason behind the shortage of adequate amounts of water for the preparation of soft drinks (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017). The company has faced some major losses in different parts of the world including Australia based on the water supply based problems. The company also needs to align its operations and production with the different environmental laws that have been developed in the industry. The increase in levels of humidity can act as an important way by which the revenues of Coca Cola can be increased effectively (Sakas, Vlachos and Nasiopoulos 2014).
The analysis of the external environment of Coca Cola company has showed that the company and its proper operations are hugely affected by the changes that take place in the external environment.
The major competitor of Coca Cola in Australia is PepsiCo. The company has provided the highest levels of competition to the company with the help of similar types of products that are further offered for similar prices as well. Coca Cola faces major competition from the different organizations in Australia based on three major factors that include, the levels of competition in the Australian supermarkets, the price based pressures from the competitors and the labels that are owned by different supermarket based chains. The power that is held by the supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths in Australia are able to affect the profitability levels of the company (Schlegelmilch 2016).
The non-grocery based business organizations in Australia need to face lots of struggle based on the competition that is provided by the grocery based companies or supermarkets. The discounting based that are effectively performed by the competitors can affect the prices of different products and further reduce the stock levels as well. The lack of consumer confidence on the products like soft drinks have been found to be a major reason behind low sales of products that are offered by Coca Cola. The competitors of the company have provided products are at discounted rates to the consumers. This has played a major part in reducing the revenues of the company in the industry. The other major competitors of Coca Cola except Pepsi are, Golden Circle, Bundaberg, Heinz (Serrat 2017).
Profitability
The market segments are able to play a significant part in the processes and profitability of organizations in the industry. The segmentation process is thereby used by the modern organizations in order to decide the market area where the products can be promoted in an effective manner. The company has focussed its operations on the entire population of the world including the people in Australia. However, the younger generation is considered to be the major target market by Coca Cola. The organization also aims at offering the products to its customers with high levels of energy and youth as well (Tanner and Raymond 2015).
Coca Cola had to develop a special line of diet products in order to satisfy the needs of health conscious customers. The market segments thereby play a major part in the decision making based process that is conducted by the company in an effective manner. The marketing mix of the company has also been developed based on the demands and needs of the consumers. The primary market segment of Coca Cola is thereby the younger generation (Thoeni, Marshall and Campbell 2016).
The customers who belong to this group are able to affect the decisions that are taken by the company in order to develop the products. The secondary market segment of Coca Cola company is the rest of the population which includes the health conscious people as well. The segmentation process that is used by the company for dividing the market mainly include, psychographic segmentation and behavioural segmentation. These process have been helpful for company to decide the appropriate market segment for different products (Trigeorgis and Reuer 2017).
The primary market segment of the company which includes the younger generation of people who can affect the profitability and product line of Coca Cola in an effective manner. The company has developed different types of products for the needs of various types of consumers. Coca Cola is able to create effective value for the customers with the help of its product line. The partnerships which have been developed by the company were based on the customers and their demands as well. The different stores of Coca Cola which have been developed all over the world are known for providing variable products and services (Venter, Wright and Dibb 2015).
The company has also segmented the products for different types of customers so that their needs and demands can be fulfilled in an efficient manner. The innovations that have been made in different products of the company have played a key role in the revenues and profitability of Coca Cola in the industry. Innovation has been helpful for the company to gain much more wealth in the industry. The company has thereby provided focus to the market segment with the help of proper customer segments (Wheelen et al. 2017).
Macro environmental analysis (PESTEL)
Although Coca Cola has mainly implemented the mass marketing based strategy by focussing on the entire market, the particular market segments have been helpful in the proper development of products. This has been quite helpful for the organization in order to create the number one place in the industry. The value chain of Coca Cola has been affected by the primary market segment of the company. The positioning based strategy of the company has also been affected by the primary market segment of Coca Cola (Zia and Kumar 2016).
Source: Created by author
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that the Coca Cola company has created its position in the industry with the help of effective environmental analysis of the Australian market. The Australian market analysis with the help of PESTLE framework has been able depict the position of the company and the ways by which the operations are affected in the industry. The organization has created major segments of the customers by using proper market segmentation based process. The primary and secondary segments of the market have also been decided by the company. This has provided major help to the company in order to create an effective position in the market. The company has thereby been able to develop a better position as compared to its major rival Pepsi in the Australian soft drinks industry.
References
Coca-cola.com 2018. Coca-Cola Australia, New Look – Same great feeling. Discover our brands and stay up to date with the latest news and special events.. [online] Coca-cola.com.au. Available at: https://www.coca-cola.com.au/en/home/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2018].
Meyer, G.D., Neck, H.M. and Meeks, M.D., 2017. The entrepreneurship?strategic management interface. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, pp.17-44.
Michael, S., Storey, D. and Thomas, H., 2017. Discovery and coordination in strategic management and entrepreneurship. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, pp.45-65.
Milichovsky, F. and Simberova, I., 2015. Marketing effectiveness: Metrics for effective strategic marketing. Engineering Economics, 26(2), pp.211-219.
Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H. and Zentes, J., 2015. Strategic international management (pp. 978-3658078836). Springer.
Nair, S.R. and Ndubisi, N.O., 2015. Entrepreneurial values, environmental marketing and customer satisfaction: Conceptualization and propositions. In Marketing and Consumer Behavior: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 652-665). IGI Global.
Sakas, D., Vlachos, D. and Nasiopoulos, D., 2014. Modelling strategic management for the development of competitive advantage, based on technology. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 16(3), pp.187-209.
Schlegelmilch, B.B., 2016. Segmenting Targeting and Positioning in Global Markets. In Global Marketing Strategy(pp. 63-82). Springer, Cham.
Serrat, O., 2017. Marketing in the public sector. In Knowledge Solutions (pp. 111-118). Springer, Singapore.
Simon, D., Fischbach, K. and Schoder, D., 2014. Enterprise architecture management and its role in corporate strategic management. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 12(1), pp.5-42.
Steinbach, A.L., Holcomb, T.R., Holmes, R.M., Devers, C.E. and Cannella, A.A., 2017. Top management team incentive heterogeneity, strategic investment behavior, and performance: A contingency theory of incentive alignment. Strategic Management Journal, 38(8), pp.1701-1720.
Tanner, J. and Raymond, M., 2015. Principles of marketing. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing.
Thoeni, A.T., Marshall, G.W. and Campbell, S.M., 2016. A resource-advantage theory typology of strategic segmentation. European Journal of Marketing, 50(12), pp.2192-2215.
Trigeorgis, L. and Reuer, J.J., 2017. Real options theory in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), pp.42-63.
Venter, P., Wright, A. and Dibb, S., 2015. Performing market segmentation: a performative perspective. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(1-2), pp.62-83.
Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017. Strategic management and business policy. pearson.
Zia, M. and Kumar, N., 2016. A Three Dimensional Vertical Differentiation Model: Implications for Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
