Business Customer Analysis and Valuation †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Business Customer Analysis and Valuation. Answer: Introduction: Coca-cola popularly known as coke is basically a type of soft drink which is carbonated, and is produced by the coca cola company. It is one of the oldest and most popular soft drinks and has tremendous number of loyalists all around. There was the inception of a legendary battle between Coca-cola and Pepsi several decades ago and the brands have been fighting each other for more than a century. Each brand wanted to outdo the other and launched several new brand campaigns and advertisements to outdo the other. The history of the wars had reached a legendary nature due to the nature of the battle between them. While Coca-cola specialises is certain aspects, the Pepsi company is better in others. Throughout the decades of their battles, the companies have fought to keep their popularity as well as the customer base intact. According to Michael Porter, the job of a person who is a strategist is to understand as well as deal with competition in a proper manner. The concept of competition goes beyond the established rivals in the industry and also focuses on the competitive forces namely the customers, suppliers, potential entrants and finally the substitute products. The nature of extended rivalry that stems from all the five forces defines the structure of an industry and also determines the competitive nature of interaction within a particular industry (Armus, 2005). Coca cola has been able to position itself successfully in the market among a plethora of brands due to its appeal to family, friends and also to being a part of the joys of everyday life. It has been able to maintain it consistency as well as high quality throughout its service. The factors which are involved with the successful positioning of coca cola in the market are the price, packaging, promotion, distribution as well as competition. The price remained the same for almost seven decades. The packaging has been developed and innovated with time according to the changing society to appeal to people. The company has led to the spread of word all over, has ensured there is awareness among the people about its existence and has always tired its best to keep up with competition. The marketing strategies as well as the taglines were extremely innovative and appealed to the people and so did the advertisements (Kumar, Teichman Timpernagel, 2012). The competitive advantages of Coca-cola are the market leadership, the business partnership, collaborative customer relationship, channel marketing, the multi stage segmentation, the client value management, the implemented go-to market strategy the full operating potential, the flexible sales as well as distribution models, the managerial expertise and finally the sustainable development (Morden, 2016). The significant and noteworthy aspect in the success of Coca cola is the identification of potential competitors, which include Pepsi as the first and foremost one. The companies are competitors more so because they have similar soda and non-soda interests and also have similar offerings. The risk in the competition area is moderate because despite shifts in the consumer trends the company has a loyal following in terms of an established customer base for decades (Louis Yazijian, 1980). New entrants to the industry are not unlikely because any company can hit the right trends at the right time. There may be several new entrants as well which might provide healthier options for the people. There always remain possibilities of newer and better beverages taking over the existent ones. It needs to be mentioned however that establishment of the brand positioning similar to coca cola is not easy and requires considerable efforts (Pearson, 2016). There are always chances of people consuming drinks which are a substitute of coca-cola. People might prefer coffee or other beverages like freshly made smoothies, fresh pressed juices or other healthier alternatives to soft drinks. This might reduce the chances of coca cola consumption (Stark, 2015). With respect to the bargaining power of the buyers it can be said that it is considerable. This is because the company does not sell its products directly to the end users. Therefore the fast food chains or college companies or vending machine companies have enough chances of bargaining with the company and hence coca cola has to sell its products to the distribution networks at a price which is reasonable enough so that there are accepted by all the outlets (Rothaermel, 2015). The suppliers of Coca cola also have immense power. The prices of the commodities which are the ingredients of the soft drinks vary with time and hence the bargaining power of the suppliers of coca cola is significant (Lambert Schwieterman, 2012). It is not improbable that natural disasters can occur at any time and affect the harvests of sugarcane which would indirectly affect the prices of sugar. Despite the several-year contract of the company with its suppliers the prices do not vary much but it is not improbable that it might change significantly at any given point of time (Elmore, 2014). Coca cola should continue to improve its position in the market and develop new strategies in order to sustain itself in the face of severe amount of competition. The untouched portions of the market need to be looked into in order to create new customer bases in those areas as well. The myths or the wrong notions surrounding the concept of unhealthy drinks need to be removed by proper information communication to the people by the company. The packaging and the safety of the bottles need to be mentioned to the people as well (Wahlen, Baginski Bradshaw, 2014). The company has to employ the procedures of the highest quality and also to establish standards guaranteeing the production of a standard product meeting the expectations of the customers. The process also involves continued emphasis on getting the correct standards of quality and seeking ways for the improvement of performance. It is quite difficult for other companies to keep up with the level of coca cola and take the place which has already been established by the company in the market. An efficient supply chain and emphasis on sustainable development has led the company to reach a place in the competitive market. References: Armus, S. (2005). Coca-Cola Company.France and the Americas: culture, politics, and history: a multidisciplinary encyclopedia,1, 273. Elmore, B. J. (2014).Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism. WW Norton Company. Kumar, S., Teichman, S., Timpernagel, T. (2012). A green supply chain is a requirement for profitability.International Journal of Production Research,50(5), 1278-1296. Lambert, D. M., Schwieterman, M. A. (2012). Supplier relationship management as a macro business process. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal,17(3), 337-352. Louis, J. C., Yazijian, H. (1980).The cola wars. Everest House. Morden, T. (2016).Principles of strategic management. Routledge. Pearson, S. (2016).Building brands directly: creating business value from customer relationships. Springer. Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education. Stark, J. (2015). Product lifecycle management. InProduct Lifecycle Management (Volume 1)(pp. 1-29). Springer International Publishing. Wahlen, J., Baginski, S., Bradshaw, M. (2014).Financial reporting, financial statement analysis and valuation. Nelson Education.