Strategic Management: Strategic Choices(slp) - Essay Example

Running head: Strategic Management: Strategic Choices Strategic Management: Strategic Choices 9th January 2012AbstractStrategic choices that Coca-Cola Company has recently adopted include appropriate branding as well as effective pricing of its products. Through production of wide range of products that include orangeades, coffee, tea and fruitopia beverage among others, the company has effectively met the needs of its customers across the world. In the same way, Coca-Cola ensures that the prices of its products are affordable leading to strong customer loyalty.

IntroductionStiff competition in the contemporary business environment has forced many companies to adopt various strategies with an aim of putting at bay their competitors. According to Kotter (1982), organisations have put in place strategies so as to increase shareholders returns and optimize the use of resources in order to increase the profit. This paper seeks to discuss the strategic choices that Coca-Cola Company has emulated to attain a competitive edge in the soft drink industry. Recent Coca-Cola strategic choicesProduct branding In its effort to mitigate the stiff competition in the soft drink industry, Coca-Cola Company has embarked on producing wide range of brands for its consumers.

Through provision of beverages that meets the needs of its consumers, Coca-Cola has effectively penetrated new markets. Some of the major products that the company has put in the market include orangeades, coffee, tea, Dasani water and Fruitopia beverage among others. The development of low-carbohydrates brands for instance the Atkins Diet resulted to a strong customer’s loyalty leading to an increase of the company sales and profits. Pricing strategiesCoca-Cola Company adopts prices that are affordable by the consumers.

Even though the recent economic crises affected the sales of the company as a result of the low purchasing power, the company maintains low prices without compromising the quality of its brands. Categorizing the Coca-Cola strategic choicesThe branding and pricing techniques adopted by Coca-Cola are inline with the differentiation strategy that is one of the generic strategies as depicted Michael Porter (Porter, 1998). The quality brands whose prices are low have in turn resulted to strong customer loyalty.

Some of the major implications of the effective branding are increased number of consumers, high sales and increased profitability. Based on this strategy, the company has effectively faced off its competitors in Asian, Middle East as well as African markets. Coca-Cola branding strategy is one of the key strengths that have made the company to attain a competitive edge in the beverage industry. For example, based on its consumers age, Coca-Cola produces brands that have high energy level or with low sugar content.

In the same way, quality brands have offset the criticism that faced the company especially in the Indian market. Coca-Cola has also effectively utilized the increasing opportunities in the beverage industry. For example, the company has embarked on expanding its brand portfolio to cater for the increasing world population. The company branding strategies have also ensured that the company appropriately faces off Pepsi and other competitors who are major threats of the company (Plumb 2009).Coca-Cola pricing techniques take into consideration the income of its consumers thus resulting to a positive consumer-product relationship which is a major strength of the company.

In addition, the low prices have also enabled the company to attract high number of consumers especially in the North American market where it experienced low performance. One of the major opportunities that exist for Coca-Cola is the increased number of Hispanic population thus resulting to a higher demand for the company products. The company addresses the high demand by lowering its prices. Plumb (2009) argues that Coca-Cola addresses the stiff competition by lowering its prices. This has made the company to attract new customers and maintain the loyalty of the existing customers.

From Module 4 SLP I have learnt that for a company to be successful especially in the current business arena, it is imperative for managers to adopt effective strategic choices. This will not only make a company to attain a competitive edge, but also it result to more customers and high sales. ConclusionFrom the above discussion it is clear that organisations that are focused at attaining competitive positions should not overlook strategic management. This means that a thorough research should be undertaken to ensure that strategic choices adopted effectively addresses all the aspects of a company’s SWOT.

ReferencesKotter, J. (1982).The general manager. New York: Free Press.Plumb, T. (2009). Coca-Cola to unveil mini cans in D.C. Washington Business Journal.Porter, M. (1998). Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. London: Free Press.