Introduction
Sustainability is required for the placement of a business strategy. Several key preconditions such a long-term commitment to the place brand strategy, ad campaigns, adequate budget allocation, responsiveness to societal changes, and the need for specific objectives determine the success and sustainability of a business.
This analytical treatise attempts to present the localization strategy as ideal in the current business situation of the Coca-Cola Company.
Issue identification
Coca-Cola is a multinational company that trades in soft drinks. It has a presence in an over 200 countries. The company’s revenues are embedded in a number of strategic strengths such as effective advertisements, diversity of products, and consistency in the rate of production (Hill 35). However, the global market is currently threatened by the centralized system of product development, advertisement, and different consumer segments.
To survive the competition, it is important for the company to embrace localization strategies because the company’s markets have different needs, which should be met without compromising central market expansion strategies from the company’s headquarters.
Specifically, the Coca-Cola has to urgently address the unique customer requirements demands in Asia, the US, Africa, and the rest of the world, while remaining the profitable business which cares for the needs of other stakeholders.
Analysis
Localization strategy involves giving more monotony to production, distribution, and marketing units of the Coca-Cola Company operating in different markets. Through localization, the elements of creatively, customer loyalty and meeting specific needs in different regions will be met by the company (Hill 78).
However, the previous decision to revert back to the global standardization strategies in the late 1990s gave its major competitors to customize their soft drinks to meet the demands of different local market.
In the recent past, in order to diversify market operations, the company has created multiple products from the same product with different coloration, sizes, packaging, prices, and the difference in quality in the localization strategy to meet these varying demands (Gelder 45).
Recommendation
In order to move the Coca-Cola brand forward, it is critical to adopt the localization strategy that directly appeals to different target markets. The Coca-Cola Company should remain the organization that has localized its means of production and marketing which appeals to different customer bases.
The localization strategy will help in the triangulation of the “how”, “where”, and “what” of management strategies since it focuses on a specific market (Cigliano et al. 69). It involves the identification of the unmet customer needs, examining and deploying potential enablers in new converging innovative technologies, and identifying capabilities to ensure that the needs are met within the expectation of the local markets.
The company’s advertisements should remain specific to different geographical regions that appeal directly to the target consumers.
In achieving these objectives, the strategic blend should map possible competition, positioning strategy, consumer and market analysis, and geographical regions of operation to minimize the risk of product rejection (Gelder, 27). Generally, the localization strategy should be redesigned to be flexible to market dynamics and embrace alterations were necessary for each target market.
Conclusion
The proper use of the localization strategy will determine the success and sustainability of the Coca-Cola Company in penetrating the global market. To increase credibility and maintain professionalism, the localization strategy will flawlessly facilitate a healthy and lifetime relationship between the company and its clients in different regions.
Works Cited
Cigliano, James, Michael Georgiadis, Daniel Pleasance and Sarah Whalley. “The Price of Loyalty.”McKinsey Quarterly, 4.2 (2002): 68-77. Print.
Gelder, Van. Global brand strategy: Unlocking Branding Potential across Countries, Cultures, and Markets, London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2005. Print.
Hill, Charles. International Business. 9th ed. 2012. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Print.