2 classmates discussion responses, 125 words each with one reference each.

One: The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage distributors with more than 500 sparkling products; their portfolio features 15 billion dollars brands which includes Vitaminwater, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, and Minute Maid to name a few. “Through the world’s largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of 1.7 billion servings a day,” (Coca-Cola Company, 2021).

Based on the report pulled, we can see there’s a decline in the operating cash flow from 2019 to 2020. There has also been a steady decrease in the issuance of capital stock. However, we do see an increase in the end cash position and free cash flow from 2019 to 2020. This is due to the company having less funds in investing and financing cash flow as well as in repurchase of capital stock.

Balance Sheet – Coca- Cola Company

(No Author, 2021)

According to the analysis, Coca-Cola is operating at a median current ratio of 1.3x from fiscal years ending December 2016 to 2020 with its peak being in December of 2017. Coca-Cola’s current ratio decreased in 2018 (0.9x, -35.5%) and 2019 (0.8x, -12.6%) and increased in 2016 (1.3x, +3.4%), 2017 (1.3x, +4.8%) and 2020 (1.3x, +74.1%), (No Author, Current Ratio for The Coca-Cola Company, 2021).

The Coca-Cola Company has several advantages over the competition for being an established organization. The main advantage the company has is power over the buyers. Coca-Cola is a brand recognized all over the world, being distributed in well over 200 countries. The organization has the ability to underprice some of its items in order to acquire smaller competitors. With their products having a global reach, they have the ability to gain a wider customer base than many of its rivals; having a broad audience allows the organization to introduce new products more readily. A third major advantage is economies of scale; the company is able to share fixed costs over hundreds of brands, making each drink as cheap as possible. Although the organization has many advantages, they have their disadvantages as well. A huge disadvantage is not having a diversified portfolio. While Coca-Cola only offers beverage products, Pepsi Co. offers snacks, chips, beverages, etc.; because of this, Pepsi has grown exponentially and is Coca-Cola’s biggest competitor.

From looking at their balance sheet, we can see that Coca-Cola has increased improvements in almost all areas concerning assets and liabilities however, their numbers did decrease with net tangible assets and tangible book value. “Enterprises’ performance may be significantly affected by environmental, social and governance issues, as well as by the stability of the finance system,” (Al Dhaheri & Nobanee, 2020). I do believe overall Coca-Cola will continue to carry a debt for many years to come but they are a solid and well-established company that has been around for decades.

References

Al Dhaheri, A., & Nobanee, H. (2020, February 14). Financial Stability and Sustainable Finance: A Mini-Review. Retrieved from SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_i…

Coca-Cola Company. (2021, March 24). Retrieved from Devex: https://www.devex.com/organizations/coca-cola-comp…

No Author. (2021, March 25). Current Ratio for The Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved from Finbox: https://finbox.com/NYSE:KO/explorer/current_ratio

No Author. (2021, March 24). The Coca-Cola Company (KO). Retrieved from Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/KO/cash-flow?p=KO

• image_60369259041616720312274.png(43.58 KB)
• image_44847454431616720312273.png(218.62 KB)

Two: An IFE matric is a tool that is used to evaluate a companies internal strengths and weaknesses. It stands for Internal Factors evaluation matrix and can be a critical tool for companies to help evaluate themselves to help become a better overall organization. It can be used in many areas of a company that include marketing, sales, advertising, finance, legal, product, development, management and more. Throughout this discussion, I will take a look at the major strengths and weaknesses associated with the Coca-Cola brand.

Strengths:

“The market leader in the soft drinks industry, Coca-Cola is one of the most renowned brands across the world. Be it your home, office, shops, hotels, bars, or restaurants, Coca-Cola is everywhere! 94% of the world’s population recognizes the brand instantly by its red and white Coca-Cola logo as per Business Insider. More than 10,000 soft drinks from Coca-Cola are consumed every second of every day on average” (Bstrategyhub, 2020). The popularity of the brand of Coca-Cola is a major strength for their business as it is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. That makes its familiarity with its consumer at a very high rate. Coca-Cola has done an excellent job of being a familiar brand around the world. They have to continue to use the prestige of their brand to make it familiar to new generations of consumers.

The other major strength for the brand is its availability in the market. While you could create a long list of available places that it is available for consumption, it is actually easier to list the places its not available. There are only a few places on the face of the earth that do not welcome the Coca-Cola brand in their country. “There are now just two countries in the world where Coca-Cola cannot be bought or sold – at least, not officially. They are Cuba and North Korea, which are both under long-term US trade embargoes (Cuba since 1962 and North Korea since 1950)” (BBC, 2012).

Weaknesses:

One of the main weaknesses of the Coca-Cola brand comes from its health related issues associated with its products. “The rivalry and competitive pressure against Coca Cola has kept rising. However, Coca Cola did not make any major strategic move to beat the competition. It has continued to rely on the popularity of its existing brands, apart from the introduction of a few low calorie options. Recently, the brand increased the number of low calorie or calorie-less options in its product portfolio” (Pratap, 2020). The other major weakness that can be associated with Coca-Cola is along the same lines as the first weakness and that is the lack of presence in the market of health drinks. Many of the brands products is high in sugar and not classified in the health drink departments that have natural ingredients and are considered a positive contribution to a persons health.

Something that I would do to improve on these weaknesses is to emphasize and try to push the products that the brand has that is leaning more towards the health sector of the industry. Coca-Cola’s main products mainly have a high percentage of sugar and are frankly not healthy. This allows an opportunity for the brand to emerge into a new market of healthier products that have not been normally associated with Coca-Cola.

Conclusion:

While the information above shows a few of the key factors that contribute to the strengths and weaknesses, below shows a more in depth look at how the organization.
:

IFE MATRIX FOR COCA COLA

Strengths	Weight	Rating	Weighted Score
Strong brand	0.09 (8%)	4	0.36
Strong marketing and advertising of products around globe	0.07 (7%)	4	0.28
Products are globally available	0.10 (10%)	4	0.40
Healthy financial position	0.08 (8%)	3	0.24
Brand equity	0.07 (7%)	4	0.28
Competent workforce	0.05 (5%)	3	0.15
Wide variety of products	0.05 (5%)	3	0.15
Weaknesses
High debts	0.10 (10%)	2	0.20
Health Issues	0.10 (10%)	1	0.10
Some products have low sales	0.09 (9%)	2	0.18
Weak image in India	0.06 (6%)	2	0.12
Negative publicity	0.10 (10%)	1	0.10
Taste differentiation	0.05 (5%)	1	0.05
Total Weighted Score	1.0(100%)		2.65

Reference:

Coca Cola SWOT analysis 2020: SWOT analysis of Coca Cola. (2020, October 10). Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://bstrategyhub.com/swot-analysis-of-coca-col…

Pratap, A. (2020, March 01). COCA cola Swot analysis : Strengths and weaknesses. Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://notesmatic.com/2016/08/coca-cola-swot-2016…

Who, what, why: In which countries is Coca-Cola not sold? (2012, September 11). Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19550067