solved Two classmates responses 125 words eachone: Reddy (2018) defines strategy

Two classmates responses 125 words eachone: Reddy (2018) defines strategy as a long-term plan created for a company to reach the desired future state. A strategy considers a company’s goals and objectives, type of products, customers to whom the products will be sold, and the market the products are competing in. Strategic planning is the key to higher revenues and profits. Long-term objectives are the foundation of formulating strategies. David (2019, p.128) identified that long-term objectives should be consistent, usually from 2 to 5 years. Objectives must be quantitative, understandable, challenging, compatible, and obtainable. Strategies can be categorized into eleven actions: forward integration, backward integration, horizontal integration, market penetration, market development, product development, related diversification, unrelated diversification, retrenchment, divestiture, and liquidation (David, et al., 2019, p.130). In March of 2021, Coca-Cola unveiled its 2030 water security strategy. The strategy’s objective is to regenerative water used in bottling operations to improve watershed health and community water resilience (Coca-Cola, 2021). The brand is pursuing water stewardship with an operational excellence strategy using backward integration. Backward integration can be defined as seeking ownership or increased control over suppliers (David, et al., 2019, p.130). Coca-Cola is attempting to have control over its main ingredient, water. Water is the main component of all of Coca-Cola’s products. The advantages include improving water quality for both the business and communities, water replenishment, and improved agriculture. The disadvantages are the negative publicity regarding hoarding a natural resource, cost, legal regulations, and misalignment and compliance between global partners. Since 2015, Coca-Cola has seen success in setting the corporate benchmark for water stewardship. Coca-Cola is implementing an updated water security strategy in 2021 due to COVID increasing the amount of unsafe driving water, such as in India and Mexico (Coca-Cola, 2021). In February 2021, AHA launched two new sparkling waters Raspberry + Acai and Mango + Black Tea. AHA debuted in early 2020. The selling point of AHA is zero-calorie, sodium, and sweetener in a sparkling water beverage with more than eight varieties of favors. The products include 30mg of caffeine. The packaging is modern, graphic, and memorable, catching the eyes of millennials. In 2020, sparkling waters were up by 24% (Coca-Cola, 2021). In 2020, AHA held 8.3% of the share in the unsweetened flavored water category. The new strategy is related diversification. Related Diversification strategy is defined as adding new but related products (David, et al., 2019, p.130). The advantages of introducing the new flavors are more diversity within the sparkling water market, health-oriented beverages, and low-cost marketing since the new flavor is already marketed under the brand AHA. AHA’s new flavors’ disadvantages are the shortage of aluminum cans due to COVID and replacing two original flavors. David (2019, p.131) states, “organizations cannot excel in multiple different strategic pursuits because resources and talents get spread thin, and competitors gain an advantage.” In the future, two strategies Coca-Cola should implement are expanding into the snack market and launching a digital rewards program. Entering the snack market would be a product development strategy. A product development strategy relies on seeking increases sales by developing new products. By entering into the snack market, Coca-Cola will improve its competitive edge over PepsiCo. PepsiCo owns Frito Lay North America, enhancing its product innovation and branding. The advantage is holding market position by being competitive and increasing profitability. The shortcomings are the startup cost, liabilities, and needed market research. Lastly, launching a digital rewards program will improve customer loyalty. This strategy is a market penetration strategy. The objective would be to increase market shares through more effective marketing (David, et al., 2019, p.130). Within the rewards program, incentives, discounts, and special exclusives would engage consumers. The advantages are brand loyalty and B2C engagement. The disadvantages would be the new demand for technological governance, maintenance cost, and risk of consumers not being engaged.ReferencesCoca-Cola. (2021). Media center: The Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-centerDavid, F. R., & David, F. R. (2019). Strategic management: a competitive advantage approach, concepts and cases (17th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.Reddy, N. (2018, February 12). Council post: Want a successful Business? Build an effective strategy. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/…Two:The Coca-Cola Company is one of the largest beverages brand in the world distributing to well over 200 countries. Although Pepsi Co continues to be their biggest competition, the organization has managed to retain its title as the largest beverage distributor. The most impactful strength Coca-Cola has is brand power; they have the power to influence customers to purchase their products by the name alone due to global recognition. Its distribution network is large as well as diverse, reaching a customer base even in the most remote of locations. The organization is huge on customer loyalty and with impressionable products as well as quality consistency and affordability, customers continue to flock to the brand (Gowri Nagaraj, 2020). Two strategies the Coca-Cola Company has implemented are brand portfolio optimization and brand building.Brand portfolio optimization – The organization conducted a deep analysis to focus on the brands that will continue to lead the way to success for the company. With that in mind, they reduced their portfolio from 400 to 200 brands, which allowed the global team to identify opportunities and investment allocations. The company and its global team want their brands to reach a larger customer base, therefore increasing its brand power. A downside to this strategy is eliminating products that might appeal to some customers, especially those looking for a low/zero calorie drink.Brand building – Coca-Cola is a customer-based organization that wants to effectively and efficiently market their products to the masses. The build experimental campaigns that are data driven so they can identify the areas in which resources should be allocated. “By improving our processes, eliminating duplication, and optimizing spend on things like third-party agencies, we will increase our effectiveness and be able to fuel reinvestment into our brands,” (Accelerated Our Transformation, 2021). Two strategies the Coca-Cola company is not currently pursing but should consider are environmental damage and nutritious drinks.Environmental damage – The need for a healthy environment is crucial for having a great quality of life as well as for the future generation. The company’s use of plastic is impacting the environment and creating an ecological imbalance. By investing in glass bottles or using recycled material, Coca-Cola can increase their brand power by discouraging the single use plastic bottle, however, this change could negatively impact bottling plants if production decreases.Nutritious drinks – The current and future generations are more health conscious and are concerned about the foods and drinks they intake. More now than ever, people are aware of the lack of nutrition in sugary drinks and want organic or low-calorie beverages that taste good. This should be a topic of concern for the company since there are several posts and campaigns that show the harm Coca-Cola’s products has on a person’s body and health.ReferencesAccelerated Our Transformation. (2021, April 01). Retrieved from Coca-Cola: https://investors.coca-colacompany.com/strategy/gr…Gowri Nagaraj, S. (2020, June 19). The Coca-Cola Company’s Competitive Strategies . Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/@shwethagowri/coca-cola-competi…