Political Science

The company that I will be discussing is The Coca-Cola Company. It is the worlds largest beverage company with operations in more than 200 countries. The portfolio of products that the company offers contains more than 3000 beverages which range from sparkling drinks and water such as juices, soft drinks, water, energy drinks, sports drinks, teas and coffees.

The formula for Coke was devised in 1886 and sampled by people who walked into Jacobs pharmacy. The drink was sold from the soda fountain for 5 cents a glass. Currently the market share of the company is 59 per cent, which the largest market share held by a beverage company in the world.

Mission
The mission of the company revolves around three aspects to refresh people to inspire moments of optimism and happiness and to make a difference while at the same time creating value.

Vision
The vision of the company can be summarized as the 6 Ps People, Portfolio, Partners, Planet, Profit and Productivity.

International Activities
The Coca-Cola Company has been the longest standing partners of the FIFA. The company became a world wide sponsor of the Special Olympics held in Shanghai in 2007. in 2009 the Coca-Cola Company has received the World Environment Center Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development. (The Coca-Cola Company)

These are not the only activities that the company is involved, there are numerous other activities which the company is a part of.

The company has also partnered with bottling companies which help enhance its operations around the world as well as expanding the business. There are more than 300 bottling partners worldwide.

Market Entry Strategies
The market entry strategies that is usually adopted by The Coca-Cola Company is Licensing. This allows local companies to use the manufacturing process and the trademark of the company. Some skills are provided by the licensor, in this case, the coke formula, the manufacturing process and other help such as advertising.

This method is an easy way of entering new markets and is relatively cheaper. There is no capital tied up in the foreign operations, the company gets to expand its operations into a new market, where the territory is unknown but by the help of a local company many cultural and political barriers can be overcome.

On the other hand, there are disadvantages of using this method the company has limited participation in the operations, the company may loose out on potential profits and returns. (FAO)

The Coca-Cola Company does not necessarily have to stick to any one strategy or mode of entry. They can make use of different types of entry strategies such as joint ventures, franchising and joint ventures with limited local partners. For example the company adopted a mixture of a joint venture and a franchising strategy when they decided to enter into the Chinese beverage market. (Mok, V. Dai, X. and Yeung, G. 2002)