Business Level and Corporate Level Strategies for Pepsi Company

Business level and corporate level strategies for Pepsi Company
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Business level and corporate level strategies for Pepsi Company
Strategy might operate at various levels of a company, for instance the functional level, the business level, and even the corporate level. Beard and Dess (2011) noted that the strategy changes basing upon the strategy levels. In this paper, the business-level and corporate-level strategies for a company in the soft drink industry are analyzed in order to establish the company’s business-level and corporate strategy that are most vital for the selected company’s long-term success. Whether or not these strategies are a good choice is also stated and justified. Furthermore, the competitive environment of the chosen company is determined and the major competitor of the selected company is established and its business level and corporate level strategies are compared to the selected company.
Coca-Cola Company business level strategy
The chosen company is Coca Cola Company, a leading firm in the non-alcoholic soft-drink industry. The decisions made by a business organization as it attempts to create, maintain, and utilize its competitive advantages are generally referred to as business-level strategies. The business strategy affects the functional decisions like the selection of its distribution channels and promotions (Baldwin, 2012). In strategic decision-making, corporate level strategy, as Mathur and Kenyon (2012) pointed out, occupies the highest level. With regard to the business level strategy at Coca-Cola Company, the one that this corporation employs is differentiation. By differentiating its products from those offered by other companies in the soft-drink industry, Coca-Cola has been able to make itself unique from rivals that also produce non-alcoholic soft-drink beverages. This corporation has been able to manufacture products which are unique and highly valued by its clientele across the globe (Baldwin, 2012). In essence, this multinational firm differentiates its wide range of products by using unique and diverse promotion campaigns throughout the globe in countries where it is active. These advertising campaigns are largely aimed at attracting potential customers to purchase Coca-Cola beverages and to ensure that its existing consumers continue to be loyal to its products. It is worth mentioning that this business-level strategy works very effectively for Coca-Cola bearing in mind that many consumers have remained loyal to the Coca-Cola products for many years (Millington, 2015).
According to Millington (2012), a key aspect of Coca-Cola’s differentiation strategy entails the use of beverage bottles that come in many different sizes and shapes, depending on the targeted market. Many of Coca-Cola’s bottles are curvy and slender in shape and are liked by most of Coca-Cola’s clientele. The company’s ‘Share A Coke’ promotion campaign has also been a successful part of differentiation. In this campaign, the company provides its clientele across the world with the chance of ordering individualized Coke bottles. Coca-Cola launched this campaign in order to deliver personalized brand experiences and has been crucial in differentiating Coca-Cola and its products from other companies’ products (Millington, 2015).
On the whole, the differentiation strategy as utilized by Coca-Cola Company is actually a good choice for the firm as it has allowed the corporation not just to draw new consumers to its non-alcoholic products, but has also been effective in retaining its existing customers who have remained with the company. This has actually helped to boost the company’s bottom-line in terms of increased sales and profits. However, preferences and tastes of consumers often change with time (Beard & Dess, 2011). Therefore, Coca-Cola Company should be prepared to adapt its product range to the changing consumer tastes and preferences in the future, for instance by introducing new products.
Coca-Cola Company corporate level strategy
Corporate level strategy encompasses actions that deal with the company’s objective, allocation of resources, acquisition, as well as coordination of strategies of different strategic business units for optimal performance. Such decisions are made by the company’s top management. The nature of strategic decisions is often conceptual, value-oriented, and less concrete in comparison to decisions made at the business level (Mathur & Kenyon, 2012). With regard to the corporate-level strategy the selected firm, Coca-Cola Company employs the diversification strategy.
Telesca (2014) noted that this corporation offers an extensive range of brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Minute Maid, Schweppes, Coke, Sprite, Five Alive, MyCoke, Dasani Mineral Water, Powerade, in addition to many other products. As a corporate-level strategy, diversification is the right choice for Coca-Cola Company since the new products which this firm has introduced such as Diet Coke, MyCoke, and Dasani mineral water have proved to produce lucrative returns and offer Coca-Cola a strategic advantage. By executing a corporate-level strategy to diversify its product range, Coca-Cola Company has managed to increase its revenue and profits (Telesca, 2014). For this reason, the diversification corporate-level strategy is a good choice for Coca-Cola Company.
Competitive environment
The soft drink industry consists of a number of business organizations that provide various non-alcoholic beverages targeting the same customers as Coca-Cola. On the whole, the main competi...