Coca-Cola Company Cultural Activities

The cultures of people in different countries can affect the marketing strategies that a company will use as it enters new international markets. The company has to consider vary many factors of the new international, market place, some of these are political factors, social factors, economic and technological factors. Looking at the social cultural factors ethnocentricity is a major factor especially if the new marketplace is in a country with diverse cultures.

This is a major challenge because most of these people hold so much to these cultures that it is very difficult to make them adopt your product and your marketing strategies (Armstrong G. & Kotler P. (2007). To enter a market like the Japanese market one must understand that they do not consume other products like pork as an example because that’s some of their cultural beliefs This means that in order to enter such markets one has to understand the practices of the people in these regions, their cultures and other influences like customs ethnic differences attitudes towards the products or services e. t. c (Wernerfelt, B. , 1984 and Weitzel, W. & Johnson, E. , 1989).

The cultural activities of these people desires and their likes and preferences, these equip the individuals of the communities with certain value systems and on the other hand compel individuals and the community to comply with certain demands and participate in certain activities (Armstrong G. & Kotler P. , 2007). In U. K for example a large population like football and most of them are at least attached to teams in their locality i. e. Manchester Everton etc. This should be used as a good ground for marketing products and distribution.

Britons also have other tastes and preferences that differ with other people i. e they are not all that attached to rap music unlike the Japanese and Chinese who have their indigenous types of music the British like rhythms and blues. Some of these diverse likes and preferences will affect the planning and the channels of distributions that will be used. The Japanese people for example produce most of their goods especially electronics locally using cheap labor and locally available materials making it hard for a foreign product to penetrate that particular market (Ackoff, R. L., 1979). Read also IFE matrix of Coca-Cola

This should be a challenge to the marketer to introduce products that are rare I this particular market and price them lower than the competing brands and use vigorous distribution systems by the use of many levels of distribution probably the three level distribution channel i. e (manufacturer –wholesalers-retail let-consumer) so that the product can reach all people in the target market.

The French on the other hand are the direct opposite of the Britons in culture and hence in order to penetrate the French market a company should adopt products that have some attributes attached to them i. e. social classes (Ackoff, R. L. , 1979). This is because the French culture is that they believe that they are way above the rest and that their civilization is the best hence the type of product that fits them is a prestigious product hence to penetrate this market there is need to position the product ahead of the rest as a market leader. In order lure many people to adopt the product (Armstrong G. & Kotler P. , 2007).

Ethnocentricity has also a great impact on the type of media to use in communication of the product preferences to people of diverse cultures i. e the way the company will advertise its products and services in Britain will be different from the way the product will be advertised in Britain and the advertising media to use. The advertising medias range from print visual, audio- visual, billboards and small adverts done in between movies i. e in between football matches. In France and Britain the best media to use are the print media and audio visual like T. Vs. However, billboards can also be used especially if they are to be set up in roundabouts in towns to remind the people on the product.

China and Japan on the other hand need entirely advertisements over the Radio because this is the best media to reach a large number of people(Winer, R. S. ,2007). Other factors to consider are the economic factors of the new country. How the people spend their money, their power to purchase products and the income distribution among the people I the foreign country. Some people also have different patterns of savings and borrowings. This should be taken to serious consideration also. Some countries also have huge foreign debts, high inflation and high unemployment of its people.

This leads to foreign exchange problems that will lead to foreign economic instability and the decrease of the currency of the country in value, hence the country should focus on these factors in order to make decisions whether to go international or not. Some of these factors may lead to threats or opportunities (Ansoff, H. I. 1965). In order to analyze a market to know whether it has that potential for profits in the short run or long run, the company should first look at the particular market and see whether it has that potential for attractiveness i. e. whether there are customers who need the company’s product in that market.

The type of strategy that I will discuss in this strategy of full market coverage (Ackoff, R. L. , 1979). When a country uses this to identify the potential of a market, it will attempt to make a product that serves the needs of all customers in that particular market. This type of strategy is actually god especially for large companies that want to enter foreign markets. Take for example the Coca-Cola company.

It adopts this strategy in African countries like Kenya where it makes its products that serve all people in the country. They can use two methods. The first is the use of undifferentiated marketing where it doesn’t divide the market to segments but goes to the whole market with one marketing offering, it then uses mass distribution to make sure that the products reach all people irrespective of the differences among the buyers and their needs and a lot of advertising and low prices than competitor products ( Armstrong G. & Kotler P. 2007).

In using differentiated marketing, the firm operates in several market segments and designs marketing and advertising programs for each segment. The Coca-Cola company can analyze the potential of the Kenyan market for more profits in future by looking at the factors like size, the growth of the Kenyan population, profitability, economies of scale and the risk involved. The potential for long term profits can also be assessed by looking at resources of the Kenyan market in relation to the objectives of the company (Wernerfelt, B. , 1984 and Weitzel, W. & Johnson, E. , 1989).