o help the managers to plan and establish appropriate goals and disregard inappropriate goals. Developing goals give an organization a sense of direction. Coca-Cola’s mission to maximize shareowner value over time is backed by six key beliefs: 1) Consumer demand drives everything we do. 2) Brand Coca-Cola is the core of our business. 3) We will serve customers a broad selection of the nonalcoholic ready to drink beverages they want to drink throughout the day. 4) We will be the best marketers in the world. 5) We will think and act locally. 6) We will lead as a model corporate citizen (Cola, 2000). These objectives are their strategy to increase sales to improve profit. Their goals are ambitious and require that managers continually improve performance capabilities. Once the mission and goals are agreed upon and formally stated in a corporate plan, the next step is to formulate a strategy.Strategy formulation involves managers analyzing an organization’s current situation and then developing strategies to accomplish its mission and achieve its goals. It begins with analyzing the factors within the organization and outside, in the environment, that may affect its ability to meet its goals now and in the future. SWOT analysis is a technique used by managers to analyze these factors. Its planning exercise identifies organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Based on SWOT analysis managers are capable of implementing the best strategies to achieve its organization’s mission and goals. It is assumed Coca-Cola has a well-developed strategy, brand name reputation, good marketing skills and differentiation advantage as strengths. One of their opportunities was expanding into foreign markets. One of their weaknesses would be their recent conflict and politics. And a potential threat would be an increase in industry rivalry (Pepsi). With the SWOT analysis completed, and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities...
