Coca Cola Is Everything Coca-Cola Is Everything: SCM, CRM, ERP, Social Media

Importance of standardization in supply chain management

Software services of Coke

My Coke Rewards an example of a switching cost

Pepsi's Facebook page and comparison with Coca-Cola's Facebook

Supply Chain management is regarded as anintegratedapproach for managing business resources. The companies including largescaleenterprises utilize its capabilities to enhance their business performance. The capability of the supply chain management can be increased through using a standard system in all operation across the globe. The companies enable their business processes to reduce cost and increase efficacy. The additional advantages can also be achieved through integrating their system for suppliers and distributor's capability enhancement.

Coca-Cola is a multinational organization and it has the capability to integrate supply chain management, Enterprise resources planning, Customer relationship management, and Social media marketing to support the business processes. The expansion and reline of business intelligence for optimization of results is an advantage. The business is also developing capacity of its suppliers and distributors through the global business support system.

Importance of standardization in supply chain management:

The industry as a whole follows certain standard operation norms and this approach is also denoted as benchmarking. There are various standards that are developed to monitor performance of products, suppliers, business, and growth in the industry. The related businesses are compared to develop a benchmark for key indicators of performance including the product defect rates, background information for assessment of suppliers, and price volume discounts. It is a widely used technique for measuring business performance against the industry standards while considering the relevant macroeconomic factors (Nicosia, & Moore, 2006).

Similar the standardization of supply chain is also a useful technique to have an impact on the business. The companies like bottlers and other industryplayers develop a standard for supply chain performance (Nicosia et al., 2006). These standards enable the business to increase its efficacy and reduce cost. The result to these activities is also observed in terms of business and financial performance of the company. Furthermore standardization of supply chain is also an effective tool for increasing product availability, reducing the bottle necks, and comparing products with other in different areas.

Coke and other bottlers use the standardization of supply chain as a tool to enhance product competition. The integration of resources to create a standard supply chain model is also beneficial for the business to take advantage of the global research. It is implemented in various geographic locations to enable competitive advantage. Supply chain had a capability to become one of the competitive advantages for suppliers, distributors, and consumers of products. In essence supply chain standardization helps in cost reduction, increasing lead time to market products, and improves availability (Nicosia et al., 2006).

Software services of Coke:

The company is developing its own software to take advantage of available technology and its integration for reducing cost and improving product efficacy. Coke develops software for its own and partners use. It is unlikely that it charges for these services to its partners, distributors, and suppliers. The company uses its technological advancement as a tool to improve its partner's business performance which as a result also benefits the company. The company should encourage development of software and supply chain standardization for its completive advantage. The company can gain more benefits through increasing its supplier's capabilities.

My Coke Rewards an example of a switching cost:

According to Linkner (2007) the program offered by Coke named as My Coke Rewards is a consumer targeted scheme which is across the whole portfolio of Coke as a brand. The business has initiated a high level of promotional activity in history of marketing through offering the program. The initiative is internet-based Multilanguage program. The successful program offered rewards for the users that entered codes provided under the caps of cans and bottles. The program also provided users for redeeming rewards in return to the points sought through the code. The company also created an amplified impact through utilizing all media channels to direct traffic to the website. It is worth mentioning that 4 million codes were issued during the campaign. The campaign generated most appraised results in the company's history.

My coke rewards program is also noted as an example of switching cost. The program offers consumers an alternative with additional advantage to switch over to the desired product. These programs are not only developed increase sales of a particular product but also to promote the complete brand. Similarly...

However the additional benefits that are ginned through a switch over are comparatively greater than the original objective. The data gathered as well as the monitoring of consumer preferences is also a notable advantage. Therefore the monitory penalty for switching cost does not create a larger impact on the overall performance. However the consumer switchover cannot be sustained without a repeated effort for customer relations.
Business intelligence Coke gathered from its My Coke Rewards Web site:

The companies do not only focus on the benefits of customer switch over to their products but at the same time they also use these campaigns for long-term benefits. The companies not only obtain significant shift of consumers to their products but at the same time gain access to key data that is an important element for any business (Celsi, Money, Samouel, & Page, 2011). The data gathered in used in variety of ways to establish a long-term contact with the customers. It also provides a base for future activities. The availability of customer data enables an organization to plan future marketing campaigns that are targeted effectively and as result produces enhanced results (Soon, & Fraser, 2010).

The companies target their clients to remind them about their message and future offers. The use of customer data to create a loyal base of clients is also a common practice in marketing industry. The business is also likely to create a close contact with their consumer through reduced cost as compared with the cost of mass marketing. Similarly coke has also taken complete advantage of the consumer data through offering various rewards and increasing connectivity with their target market. The future promotional messages were forwarded using the target data and reduced cost for marketing campaign was achieved (Soon et al., 2010).

Coke gathered a variety of intelligence data through My Coke Rewards program. The customer information including e-mail, mobile phone number, age, name, and gender was gathered at the first instance while creating an account later the location of the individual was also a useful information to classify the geographic information. Furthermore each accounthasty was mounted to gather profile sorting information related consumption trends and preferences.

The data gathered during the campaign was also used for development of new products, establishing likings and preferences of customers located in different locations.The companies take a variety of advantages from their customer data. The consumption patterns, seasonality effects, and triggers for high consumption is also analyzed in relation to the internal and external factors of the company. The development of effective marketing schemes allows a company to achieve the primary and secondary objectives through enhanced data intelligent techniques.

According to Kumar (2010) the development of a strong customer relationship is a primary requirement for sustaining the business performance. Therefore the business entities also establish their contact with the customer on long-term basis through a follow up strategy of marketing campaign. The customers are offered various schemes and benefits to retain their loyalty. The mass marketing techniques along with the targeted approach is developing an integrated approach for marketing.

Coca-Cola's Facebook page and tools to communicate with Coca-Cola:

The use of social media tools to create a close contact with consumers is one of the technology based advantage. Similarly coke has also established a relationship with its consumers through using social media. The businesses use a variety of model for social media. It is likely that a business sells its product using Facebook as a primary medium. There are a number of consumer products companies utilizing these capabilities to increase sales.

However Coke does not sell its products through Facebook or social media websites. The business has a developed sales and distribution channel that enables it to reach its customers efficiently. On the contrarily the business has developed extensive social media presence using an integrated social media strategy. The business is present in social media websites e.g.Facebook, micro blogs, e.g. Twitter, content communities including YouTube. The presence of business on all media channels creates an impact on the different categories of consumers.

The Facebook page of the company is targeting for young consumers offering interesting and unprofessional content. The Facebook page of the company has 76 million likes from all over the world. The consumers in such a large number are offered stories and content. They are also allowed to offer their stories and comment on the page. The company history is also available on Facebook page. The business also allows the consumers to develop thirdcustomized pages with…