Strategy Implementation, Evaluation, and Control

Introduction

The global business environment is always changing. The changes are caused by various factors, such as customer behavior, technological innovation and, entry of new competitors in the market. Organizations often find themselves reacting to these changes by coming up with new strategies to gain competitive advantage. Strategies adopted by companies need proper planning for successful implementation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategy implementation, evaluation, and control of the Coca-Cola Company as it expands its operations in Canada. This will involve examining how the strategies adopted by Coca-Cola are implemented both domestically and internationally in alignment with legal, social, and ethical considerations. Furthermore, the paper discusses how the strategic plan and implementation activities are monitored.

Strategy Implementation

A strategy is an action plan put in place by the management describing how the company will achieve its goals and objectives. A business strategy may be long term or short term, depending on the goals of the organization. The major challenge faced by managers is successful implementation of a strategy. Strategy implementation is the procedure that an organization adopts to enforce strategies that will help it in achieving its goals. It explains how and when a strategy will be put into action. The implementation process involves coordination between the management and staff (Chang, 2016).

The first step of implementing a strategy is to have a well-defined international business strategy. This relates to the policies put in place by an organization on how to transact their operations in different countries. It involves an organization coordinating their operations and marketing strategies across borders. In international business strategies, the world is seen as a market segmented into social, political, and economic grouping (Verbeke, 2013). There are various strategies Coca-Cola adopts when implementing its strategies in international markets. For instance, Coca-Cola Canada does not present itself as an American company, but rather as a company of Canadians that is headquartered in the United States. This approach helps the company gain familiarity and trust from the Canadian consumers.

Good governance and ethics cannot be overlooked in strategy implementation. Coca-Cola makes use of concepts of corporate governance and ethics to develop successful strategic plans. Corporate governance is defined as the policies and procedures which regulate how an organization is managed. It generally involves balancing the interests of shareholders, customers, and the community (Tricker, 2015). Good governance creates a good public image for the company. On the other hand, ethics refers to the norms and values that govern the behavior of businesses in a particular industry. Good business ethics increases the level of trust by customers and the general public (Weiss, 2014). Coca-Cola has set up several levels of management for successful implementation of strategies.

Coca-Cola takes into consideration social values during strategy implementation. Social values are the communal benefits created by a company through its operations in a particular market. Coca-Cola creates myriads of job opportunities to the locals, either directly or indirectly. Further, the company offers scholarship and bursaries to students.

Over the years, innovation and diversification have increasingly been adopted by organizations to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Diversification is a risk averse strategy where a company expands the market for its products. Coca-Cola has never shied away from innovation and diversification. The company explores new ideas when implementing its strategies into diverse markets.

Legal limitations greatly slow down the strategy implementation process. Countries globally have different laws that govern how businesses are conducted. These include labor laws, trade licenses, and work permits, just to mention a few. Businesses must ensure they comply with these laws to evade potential litigations (Jennings, 2014). When venturing into a foreign market, an organization may be limited by regulatory requirements based on the industry. To overcome this problem, Coca-Cola Company acquires and merges with locally established firms. The company also franchises distribution of their products to local firms.

Evaluation and Control

Coca-Cola uses various strategic metrics to measure its performance. Strategic metrics are qualitative and quantitative measures used by businesses to measure the success of a strategy. The metrics help an organization assess whether the implemented strategies have achieved the desired objectives. Coca-Cola is mainly evaluated by their customers. It is from customer feedbacks that the company is able to assess the success of its strategies. The company improves its products and services based on customer responses. This approach has enabled the company set itself apart from its competitors and retain customers.

The company also uses goal-based metrics in evaluating its strategies. It measures the effectiveness of its strategies by examining to what extent the strategy has achieved the company’s objectives. The results of a strategy are below expectations if they do not line up with the objectives set out by the company.

Key financial measures used by Coca-Cola are total net profit, Return on Investments (ROI) and Earnings per Share (EPS). The net profit is arrived at by deducting total expenses from the revenues earned. An increase in the company’s net profit implies that the strategy adopted is effective. ROI measures the success of a strategy in relation to the initial investment made by shareholders. It helps the shareholders gauge the productivity of their investment. ROI is calculated by dividing the company’s total profit after tax by the total equity of shareholders and converting it into a percentage. EPS is the percentage of the company’s profits that is allocated to common stock. It indicates the profitability of the company.

Lastly, Coca-Cola has adopted various approaches to monitor and control the implemented strategies. The company has an independent quality control department. The department ensures quality is maintained through the distribution chain. Tests are conducted on the products during the manufacturing process to ensure proper packaging and the right ingredients are used. Additional, the quality control team establishes feedback mechanisms as a way of getting responses from customers.

Conclusion

Strategic implementation is crucial to an organization’s success. The staff and management must actively be involved in the implementation process. Performance evaluation and measurement tools are important to gauge the effectiveness of a strategy. Since its incorporation, Coca Cola has rapidly established effective strategy implementation plans. The strategies have helped the company gain and sustain competitive advantage. The company also evaluates the strategies using various metrics, such as ROI and EPS. As a result, the company has gained significant growth and maximized shareholders wealth.