Innovation in Coca Cola
Innovation
Coca-Cola started its life as an innovative, new product that sought to quench the thirst of the Atlanta work force. While the target market may have expanded greatly over the past 128 years, that culture of innovation has stayed strong throughout the company.
This innovation, however, as seen throughout the case study does not come from the hugely generalized, or even perfected, industry of the production, bottling, and distribution of Coke. Instead it comes from areas outside of Coca-Colas main realms of business, such as diversifying their portfolio of products, and venture capitalism, pulling themselves away from areas of normal business, and entering the more dangerous, yet potentially profitable domain of ‘risky’ business. Given the focus of this analysis being on the production and distribution of Coke within the Great Britain & Ireland however, the innovation that will be under analysis will be steaming from Social Innovation, as well as innovation within Coca-Cola GB’s marketing campaigns, and how the structure of Coca-Cola as a company promotes innovation.
The issue of obesity in today’s world is a hot topic, and Coca-Cola understands this. “There was a marked increase in the proportion of adults that were obese between 1993 and 2012 from 13.2% to 24.4% among men and from 16.4% to 25.1% among women.” (www.nhs.uk) This is a problem that is on the rise throughout the UK, and Coca-Cola, being the producers of many different sugary drinks, is at the heart of this problem. Coca-Cola in turn, has gained a reputation of a somewhat unethical company for this reason. This is something which Coca-Cola looks to change, and is doing so quite successfully, through social innovation.
Coca-Cola recently invested 20m GBP’s into their ‘Anti-Obesity’ drive, in order to show that they are doing their part to solve this problem. The drive consists of setting up free fitness programs across 70 parks around the UK, as well as establishing a few different
Coca-Cola started its life as an innovative, new product that sought to quench the thirst of the Atlanta work force. While the target market may have expanded greatly over the past 128 years, that culture of innovation has stayed strong throughout the company.
This innovation, however, as seen throughout the case study does not come from the hugely generalized, or even perfected, industry of the production, bottling, and distribution of Coke. Instead it comes from areas outside of Coca-Colas main realms of business, such as diversifying their portfolio of products, and venture capitalism, pulling themselves away from areas of normal business, and entering the more dangerous, yet potentially profitable domain of ‘risky’ business. Given the focus of this analysis being on the production and distribution of Coke within the Great Britain & Ireland however, the innovation that will be under analysis will be steaming from Social Innovation, as well as innovation within Coca-Cola GB’s marketing campaigns, and how the structure of Coca-Cola as a company promotes innovation.
The issue of obesity in today’s world is a hot topic, and Coca-Cola understands this. “There was a marked increase in the proportion of adults that were obese between 1993 and 2012 from 13.2% to 24.4% among men and from 16.4% to 25.1% among women.” (www.nhs.uk) This is a problem that is on the rise throughout the UK, and Coca-Cola, being the producers of many different sugary drinks, is at the heart of this problem. Coca-Cola in turn, has gained a reputation of a somewhat unethical company for this reason. This is something which Coca-Cola looks to change, and is doing so quite successfully, through social innovation.
Coca-Cola recently invested 20m GBP’s into their ‘Anti-Obesity’ drive, in order to show that they are doing their part to solve this problem. The drive consists of setting up free fitness programs across 70 parks around the UK, as well as establishing a few different
References: Latest obesity stats for England are alarming - Health News - NHS Choices. 2014. Latest obesity stats for England are alarming - Health News - NHS Choices. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/02February/Pages/Latest-obesity-stats-for-England-are-alarming-reading.aspx. [Accessed 28 November 2014]. Coca-Cola accused of "obscene" hypocrisy in £20m 'anti-obesity ' drive - Home News - UK - The Independent . 2014. Coca-Cola accused of "obscene" hypocrisy in £20m 'anti-obesity ' drive - Home News - UK - The Independent . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cocacola-accused-of-obscene-hypocrisy-in-20m-antiobesity-drive-9434618.html. [Accessed 1 December 2014]. The 5 Reasons Big Companies Struggle With Innovation - Forbes. 2014.The 5 Reasons Big Companies Struggle With Innovation - Forbes. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgedeeb/2014/01/08/the-five-reasons-big-companies-struggle-with-innovation/. [Accessed 1 December 2014]. 10 inspiring digital marketing campaigns from Coca-Cola | Econsultancy. 2014. 10 inspiring digital marketing campaigns from Coca-Cola | Econsultancy. [ONLINE] Available at:https://econsultancy.com/blog/63175-10-inspiring-digital-marketing-campaigns-from-coca-cola. [Accessed 8 December 2014].