Coca Cola Mdc

ANSWERS TO CASE QUESTIONS

a) How has Coca-Cola addressed the challenges of marketing in emerging markets through the MDC’s?

Distributing the Coca-Cola products was difficult in the rural areas due to the inaccessibility of the areas and the cost associated with delivery to these areas on a regular basis. Costs were rising due to wear and tear on vehicles and due to regular delivers required as the shops could not hold a lot of stock or were low on funds.

Coca-Cola in Ethiopia notice a slump in sales and could not lose market share and share of the customer due to not being able to access these markets.

Through the micro-distribution centers, Coca-Cola was able to continue meeting demands for the product and increase sales and thus profit. The distribution centers were:

1. Owned by entrepreneurs, making them a partner in the value chain,

2. Centers were easily accessible by truck as little as once a week,

3. The centers were located in a 1-2 kilometer radius of many small shops/kiosks,

4. These shops could be accessed by low costs transport such as bicycles, pushcarts, wheelbarrows or by foot,

5. The MDC’s employed other people to deliver the products to the outlets.

This arrangement enabled Coca-Cola to remain reasonably priced.

Coca-Cola assisted interested business owners to get finance and set up the distribution center. In order to maintain consistency of the Coca-Cola brand and value added service, the Coca-Cola bottler also had structured, consistent process and routines that were compulsory for the MDC’s to follow. The bottler also provided training to the MDC’s on how to run a sustainable business.

According to Professor Geoff Bick (FINWEEK, 2015), Coca-Cola’s use of innovative distribution channels tackled the challenges in distribution successfully and thus boosted their brand awareness in Africa and also led to the creation of many local jobs.

Coca-Cola has successfully addressed the challenges of marketing in emerging through innovation and the company has been successful in penetrating emerging markets as well as increasing sales.

b) Critically assess the distribution functions provided by Coca-Cola’s MDC’s as opposed to the social responsibility function. What value does the MDC provide to the consumer? To Coca-Cola?

The distribution function was process driven and routine was essential to maintain service excellence. As seen above, the bottlers delivered the product to the warehouses and MDC’s which was then onward distributed to customers and end consumers.

The process

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