Q1: Select a company of your choice. What has been their global competitive advantage (whether successful or not)? If not, what would be your suggestion to this company if you were hired as a consultant? Explain and explore the rationale you used. Cite your research accordingly.

***It should be about 650 words, site references, see example below***

Here is an example from someone who completed this assignment, so that you understand what I’m looking for:

  For this week I have chosen the Discussion Question for Chapter 7. Select a company of your choice. What has been their global competitive advantage (either successful or not)? If not, what would be your suggestion to this company if you were hired as a consultant? Justify / explain the rational you used. Cite all your research accordingly.

  For my company of choice I have chosen PepsiCo. The reason I have decided on PepsiCo is because most people look at them as a beverage company and it turns out that they are so much more than that. PepsiCo’s beverage profits actually only account for about half of their revenues with the other half coming from salty snacks. (Goodman, 2013) This is a pretty huge accomplishment for the second largest beverage company in the world, behind Coca-Cola. Pepsi has not only decided to take their product to a worldwide audience but they have decided to do so with more than just beverages.

  In 2012 PepsiCo launched the Live for Now global campaign. (Zmuda, 2012) With came the star power that Pepsi was looking for in Nicki Minaj, which at the time was a rising star. Pepsi Co also put a large focus onto popular TV shows such as X Factor. The purpose of this global campaign was essentially to help PepsiCo compete with Coca-Cola. Coke at the time had a stronghold on the market with about a 25% share globally while PepsiCo only had about 10%. (Zmuda, 2012) This first global campaign was essentially just a proving point for PepsiCo as in 2014 the launched the Largest-Ever global campaign for soccer. (Zmuda, 2014)

  The global campaign of Now Is What You Make It covered an astonishing 100 Markets. “The campaign included 30 and 60 second commercials, as well as an interactive two minute video that allowed the consumer to unlock an additional four minutes of content.” (Zmuda, 2014) This was really a mind blowing campaign in concepts of size and the amount of information that was being pushed to the consumer. Not only did they do the typical commercials but the interactive were inventive and widely popular.

  PepsiCo has proven that they are not only focusing on their typical markets but also looking into worldwide expansion as quickly as they can. PepsiCo recorded a 10% revenue growth in 2013 largely due to their expansion into new markets. (Bailey, 2012) The list of countries that fueled this growth was the likes of China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, and Turkey. Half of these are Middle Eastern countries and PepsiCo is not stopping here. They are also looking at investing nearly $5.5 billion into their market in India. (Bailey, 2012)

  Overall PepsiCo has decided that they are not going to be your prototypical company that is satisfied with the market they are in and want to stay in. Not only are the pressing the boundaries with their Beverage line, they are also constantly expanding into the snack market as well. They are looking for ways to increase revenue and to increase their hold on a market that constantly has new players. They are proving to be quite successful and I do believe that they will continue to do so as they are expanding into new markets and increasing production in others.

References

Bailey, S. (2014, December 12). Welcome to Market Realist. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://marketrealist.com/2014/12/international-expansion-pepsicos-key-growth-driver/

Goodman, A. (2013, June 14). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/agoodman/2013/06/14/pepsico-re-energized/ (Links to an external site.)

Grant, R. (2013). Contemporary strategy analysis (8.th ed.). S. l.: Wiley.

Zmuda, N. (2012, April 30). Pepsi Debuts First Global Campaign. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/pepsi-debuts-global-campaign-live/234379/

Zmuda, N. (2014, April 2). Pepsi Breaks Largest-Ever Global Campaign For Soccer. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/pepsi-launches-global-soccer-campaign/292417/