In a 7- to 10-page paper, integrated your external and internal company analysis, completing a formal company SWOT.

Keys to the Assignment

Step 1: Perform research, and complete an industry analysis using each of the Five Forces in Porter's model. Support your analysis with current financial, operational, and marketing data.

Step 2:Complete your external analysis using each of the four elements in the PEST analysis. When considering economic data,use the most current datayou can find.

Step 3: Write up the results of your external analysis, and be sure to label the impact of each of the Five Forces ashigh, moderate, or low. Taken together, the Five Forces analysis and the PEST analysis shouldlead to conclusions about the overall opportunities and threatsfacing theCoca-Cola Companyas revealed by your research. All data and factual information that you report in your Five Forces and PEST analysis must be properly cited using APA style.

Step 4: Conduct acriticalandthoroughinternal analysisof theCoca-Cola Company, assessing as many of the company's keyinternal strengths and weaknessesas you can. Consider the operations, customer service, finance, human resources management, and marketing functions. See the following website, as it will help you decide which strengths and weaknesses you might wish to evaluate:http://www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm

Step 5: Discuss the results of your internal analysis,including your conclusions concerning the strengths and weaknessesfacing theCoca-Cola Company.

Step 6: Synthesize your internal analysis with your external environmental analysis, formulating acomplete SWOT analysis.Provide a SWOT diagram(include as an Appendix -notas part of the written analysis!) in which you show - in each of the four quadrants - the most important 3-4 company strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Each of these should be discussed thoroughly within your written analysis.

Based on your SWOT, give very specific and informed recommendations as to what the company should do. Give your overall analysis-does the company have more strengths than weaknesses? More weaknesses than strengths? Whatever you decide, you need to recommend (with strong, convincing support) what you believe should be the company's strategy - in response to your collective assessment of the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You must demonstrate evidence of critical thinking - don't simply restate facts you've learned about the company!Interpretthe data and factual information you've found instead!

Step 7: Consider the Case as a formal business report that you are developing for the Board of Directors and CEO as theCoca-Cola Company's consultant. This is aprofessionaldocument. Follow the format below:

Executive summary: This is a synopsis of the main points, conclusions and recommendations made in the longer report. If you would like a refresher on writing an executive summary, check this website:http://www.highendfinance.com/CommercialLoans/Docs/07-4%20ES%20Guidelines.doc

Introduction: State the main purpose of the paper (thesis statement), what you hope to accomplish, and how you will go about doing it.

Main Body: The "meat" of the paper. Emphasizeanalysis, not just description. Delineate separate topics or sections withsection headings.

Conclusion: Summarize your paper in the light of your thesis statement.