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Case Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Shifting Scape of Carbonated Soft Drink Industry
The soft drink concentrate industry
The soft drink concentrate industry
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Cola Wars To begin with the carbonated soft drink Industry is a profitable industry as its products such as Pepsi or Cola sell extensively across the globe. The industry relies heavily on its concentrate producers and bottlers to reach out to its market. This is further analyzed through Porter’s five competitive forces; - Threat to New Entrant: When an entrant wants to enter this industry it would need a distribution channel. However, most of the bottlers in the industry are linked with a contract or agreement with the dominant companies such as Pepsi or Coke that do not allow them to “carry any other competing brands” (p.3). So, it would be hard for new companies to obtain a distribution channel. Also, competing companies need to face the barriers of Mergers and acquisitions. Such as with Pepsi buying out “PBG and Pepsi America”, an independent bottling company new entrants will have difficulty finding other distribution channels (p.12). Further, dominant companies like Coca-Cola spend “2.34 million dollars” on advertising costs, which helps the company achieve brand value and brand loyalty for the company (p.19). And customers who are loyal towards the brands are not interested in trying the competitor’s products. Hence, the entrant would need to invest on marketing to promote its brand which would prove costly to the CSD companies alone invest approximately $100 million dollars just on automated warehousing plants (p.3). Plus when inventory cost, employee payroll and management duties are added to the list the cost of expenditure and investment increases. For example, Coca-Cola long term assets as of 2009 amount to about $10.4 million (p.15, Exhibit 3a). So, the cost to enter into a business would require the company to invest its capital in huge numbers financially in the initial start up
Pepsi needed a strong regional partner. Pepsi had been falling behind to Coke in Mexican market. However, changes in the regulatory environment had cut Coke’...
Coke continuously out-stands Pepsi, even though they share a very similar taste and colour, however Coke should not be the drink that receives all the love and attention for what it offers. Despite their similar soda colour, the drinks actually contain some different ingredients, which produce a different taste, and affect the body differently. Furthermore, the way the companies markets their drinks makes a huge contribution to how successful their products will become. The major element for success however stems from their impact on society and how the companies utilize their social power to evolve. The two major soda companies are constantly head to head with one another, yet it is what they do that sets them apart.
Analysis of the carbonated soft drink (CSD) industry shows that there are 2 important players i.e. Concentrate Producers and Bottlers. Focusing on the downstream of the supply chain it is to be pointed out that concentrate producers incure relatively low fixed costs with respect to production plant, staff, equipment and R&D as the concentrate is produced of a more than 100 years old formula and relatively cheap raw material (e.g. caffeine). Concentrate is shipped to bottlers which incure relatively high fixed cost with respect to plant, equipment and staff and which add carbonated water and high fructose corn syrup to the concentrate, bottle or can, package and ship it to the respective retailer. Besides that CDS hold a big stake in the direct delivery of concentrate to diverse fountain accounts like McDonalds, Burger King etc.
(iii) New Entrants: Low – New entrants are deterred by high capital investments in bottling, distribution and enormous marketing budgets of existing players.
Control of market share is the key issue in this case study. The situation is both Coke and Pepsi are trying to gain market share in this beverage market, which is valued at over $30 billion a year. Just how is this done in such a competitive market is the underlying issue. The facts are that each company is coming up with new products and ideas in order to increase their market share.
Beginning in the 1920’s building their global network, Coca-Cola is now the “world's leading manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, used to produce nearly 400 beverage brands in over 200 countries” (Coca-Cola, 2004). Competing globally is a difficult task due to the unpredictability of foreign markets (Bateman &Snell, 2003). Coca-Cola not only recognized the opportunity in the global market but was able to expand successfully. Canada and Panama were the start of their global market in 1906. Since then th...
The several factors that make it very difficult for the competition to enter the soft drink market include:
Emily N. Gehring Mrs. Lesa Bartel 9th grade English 15 April 2015 In 1886 the brand of “Coca-Cola,” was released to Americans which would change the face of the beverage business as we know it today. Little did they know that in the next following years they would have the largest competitor in the beverage industry trailing right behind them, Pepsi. With both sodas tasting the same it was a race to see who could get to the finish line first or in this case get their product to sell faster, this began the takeoff of the Cola Wars. The production of Coca- Cola and Pepsi are relying on their source of advertising and competition, the Cola War shows just how much each of these competitors wanted to win.
Coke and Pepsi have been raging war for over a century now, turning their sodas into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Coke has been able to drive more earnings for its bottom line, and while Coke’s net income has been trending downward in recent years, it manages to stay ahead thanks to superior margins. Pepsi, on the other hand, has produced consistent net profit margins of around 10%, while Coke margins have been in the 15-18% range for the past several years (O’Brien). Every company has a Market Cap, which is basically a fancy way of saying how much the company is worth, and Coca-Cola’s market cap is a whopping $180 billion. Pepsi’s Market Cap is $150 billion, which may not seem like a big difference, but $30 billion is a lot of cheddar. Therefore, Coca-Cola owns 51% of the soft drink market, whereas Pepsi only owns 22% of it. Coke claims to own a total of 35 different brands, including Fanta, Sprite, Powerade, Vitaminwater, and many others. Pepsi owns 22 different brands, including 7up, Gatorade, and Mountain Dew “Coke (Coca-Cola) vs Pepsi - Soda
The beverage industry is highly competitive and presents many alternative products to satisfy a need from within. The principal areas of competition are in pricing, packaging, product innovation, the development of new products and flavours as well as promotional and marketing strategies. Companies can be grouped into two categories: global operations such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Company, Monster Beverage Corp. and Red Bull and regional operations such as Ro...
The CSD (carbonated soft drink) industry is one that is very competitive. A few firms dominate this industry, most notably Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. This is due to substantial barriers to entry. Cadbury-Schweppes, producer of products such as 7up and Dr. Pepper is the third leading company in this industry. Due to the dominance of Coca Cola and Pepsi, Cadbury-Schweppes faces the daunting task of having to fight for market share and survive in this fiercely competitive industry. Using economic analysis for support, Cadbury-Schweppes will need to use its strengths in the non-cola categories to compete in this CSD industry.
Investments in marketing and advertisement are aimed to enhance consumer awareness and increase brand preference. This produces long-term growth in annual turnover, per capita consumption and coke’s share valve worldwide and their sales. Maintaining Strong relationships with bottling partners and products sellers in the mark...
One of the similarities in the performance between Pepsi and Coca-Cola is obtaining significant competitive advantage and market share in the beverage industry across the world. Actually, by the end of the 20th Century, Pepsi and Coca-Cola were regarded as the two largest beverage firms throughout the world (“Coke versus Pepsi”, 1998). Secondly, Pepsi and Coca-Cola have been forced to transform their business strategies and operations in order to respond to the ever changing needs, tastes, and preferences of consumers. The beverages market has been characterized by increased shift towards healthy products since carbonated drinks have generated significant health issues and concerns in the recent past. Pepsi and Coca-Cola have developed new strategies and approaches to their business operations in order to respond to these needs. Third, Pepsi and Coca-Cola’s performance have been affected by market factors, particularly the shift to alternative beverages that are more healthy and nutritious. In addition to contributing to transformation of business strategies and operations, the changing consumers’ tastes and preferences have had considerable impacts on the firm’s operations and performance in the market. These impacts have been widely experienced in the entire beverages industry, especially by the largest market players i.e. Pepsi and
The purpose of this report is to compare financial reports from the two largest soft drink manufacturers in the world. The Pepsi Co. and Coca Cola have been the industry's leaders in their market since the early 1900's. I will use relevant figures to determine profitability, and break down key ratios in profitability, liquidity, and solvency. By breaking down financial statements, and converting them to percentages and ratios, comparisons can be made between competitors regardless of size.
This competitive advantage has been rendered sustainable as other players have found it difficult to catch up with the company's competitive strategy. In spite of this clear advantage, it was noted that the company faces some challenges being the world leader in soft drink distribution. The canning and bottling of the product which is done in many countries have now fallen into the hands of independent companies, thus it becomes hard for a given company to control the quality of the packaging