Cola Wars Memo

Marketing strategies began to take broader dimensions as the soft drink industry continued to expand and became more complex. In 1976, Pepsi introduced the Pepsi Challenge in its campaigns, a moved that directly challenged Coca-Cola’s longstanding dominance. In 1985, responding to the pressure of the taste tests, which Pepsi always won, Coca-Cola decided to change its formula. This move set off a shock wave across America. Consumers angrily demanded that the old formula be returned, and Coca-Cola responded three months later with Classic Coke. Five years after the infamous Coke fiasco, the Coca-Cola

PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company have both been in production for ages. Both PepsiCo, Inc. and The Coca Cola Company have become common house hold names through out the world today. Pepsi is one of the best selling products in American history. “Pepsi is the number 2 soft drink company producer, the world over. Pepsi’s number one priority is making sure that their shareholders investments are profitable. Pepsi has been able to achieve this goal for the most part via increased sales, keeping cost low, and spending money wisely. Pepsi takes pride in the name, they have built an excellent brand by deliver a product that is satisfying to

Pepsi Co. and Coca Cola, both are very well known multinational companies. They are so famous that they perhaps don’t need any introduction since almost everyone knows basic info about these companies and their widely used products. Both of these companies have been dealing in the production of flavored waters, plain drinking water and soft drinks for decades now and have always been each other’s competitors in almost all the mainstream products they have been producing.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been in competition since day one, each have a very profitable company. When running the number through and

The Coca-Cola company has been in business since its inventor began selling it in drug stores in 1886 (The Coca-Cola Company, 2009). Pepsi-Cola was invented a short time later in 1898, but at the time it was called “Brad’s drink.” It was later renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1902 (Butler, 2006). Since those early days when the sodas were invented, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been in competition with each other for the domination of the world’s soda market. Over the course of more than a century, sales have continued to rise for both companies, and they both consistently earn a profit. Both companies

Since there are a wide range of products available, the pricing for both Coca Cola and Pepsi is done according to the Market demands and the geographic segment and thus both the products pricing are set around the same level. Neither of the brands can win if they enter into a price war, simply because the cost of manufacturing and transportation is huge. The advantage to either of the companies was if they enter into a brand war. Since, Coca Cola always had competitors constantly driving them to be smarter, better and faster and since they were successfully been existing for more than a century, they have had to remain consistent with their pricing strategy. Throughout the years, Coca Cola has made many pricing decisions, but eventually the ultimate goal is to maximize the shareholder value. Coca Cola uses lower price point to penetrate new markets to face competition and also to raise brand awareness. This strategy is strongly implemented till it repositions itself as the Premium beverage as compared to its competitors.

For decades, the battle between PepsiCo. and Coca-Cola has lasted over the control of restaurants to supplies to big countries, but the ultimate deciders would be consumers, profits and sales.

By consulting the above graphs and charts it can be concluded that Pepsi has been a strong competitor to Coke and that throughout history they have been performing at comparable rates. Each has a similar background and customer base, but there are some differences between the two companies and their individual performance overall. It is clear that Pepsi holds a major stake in the market and is somewhat ahead of Coca-Cola in market share and productivity. Although both companies appear to be competing neck-to-neck Pepsi appears to be performing at a slightly higher rate than Coke, despite the popularity of both. Coke is wildly popular and is considered an American institution, but many seek different tastes and this is where Pepsi has been taking some of the market share as some consumers opt for Pepsi as their choice of beverage.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo compete at length with each other among an extensive list of other brands. A key concern for both of these companies in 2011 was their capability to market, produce, and distribute across national boundaries of a single nation. This concern has decreased as both companies were able to push though their limitations and were able to establish manufacturing plants in countries across the globe. (Coca Cola Company, 2011)

In 1886, the Coca Cola Company was developed but it wasn't until 1898 that the fierce competitor Pepsi-Cola entered into the market. These 2 companies are the two major players that dominate the consumer beverage (soft-drink) industry. Coke and Pepsi have since been competing to rein the global market in consumer beverages. The market of drinks in the United States alone is valued at more than thirty million dollars annually. With the growth of these two companies, PepsiCo has developed and acquired additional products outside the scope of just the consumer beverage industry, these products have helped the company to increase their exposure and position in the global market. This has not been the case for the Coca Cola Company; they

Bottling Network: Both Coke and PepsiCo have franchisee agreements with their existing bottler’s who have rights in a certain geographic area in perpetuity. These agreements prohibit bottler’s from taking on

The economics of the concentrate business and bottling is different from each other in terms of number and size of rivals and cost structure etc. Concentrate business has few buyers and through its value chain compare to bottling business has many buyer and mid-way player in the soft drink industry. The concentrate manufacturing process involved a little capital investment in machinery, overhead, or labour to reduce the risks whereas bottlers involving high capital investment. Franchise agreements with soft drink industry allowed bottlers to handle the non-cola brand of other concentrate producers. It also allowed bottlers to choose whether to market new beverages introduced by a concentrate producer. Concentrate producers product cost structure is mostly based on variable costs such as advertising, promotion, market research, and bottler support however, bottler products cost constitution is mostly based on fixed costs and have higher cost leverage. Concentrate producers also took charge of negotiating customer development agreements with nationwide retailers such as Wal-Mart. Concentrate producers collaborated to make more profitable control with bottlers, for example, raw material negotiation with suppliers and sales price

It has taken much more than simply the brand and product to grow Coca-Cola in the number one leader in the soft drink market. Over the past 100 plus years, Coca-Cola has built a huge network of distribution and manufacturing networks. These collaborations that are superior to all others and all types of relationships are a distinctive competency for Coca-Cola. The way that they organize and plan their contracts has proven to be extremely successful and continues to keep Coca-Cola at the top of the market. They have been able to build relationships with suppliers, buyers, bottlers, manufactures, retailers and consumers that are strengthened by the degree of loyalty from both sides of these relationships. They continue to manage their company

Moreover, Pepsi attempted to differentiate its products from Coke's by targeting a different category of consumers, as Pepsi focused on the teen's market segment. The competition goes beyond the domestic market. Coke and Pepsi have fought over international markets in order to increase sales and profitability as the US market becomes more mature, with a slowing growth rate.

The non-alcoholic beverages industry requires significant levels of infrastructure and technology, as well as large capital investments, in order to successfully compete in the market. As a result, it is considered as an industry with high barriers to entry that are difficult to overcome for new entrants. Additionally, the dominant position of the industry’s key players - Coca Cola and Pepsi - lower the threat of entry on the market as new entrants do not have the resources or capabilities to compete with these