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Cola Wars Case Study
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Abstract
Soft drink industry has enjoyed over 100 years of growth and success. Operating in almost all the nations of the world the industry is dominated by two giants namely PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. which for a long time have been rivals. As a result, new lines of products including both carbonated and non-carbonated drinks have emerged. As compared to other companies, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. have survived many challenges faced by the industry and therefore have been in existence for long. The soft drink industry has four major players namely suppliers, retail channels, bottlers and Concentrate Producer (CP). The CP is in charge of concentrate syrup manufacturing whereas the bottler adds carbonated water and fructose corn syrup to the concentrate syrup. The bottler then bottles the final products and sends them to the distributor who supplies to the consumers. This report, therefore, seeks to analyze the soft drink industry with a significant focus on the PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. In particular, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of the marketing, strategy, human resource and financial aspects of the industry.
Keywords: PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Co, Concentrate Producer, bottler
Cola Wars Case Study
Introduction
Over the past years, the soft drink industry has emerged as one of the rapidly growing industries. The industry through its full range of products from various brands including both non-carbonated and carbonated drinks has found its way to almost every nation of the world.

Notably, PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. are the two main Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) giants that have since dominated the soft drink industry. Coca-Cola’s invention was in the year 1886 while PepsiCo, 1893 (Dubas, 2016). Since their inventions, the two companies have become great rivals due to each firm’s attempt to beat the other. As early as 1950’s the rivalry was already on fire as each company came out clear in demonstrating the nature of their competition. As such, each company developed marketing lines directly attacking the competitor. PepsiCo developed such marketing taglines as “Beat Coke” and “Pepsi Generation” whereas Coke had “No wonder coke refreshes the best” and “Americans preferred the taste” (Yoffie and Kim, 2011). Despite the two companies’ dominance of the soft drink industry, there have been substitute products and other competitors that have also entered the market and as a result, have brought with them various changes in the industry. Therefore, their presence in the industry has prompted alterations in regards to marketing strategies, human resources management, competition strategies among others. Notably, the soft drink industry has four key players or stakeholders including suppliers, retail channels, bottlers and Concentrate Producer (CP) (Yoffie and Kim, 2011). In this regard, the industry operates in the following way. CP manufactures the main soft drink’s ingredient namely the concentrate syrup. The bottler then receives the syrup and to it adds carbonated water and fructose corn syrup. The bottler then bottles the ready for consumption products which are finally distributed to the consumer by the distributor (Dubas, 2016). Therefore, this paper seeks to analyze the Cola war case study taking keen consideration of human resource, strategy, financial and marketing analyses.
Conclusion
It is apparent that bottling giants Coca-Cola Enterprise and PepsiCo dominate the ever competitive soft drink industry. The rivalry in the industry is made even stiffer with the existing independent bottlers’ neck to neck competition. Notably, the industry’s unmatched requirements, in particular, huge capital development cost, the narrow margin of success and strong competition have seen many bottlers exit the market. From the analysis, it is apparent that for the existing companies especially Pepsi and Coke to survive in the industry, they must be conversant with the industry’s financial, marketing, strategy and human resource requirements. In particular, they must understand the economic differences between the bottlers and the Concentrate Producer (CP). Additionally, they must seek to understand and adjust accordingly to the monopoly of the CP. After reaching the saturation point, it is apparent that the industry is declining especially in developed nations. As a strategy to remedy this decline, the industry should divert more of its attention to developing countries where even though there is low per capita consumption there is a massive growth potential as compared to the developed nations. Importantly, with the ever-increasing competition, the companies in the industry should seek to develop better marketing strategies lest they go out of business. Specifically, the companies should concentrate more on product development rather than the brand. They should also focus on human resource development. Moreover, the firms should identify and address their weaknesses and potential threats. More importantly, they should strive to increase their revenues.
Reference
Dubas, M. (2016). Cola Wars-Case Study. [online] Research Gate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306281447_Cola_Wars-Case_Study [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
Yoffie, D. and Kim, R. (2011). Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010. Harvard Business School, pp.1-22.