introduction
During the 1980s, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola began an escalating campaign of
mutually - targeted television advertisements which became known as the Cola
Wars. This summary is based on the findings with respect to the following key
aspects: Carbonated soft drinks industry's structure, evaluation of driving change factors in this industry and finally analysis of key strategic factors it is faced with.
Value Chain Analysis
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.
Taking this cost intensive bottling business into consideration both Coca Cola and Pepsi founded their own bottler spin-offs which operate according to the so called Anchor Bottler Model or are linked to the respective CSD company via Master Bottler Contracts.
In both cases companies under this contract are not allowed to handle a direct competitive brand e.g. no possibility to bottle Pepsi and Cola at the same time. In 2000 Cokes bottling system was the most concentrated with its top ...