Counting Beans

Coca Cola has pursued an aggressive strategy of acquisitions over the years to build their portfolio of products. Coca Cola invested significant resources in R&D but if they miss a trend or see an up and coming brand, they will pursue an acquisition. Notable acquisitions over the years include: Minute Maid (1960), Barq’s (1995), Odwalla (2001), Fuze Beverage (2007), Vitamin Water (2007), Honest Tea (2008), a minority interest in Monster Energy Drinks (2015), and AdeS (2017). One ...

In March, Nestle and Coca Cola announced they would end their seventeen year joint venture in making Nestea, a ready-made tea. The joint venture will dissolve in 2018. During the joint venture, Nestea products were manufactured by Coca Cola and distributed by Nestle. Nestle retained the rights to the Nestea brand while Coca Cola will begin to make a similar product under their brand Fuze. Nestle will change its formula and packaging and will be made with no corn syrup, artificial colors ...

Coca Cola’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer is Kathy N. Waller. Waller has worked for Coca Cola for twenty years and started as a Senior Accountant. She is also leads Coca Cola’s Women’s Leadership Council. Waller is a positive role model to all, reaching the pinnacle of her profession. Being an African American woman certainly puts her in the minority of CFOs at Fortune 500 companies. However, Waller has shown that if you dream big and work hard, ...

Coca Cola made a substantial step in pursuing its product diversification strategy with the recent agreement to acquire initial minority equity shareholding in Chi Ltd., a Nigeria based leading dairy and juice company. Coca Cola has made an initial 40% investment, it intends to increase its holding to 100% in three years, pending regulatory approval. This investment brings new products as well as an increased presence in Africa. Chi Ltd is the leader in the juice industry in Africa. This ...

Coca Cola’s production is divided among its cold fill and hot fill production. Cold Fill production is owned by local bottlers. Cold fill production is used for carbonated soft drinks such as Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Class, and Sprite as well as bottled water such as Dasani. In this instance, Coca Cola has pursued a strategy of backward vertical integration, by divesting any of its company owned cold fill production to local bottlers. Hot fill production is owed by Coca-Cola. Hot fill ...

Price fixing requires collusion between two or more firms in an industry to agree to coordinate prices. In the late 80’s, there the Justice department brought charges against four top executives at bottling companies for price fixing. The executives agreed to set and adhere to prices published in their promotional letters. Bottling companies involved were the Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Co, Mid-Atlantic Coke of Silver Springs, and Athens Coca-Cola Bottling Co. The Justice Depart...

Coca Cola acquired Unilever’s AdeS soy-based beverage business in June 2016. AdeS is the leading soy-based beverage brand in Latin America. During the acquisition, Coca Cola exercised its option to expand into the soy beverage segment, which is expected to grow in the future. Coca Cola invested in AdeS not only for its current line-up of products but its expertise in the soy market industry. With this investment, Coca Cola will be able to launch new soy beverages in the future, crea...

Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy is built on the strategy of product differentiation. Coca-Cola markets the taste of its product over its competitor - Coca-Cola versus Pepsi and Diet Coke versus Diet Pepsi. The strategy has been extremely successful, with consumers typically having a favorite brand that they are loyal to. Coca-Cola has continued with this strategy through their new marketing campaign: Taste the Feeling (see ads in the photo gallery). So what’s your choice, Coca-...

Coca Cola Company utilizes bottling partners to prevent diseconomies of scale. Coca Cola sells syrups and concentrates to their bottling partners who are responsible for packaging and distributing the product. The bottlers are mixing the product on-site, allowing for effective distribution by being close to the customer. Coca Cola has ownership interest in these bottlers. Utilizing this structure has allowed Coca-Cola to maintain efficient economies of scale to manufacture and distribute ...

In 2013, Coca-Cola acquired Zico coconut water to compete for customers seeking heathier options.  The coconut water segment has seen significant growth in recent years and is a new product in the beverage industry.  Let’s analyze the Zico brand applying the VRIO Framework.