The Brutal Truths About Coca-Cola

As I continue to read Jim Collins book Good to Great the fourth chapter is about facing brutal truths in order to succeed and at first I couldnt think of any brutal truths about Coca-Cola. That is because Im looking at it through my perspective a white 18 year old American male. Increasingly you have gain a worldly perspective so instead of a  white 18 year old American male I may have to look at the problems of coke from the perspective of a person in India or China.

The first problem is Coca-Cola isnt the major soft drink in India. That position is held by their bitter rival, PepsiCo. This is what CMO Joe Tripodi was talking about when he was talking about the Journey to Shared Values speech. 

Two emerging soft drinks means less of a strong hold on China. Currently Coke is the number one soft drink in China but Ting Hsin and Pepsi Co. are quickly closing the gap On Coke.

The question is how Coke responds to these issues. 

Sources:

http://www.euromonitor.com/soft-drinks-in-china/report 

- Used to determine the major soft drinks in China

http://www.euromonitor.com/soft-drinks-in-india/report

-Used to determine the major soft drinks in India.

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/the-journey-to-shared-value

- Speech performed by CMO Joe Tripodi 

Good to Great - Jim Collins


Source (Pic):
http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/print/2011/12/coca_cola_china_3.jpg

Muhtar Kent: Level 5 Leader?

Muhtar Kent is the current CEO of the Coca Cola Company. In the book Good to Great Jim Collins talks about great leaders, level 5 leaders. This blog post will be my evaluation based on speeches given by Mr. Kent as well as a few biographies I have found online.

One of the more heavily noted points in the chapter is that level 5 leaders are selfless, not looking for personal glory, and wants the company to do well at all costs.

So under this stipulation I would say Mr. Kent is a level 5 leader. He has been with the company for 20+ years and has built a career there. Promoting from with in is a sign of a great company.

The fact I didnt know who the CEO of Coca- Cola is also a good sign for Mr. Kent.  A level 5 leader isn't the superstar leader i.e. Ceaser they are a shy leader i.e. Lincoln.

Charisma is a gift and a liability, a concept proposed in a later chapter by Mr. Collins. I have never meet Mr. Kent so I cant personally speak to his charisma but multiple biographies describe him as charismatic. The reason charisma is a curse as well is a gift is you may not get the actual information if you are to charismatic but instead the fantasized version of an issue.

Source:

 http://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/company-articles/muhtar-kent-delivers-keynote-remarks-at-the-world-affairs-council-at-commerce-club
- Speech by Muhtar Kent

Good to Great - Jim Collins
Author of numerous books about companies success.

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/board-of-directors-muhtar-kent

-Biography provided by the Coca-Cola Company


Source (pic) : http://www.google.com/imgres?q=is+muhtar+kent+charismatic&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&tbo=d&rls=en&biw=1093&bih=620&tbm=isch&tbnid=qgom28Ihp0_ovM:&imgrefurl=http://hbr.org/2011/10/shaking-things-up-at-coca-cola/ar/1&docid=Rr8i1abHOiD5jM&imgurl=http://hbr.org/hbrg-main/resources/images/article_assets/hbr/1110/R1110F_KENT.jpg&w=360&h=368&ei=8RjIUOiVDoOgywGnvYH4Bg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=485&sig=107308380805452866479&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=146&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:0,i:125&tx=74&ty=50

The Famous Bottle

Coca Cola has the most iconic bottle in the world. I am going to look into how the company got the famous design and what to do with it.

Coca-Cola had a design contest who could come up a design the could set coke apart. The man who came up with the idea didnt know what coca cola was and thought it had to do with the cocoa plant that is the main ingredient in making chocolate. So the man won the contest and coke had an edge on the rest. Coca-Cola used to advertise it was the only bottle you could pick up and know its a coke before you read the label. It worked wonders somehow the company was able to change the way people thought about the bottle not as just a way to get the drink from us to you but to enjoy the drink with a luxurious and beautiful piece of art. The bottle is patented and is renewed every twenty years or so.  Coca-Cola also made some strides with the bottle in their invention of the aluminum bottle with the famous shape and the 2 letter comes in the iconic shape.

source: Google Scholar
source: (pic) http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=gtX&sa=N&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1252&bih=548&tbm=isch&tbnid=Y8OB9gb-aiaP7M:&imgrefurl=http://www.doobybrain.com/2008/11/13/new-coca-cola-aluminum-bottle/&docid=uCC03VIRI8V8KM&imgurl=http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/coca-cola-redesign-bottle.jpg&w=595&h=1734&ei=4N6mUKbUEM-DyAGZx4DYDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=72&vpy=51&dur=394&hovh=384&hovw=131&tx=66&ty=194&sig=108472664837938045408&page=1&tbnh=141&tbnw=56&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:77

Coca-Cola adding Chile?

Yes Chile the country not the delicious meaty snack.

The company plans on putting 1.3 billion dollars to develop themselves in the market. The plan includes the Coca-Cola Andina (a C0ca- Cola bottling company) and making a state of the art plant in the developing country. There is good reason behind the venture into Chile, Chile drinks a lot of soda so much so they rank third in the Americas behind U.S. and our beard (Mexico.) Coca-Cola will consistently put the money into the country until 2016.





 

Source: Coca-Cola Unbottled. This is a blog post about the company and their business ventures. Other posts matched up with other research  for previous blogs.

Source: (pic)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/graphics/flags/large/ci-lgflag.gif

Success

These are what makes companies successful according to good to great  a book that took 5 years to write.


Who: According to Good to Great a key aspect in success is having the right people in the right places. Cokes leader is CEO and chairmen Muhtar Kent. But I would like to go back and determine how coca-cola became great and I would put that into the hands of Asa Candler. He was the one who put Coca-Cola on the map. I believe it was because of his amazing ability to innovate from a marketing stand point.

Confront Brutal Facts: Coca-Cola really only had one brutal fact to handle, cocaine. Candler wanted to keep the company true to its name so he put coca leaves into the drink which also put the addictive quality of  cocaine into the drink. eventually they removed the cocaine and were on the path to greatness.

Hedge Hog Concept: Being the best in the world is something that Coke and Pepsi have been fighting over for 100 years. Coke realized they could never be the clear best  so they diversified. They over 500 products now across the world.

A Culture of Discipline: I cant comment on the culture of Coca- Cola because i've never worked there but i can assume because of the greatness of the company.

Technology Accelerators: Technology has been a key part in making Coca-Cola great they have been innovators in bottling and the new machines that dispense over 100 product.

 The Fly Wheel and the Doom Loop: The idea is that one single action cant save a company. Success is a progression from good to great. Coca-Cola has been selling their product one bottle at a time it started off at 9 bottles a year and now they are selling millions a day.

 

Recourses: Good to Great by Jim Collins this is a reliable source because he took 5 years to write the book and compiled 15 years of data.

source: pic
 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFr3Kyar37qPfOhRS03bQ7Bp4p74LA7f_b67U7bBAoNx6_-Vs4zaVIjvV9Fe_K-qruT0AD_BiOBqguxkjJtXwK12nBTDhjijDCyw5Cc3QP0fxILuVQxuUofE2CX2B0rsuUM_GklFhHENAv/s1600/good-to-great1.jpg

Synthesis & Plan

Coca-Cola has been an American icon since its inception in 1886. I know this because of the first blog post highlighting the history of the company. I also learned about the either amazingly strategic or total failure that was New Coke. I enjoyed reading about the new coke machine that was designed by a company that when its not making cola machines it makes Ferrari's. I hope to learn more about what the future of coca-cola looks like. What new drinks, business ventures, and marketing strategies are in store for coca-cola.

How to Get Your Hands on a Shirley Temple

Pew Wei is a branch of PF Changs offering basically the same food at a reduced price. A few times I've been there my food is have cold. The service is nothing special, and I dont know anyone who works there.

So why do I go back? Two words Coke Freestyle. Coca- Cola came up with the machine in 2009. The machine was designed by Pininfarnina; a fancy pants Italian car designing company that also design Ferrari's.

The machine offers over 100 flavors of Coca-Cola products. Which vary from Coca- Cola Classic to Peach Sprite.

The machine is more than just a great marketing strategy it also is an awesome tool for market research. Every day the machine sends the data of what has been sold back to Atlanta for the marketing people to look over at coke. So if there is a spike in cherry Mr.Pibb they can offer it on the shelfs of your local grocery store.


Here is the good part, the Shirley Temple AKA Kiddy cocktail is a combination of leamon lime soda and cherry flavoring. By going to Pei Wei, Meat Heads, 5 Guys or any other place that has Coke Freestyle you can enjoy a delicious Shirley Temple by simply selecting Sprite then cherry Sprite.



Source (pic):
http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/3739730775_923bd23454_o.jpg

Source: MSNBC: The Real Story Behind The Real Thing
Source: The Coca- Cola company website.

Both are sources i have used before and both are reliable.

Bill Cosby Lied to Us

In the 1980's Pepsi's taste test challenge advertising campaign came out and it dug deep into Coca-Cola sales. The sweeter Pepsi was usually perfered in a  head to head taste tests and Pepsi knew it, in blind taste tests across the world people were asked to choose Pepsi or Coke?

 Most went Pepsi. So in order to Compete with Pepsi, Coca-Cola had to change something. The 100 year old Soft Drink company was not very good at. But they took the leap and came up with "New Coke." A sweater drink that could go head to head with Pepsi. They hired Bill Cosby to indorce the new drink.The uproar was tremendous, the Coca-Cola Company was flooded with letters trying to convince the company to go back to the original formula. Eventually they offered both New Coke and Coca-Cola Classic on the same shelfs. This brought more people back to Coca-Cola. Why? No one really knows for sure, it was the same product offered before. Maybe it was because they saw Coca-Cola trying to listen to their fans.Maybe its because Coca-Cola appeared as a fallen hero that rored back. Either was New Coke was far from a failure.

What are some of the other marketing strategies used by Coke to become the company they are today?

Source: CNBC: Coca-Cola: The Real Story
The CNBC documentry interviewed some of the executives at coca-cola including the CEO and the owner of the Coca-Cola musseum.

Source(pic): http://markandwalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/cosby_coke-300x222.jpg

Drugs, Money, and The History of Coca-Cola

When it comes to the Coca-Cola Company the best place to start is well, the start. Dr. John Stith Pembertion created the formula on May 8, 1886. The company that is currently in 200 countries and offers 500 products once offered one product in one corner pharmacy. Jaccobs Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia to be specific, after Dr. Pembertion created the syrup he brought it down the street to the pharmacy, the owner of the pharmacy tasted it enjoyed it and decided to sell it in his store for 5 cents a glass. In the first year it sold 9 glasses a day. Thinking the company would never really take off Dr. Pembertion sold most of his company to partners. Before his Death Dr. Pembertion sold a majority of his company to Asa G. Candler. Mr. Candler didn't gain sole ownership until 1891 when he bought the other shares for $2,300. Mr. Candler understood the importance of marketing and advertising and after one year of being full owner he raised Coca-Cola sales tenfold. The rest is history.

The question I've always had is did the original formula of coca-cola have cocaine in it?

The answer is yes; Candler believed his product title needed to be descriptive thus it needed coca leaves in it. The only issue is, a buy product of the leaves is cocaine. Although it was a mere trace there was cocaine in the product up until the late 1920's.

What were some of the marketing strategies used by Candler that wove Coca-Cola into the fabric of American life?

Source: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/chronicle_birth_refreshing_idea.html
-the Coca-Cola Company is the most reliable source of information when it comes to the Coca-Cola Company

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HoMFj38tIPkeiKH8ATR26axyxptoO__VtJ2qwT9dhlB5Veym0EjBiUu7YkPEgVqECdiT0ATxrdL2Qgi_G0px9k8cD1NFOA6Le-50zalPEctGFNjsZHH4pnQHu4wXM-Os5zhXjtNWoTXl/s1600/1886.jpg

What makes companies successful?

I know coke has become one of the most profitable companies in history but whats next? how are they going to top themselves? I know coke came in america at a very impressionable time, and that’s partially why they became so successful here but how will they weave themselves into other cultures.  Coke has revolutionized marketing and has produced a wide variety of drinks which is why they have been so successful.