Coca Cola Company

Coca Cola Co.

Soft drink companies around the world compete for the public’s interest in their beverages. These companies spend million s of dollars a year promoting, advertising and creating new and better products. In my opinion the company that stands out from all the soft drink competitors is The Coca-Cola Company.

Company Description:

Doctor John Premberton, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia invented Coca Cola in May 1886. Pemberton invented the Cola product in a three legged brass kettle in his own backyard. The original name for the drink was “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca” used as a nerve tonic, stimulant and headache remedy. (Coca Cola History) At the time his product was sold by most, if not all of the city’s local drugstores for five cent’s at the fountain. Later that year a new Coca-Cola drink debuted still possessing the valuable tonic and nerve stimulate properties of the coca plant and cola nuts, yet it was sweetened with sugar instead of wine. The drink was advertised as a “delicious, exhilarating, refreshing and invigorating” soda-fountain beverage but also the ideal “temperance drink” Two years later Pemberton died, just five months after filing for incorporation for the first Coca-Cola Co. (Coca Cola History) By the late 1890s, Coca-Cola was one of America's most popular fountain drinks. With another Atlanta pharmacist, Asa Griggs Candler, at the helm, the Coca-Cola Company increased syrup sales by over 4000% between 1890 and 1900. As for today, Coca-Cola Enterprises is the world's largest marketer, producer, and distributor of products of The Coca-Cola Company. The brands of The Coca Cola Company represent many of the most popular beverage brands in the world today. Coca Cola Inc The Company distributed 2 billion physical cases about 42 billion cans and bottles in 2004. (Coca Cola History) These sales represented around 21 percent of The Coca-Cola Company’s volume worldwide for that year. The company operates in nearly 46 states in the United States, all 10 provinces in Canada, and portions of Europe including Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, and the Netherlands. Coca-Cola Enterprises' franchise territories encompass a population of 398 million people. This represents 80 percent of the population in North America and all of the population in Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, and the Netherlands. Coca-Cola Enterprises employs approximately 74,000 people who operate 431 facilities, 54,000 vehicles, and 2.4 million vending machines, beverage dispensers, and coolers. (Coca Cola History)

Industry Description:

The soft drink industry began in the mid-1880s with the creation of syrup that was mixed with carbonated water and served at drug store lunch counters. During the early years, soft drinks were sold only in stores that could provide fountain service. Increasing distribution was tied to building additional syrup manufacturing plants. (Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks) Soft drinks have become a big part of every Americans life today. The Coca-Cola Company has become a virtual icon of American culture. “Around 500 bottling companies, and soft drink manufacturers operate in the United States today. Bottling plants can produce more than 2,000 soft drinks per minute on each line of operation.” Americans drink more soft drinks than any other beverage in the world. Coffee comes in second to wide array of soft drinks and other beverages available. In recent years, soft drinks have accounted for more than 29 percent of Americans beverage consumption. “The United States market includes nearly 450 or so different soft drinks.” (Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks) Over $88 million dollars in soft drink beverage sales were made in this year alone. The soft drink companies take three quarters of the total market share, with non-carbonated drinks accounting for about 13 percent and bottled water with 11 percent. The top three soft drink companies, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, and Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, controlled all but nine percent of the market share in 2003, and produced the majority of the industry's best-selling brands. “It also is a big part of the U.S. economy, buying products and services from many different industries, creating thousands of jobs, and contributing to worthwhile causes in local communities.” (Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks) Soft drink flavorings are the number one product purchased, followed by the metal cans and plastics used for packaging the products. The soft drink industry also is a big buyer of corn syrup, advertising services, glass containers, boxes for shipping bottle caps, warehousing, fruits and vegetables, motor freight, carbonated water, sugar, and many other products and services that contribute to the manufacture of soft drinks. (Bottled and Canned Soft Drinks)

Subsidiaries/divisions/groups

Coca-Cola FEMSA: “An anchor bottler for The Coca-Cola Company. FEMSA produces soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, and Ciel water.” The company is leading the Mexico and Argentinean markets. (Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A. de C.V) Coca-Cola FEMSA bought Panamerican Beverages (Panamco), Latin America's largest soft drink bottler, in May 2003. The purchase made Coca-Cola FEMSA the world's #2 Coca-Cola bottler. Coca-Cola Enterprises is #1, having gained Panamco's reach into Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. (Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A. de C.V) Fomento EconÐ"Ñ-mico Mexicano S.A. owns about 45% of the bottler and The Coca-Cola Company owns about 40%. (Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A. de C.V)

Coca-Cola GmbH: “Since 1929 Coca-Cola has been serving its legendary soft drink in Germany, its third-largest market after the US and Mexico.” Coca-Cola GmbH, the German arm of The Coca-Cola Company, serves up about 3.4 billion liters of beverages per day. (Coca-Cola GmbH) The subsidiary, which poured its famous beverage at the historic 1936 Olympics in Berlin, now produces, markets, and distributes "the real thing" and some 50 other nonalcoholic products in Germany. “It offers a range of carbonated soft drinks (Fanta, mezzo mix, Sprite), juices and juice drinks (Minute Maid, Qoo), iced teas (NESTEA), waters (BONAQA), and energy and sport drinks (BONAQA sports water, burn, Ð"­psei, Lift, Powerade).” (Coca-Cola GmbH)

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