Coca Cola Case Study

Coca-Cola

History "Coca-Cola enterprises Incorporated, employees 66,199 operates, 444 facilities, 47,235 vehicles, 1.9 million pieces of cold drink equipment and sold 3.8billion unit cases in 46 states in the united states, all 10 provinces of Canada and portions of Europe including Belgium, France, Great Britain, Luxembourg and the Netherlands" (Coca-Cola facts 99). An, Atlanta Pharmacist Dr. John Slyth Pemberton founded Coca-Cola on May 8, 1886. The caramel

colored ingredients, Coca leaves and kola nuts. Later the drink was striped of narcotics. The drink was first designed as a drug that will help people feel better. Pemberton sold his new drink for 5 cents a glass. Some time later carbonated water was added to the syrup and that is how Coca-Cola was invented. Dr. Pemberton sold Coca-Cola out of the pharmacy he worked at. The pharmacy was owned by, a man named Frank M. Robinson. Robinson suggested "Coca-Cola" as a name for Pemberton's drink. The two men took an old oilcloth sing and hung it in the window saying "Drink Coca-Cola". They averaged nine glasses sold a day. In 1886 Pemberton became sick he sold some of his portions of his interest too Asa G. Candler. In 1888 Pemberton died, and Asa Candler began buying all the out standing shares of Coca-Cola. Candler was and Atlanta druggist and businessman. Candler knew Coke was going to be something big. He then had complete control by 1891 for $2,300. In 1892, Candler and his brother John Candler, Frank Robinson and two other associates formed "Coca-Cola Company" in Georgia. Candler was a master at marketing. He handed out coupons for one free glass of Coca-Cola. He also promoted the beverage by painted walls, Clocks, outdoor posters, serving trays and fountain urns. Candler marketing stragety worked Coke was available everywhere. The sales took off. People started calling Coca-Cola "Coke" They urged the customers to call it by its full name, but "Coke" just stuck. "In 1894, the company opened its first syrup manufacturing plant outside Atlanta in Dallas Texas. The following year plants opened in Chicago and Los Angeles. Three years after the Coca-Cola Company's incorporation Candler announced in the annual report: "Coca-Cola in the now drunk in every state and territory in the United States" (History of Coca-Cola Company). Joseph A. Biedenharn, of Vicksburg, Mississippi installed bottler machinery in his candy store in 1894 and became the first Coca-Cola bottler in the United States. Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whithehead of Chatttanooga, Tennesse bought Coca-Cola from Asa Candler for one dollar. He got all right to Coca-Cola he then

opened the first bottling plant in Chattanooga that year. Candler sold the Coca-Cola Company in 1919 for $25 million to an Atlanta banker named Ernest Woodruff and investor group he had organized. In 1923 E. Woodruff's 33-year-old son Robert Woodruff was elected president of Coca-Cola Company. "The Business was re-incorporated as a Delaware corporation, and 500,000 shares of common stock were sold publicly for $40 per shares." Robert Woodruff bought Coca-Cola Company to even greater highs for more then six decades. "Fundamental to his success was a commitment to the highest standards for product quality a commitment that remains a hallmark for the Coca-Cola system today". 1981 Roberto Goizueta a Cuban born chemical engineers who rejuvenated the business. Although Coca-Cola had dabbled on several industries over the years, Goizueta engineered the largest of this diversification, the $700 million acquisition of Columbia pictures in 1982. In 1985, Coke changed its original recipe for a "New Coke". Market shares had fallen so Guizueta thought that Coca-Cola needed a change his change was "New Coke" the consumers rejected it. The company changed back to the original recipe. In 1986, it consolidated the U.S. bottling operation it owned into Coca-Cola Enterprises and sold 51% of the new company to the public. In 1960, the Coca-Cola Company purchased minute Maid Corporation; adding frozen citrus juice concentrates and adds, along with the trademarks minute maid and Hi-C, the company's beverage line. The company later acquired Duncan foods, a coffee producer, and formed the Coca- Cola company foods Division in 1967, now known as the Minute Maid Company". From 1977-1983 the company produced and marketed wine in the United States. In 1982 Coca -Cola company bought Belmont Spring Water company Incorporated. Coca- Cola thought the Entertainment business would be good for them so in 1982 the company acquisition to Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc, which joined Tri Star Pictures in 1987, to form the independent corporation Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. Coca-Cola then sold Belmont Springs Water Company, Inc. 1989,