Sofa Wars

Sofa Wars

The soft-drink battleground has now turned toward new overseas markets. While once the United States, Australia, Japan, and Western Europe were the dominant soft-drink markets, the growth has slowed down dramatically, but they are still important markets for Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Globalization has become an important word in the 90’s and Eastern Europe, Mexico, China, Saudi Arabia, and India have become the new "hot spots." Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi are forming joint bottling ventures in these nations and in other areas where they see growth potential. As we have seen in the Japanese video dealing with Coke’s business in class, international marketing can be very complex. As I begin to examine the international soda wars this will become very evident. The domestic cola war between Coca-Cola and Pepsi is still raging, as we clearly know. However, these two soft-drink giants also recognize the opportunities for globalization in many of the international markets. Both!

Coca-Cola, which sold 10 billion cases of soft-drinks in 1992, and Pepsi now find themselves asking, "Where will sales of the next 10 billion cases come from?" The answer lies overseas, where income levels and appetites for Western products are at an all time high.

Often, the company that gets into a foreign market first usually dominates that country's market. Coke patriarch Robert Woodruff realized this 50 years ago and unleashed a brilliant ploy or in a way a very sim...

Sofa Wars

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