FREE ESSAY ON COCA-COLA FROM THEN TO NOW

COCA-COLA FROM THEN TO NOW

Coca-Cola enterprises Incorporated is a giant company that employs 66,199, operates 444
facilities, uses 47,235 vehicles, 1.9 million pieces of cold drink equipment and sold
nearly 5.1 billion cases all over the world (Coca-Cola facts 99). These numbers are very
impressive, and Coca-Cola may be the most powerful company in the world.
An, Atlanta Pharmacist Dr. John Slyth Pemberton founded Coca-Cola on May 8, 1886. The
drink was made with the caramel colored ingredients, coca leaves, kola nuts and a little
something I like to call narcotics. The drink was first designed as a drug that will help
people feel better. For five cents, you could enjoy a refreshing drink, and get laced
into wit some potent drugs. These days, a crackheads dream, and also a sick reality. 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 made a sign and hung it in the window saying
Drink Coca-Cola. They sold around 9 cups of their drink a day. In 1886 Pemberton became
sick and sold his interests, and shares to Asa G. Candler. In 1888 Pemberton died, and
Asa Candler bought the outstanding shares. Candler was an Atlanta drug salesman and
businessman. Candler had a feeling Coke was going to be big. He had complete control by
1891 for twenty-three hundred dollars. 
In 1892, Candler, 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. Candlers marketing strategy
worked, and soon Coke was available everywhere. The sales sky rocketed. 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 drank in every state and territory in the United States
(History of Coca-Cola Company). 
Joseph A. Biedenharn, of Vicksburg, Mississippi installed bottling machinery in his candy
store in 1894 and became the first person to bottle Coca-Cola in the United States.
Candler sold the Coca-Cola Company in 1919 for $25 million to an Atlanta banker named
Ernest Woodruff . 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.
In 1960, the Coca-Cola Company purchased minute Maid Corporation; adding frozen citrus
juice concentrates along with the trademarks minute maid and Hi-C to 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 acquired 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, closing out a decade of accelerated
growth and change. In 1981 Roberto Goizueta a Cuban born chemical engineer 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 because the price of
shares fell, but the "New Coke" bombed big time. The company was forced to change 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 1997, Robert Goizueta died of lung
Cancer. While Robert was in the company, the value rose from 4 billion dollars to 145
billion dollars. Douglas Ivester, the architect of Coca-Cola's restructured bottling
operations, took over the company when Guizueta past away. Coca- Cola and Ivester ran
into some legal problems when Ivester took over. In 1997, the French government blocked
the company from trying to buy Orangina from Peknod Ricard. 
Then in 1998, an antitrust lawsuit from Pepsi - Cola challenged Coca-Cola's dominance in
the U.S. fountain -drink business. In June of 1999, products bottled where shut down for
two weeks because some of the bottles where contaminated in Belgium and France. This was
the company largest product recall in the company's history. Corporate Culture The
Coca-Cola Company provides assistance to American Red Cross and Big Brother Big Sister.
These are just a few of the noble acts the Coca-Cola Company has become involved in over
the years. Coca-Cola is a leading company, which will continue to grow in all respects.
Most importantly, it will grow because of the company's value system, and quality for not
only its product but also life. 
The company offers a great 401k plan, with a full range of options. The first benefit
that may attract an employee to work for Coke is their company-paid coverage. This would
include basic life insurance, basic long-term disability and health insurance.
Retirement, Pension, and Other Post Retirement Benefit Plans For retirement, the company
offers a 401k savings plan with matching company contributions, an employee pension plan,
and retiree medical and life insurance. The company offers all of their employees some
paid time off. This time off would include sick pay or short-term disability, vacations,
and holidays. The company also provides an opportunity for employees to receive flexible
benefits. These options would be medical coverage, including vision and prescription
drugs, dental coverage, health care and dependent care reimbursement accounts,
supplemental long-term disability insurance and supplemental and dependent life
insurance. 
Coca-Cola also provides educational assistance and employee assistance programs.
Employees have access to a variety of health management programs such as on site health
club, cholesterol/blood pressure screenings and other wellness programs. Coca-Cola
provides a variety of benefit pension plans covering all of its employees in North
America and Europe. Additionally, the company is involved in a number of multi-employer
pension plans worldwide. Coca-Cola also sponsors a post-retirement plan that covers
substantially all of American and Canadian employees who qualify before retirement or
termination. In European Countries, primarily government-sponsored programs cover retired
Workers. The total pension expenses for all benefit plans, including post-retirement
health care and life insurance benefit plans, amounting to approximately $119 million in
1998. In addition, they also contribute to a voluntary beneficiary association trust,
which will be used to partially fund health care benefits for future retired employees. 
Seeing how Coca-Cola employs thousands of people, they try to increase scouting their
young employee's talent for potentially higher positions. These people start their jobs
in front line beverage sales, distribution, production, or service positions. The biggest
thing Coke is looking for is long term thinkers, says one insider, They don't want
cowboys. They want conservative people who are into adding shareholder values (Coke
insider, Investors Business Daily Coca-Cola). In 1994, the Coca-Cola Company was awarded
the Optimas Award for global outlook in success for developing the standardized corporate
culture. The company maintained a long-standing commitment to equal opportunity,
affirmative action, and valuing the diversity of their consumers. The company's aim to
create a working environment free of discrimination and harassment with respect to race,
sex, color, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability, being a
special disabled veteran. They also have commitment to make reasonable accommodations in
the employment of men and women who are qualified with disabilities. In addition, it
tries to create a working environment free of discrimination and harassment with respect
to sex and sexual orientation. 
Even more important, the company maintains an open door policy where employee related
issues could be raised freely. The whole idea of the open door policy is to provide an
effective and timely means for all company associates to find solutions to work related
questions, problems, and concerns that may effect the culture of the organization. The
company has management programs for potential management and people already in the
management program. Managers and associates work together on the development process.
This process includes determining development needs and agreeing on the development
methods. The approach to development may include on-the-job experience, specific training
programs, and other approaches to the development of the company. Feedback is an
essential factor in the appraisal process. It will prepare the associates for future
business needs. This is all part of there equal Opportunity Policy, Employees are trained
extensively nation wide. 
Coke provides its South African divisions with programs to university students with the
opportunity to learn new business skills by working within the company. These specific
programs allow employees to further build new skills, while it also allows employees to
build skills for the first time. The skills the employee's posses aid the company in
share-owner value. The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest bottler of liquid
nonalcoholic refreshment in which they produce, market, and distributes their products in
nearly 200 countries throughout the world. Each day these countries consume 100 billion
servings of Coca-Cola products which stresses the importance of the valuable service that
Coca-Cola's distribution and bottling centers provide for the company. The World's most
effective and pervasive distribution system is broken up into two different sectors which
are then divided even further into sub-units such as the following: 1.) The North
American Sector - Coca-Cola USA [which operates in the U.S.] - Coca-Cola LTD [responsible
for soft drink operations in Canada.] - Houston Base Coca-Cola Foods [produces and
markets juices and juice like drinks.] 2.) The International Business Sector - The
Greater Europe Group [manages the regions that are part of the European Union.] Central &
Eastern Europe * Scandinavia * Soviet Union - The Latin American Group Overseas * Mexico
* Central & South America - The Middle and Far East Group * Asia & Pacific Rim * Middle
East - The Sub Sahara African Group * Manages any countries below the Sahara Desert. 
This distribution system provides the backbone needed to support the company and help
them remain competitive in the cold-beverage industry. The company is always striving to
maintain quality products while maximizing customer satisfaction. Distribution has become
an intricate part of the companies success in being able to successfully produce quality
products that are delivered and sold around the globe in a cost effective and time
efficient manner. Coca-Cola's North American Distribution Sector deserves to be mentioned
first, because this is the region in the world where the Coca-Cola empire first evolved
and continues to prosper and grow. Coke has become an American icon that has managed to
transform itself from a profitable fountain soda into a generational product that
Americans have grown to love. 
The North American Sector operates under DSD policies (Direct Store Delivery) inwhich the
products are delivered to the store directly from the distribution center. This is in an
effort to maximize profits and maintain a quality image for their products freshness. By
contract with the Coca-Cola Company or it's local subsidiaries, local businesses are
authorized to bottle and sell company soft drinks within certain territorial boundaries
and under conditions that ensure the highest standards of quality and uniformity. This
affiliation is being created by Coca-Cola's Project Infinity, which is being implemented
by upper management to consolidate independent bottlers in an effort to cut costs, pool
resources, generate more buying power, improve overall communication throughout the
organization, and increase profits. This strategic alliance allows the company to produce
products that taste consistently good, contain the same amount of ingredients, are
packaged interchangeable, and are stocked and served to the customer in a systematic way
all across the country. One of the main components of Project Infinity is an application
for sales and distribution that Coca-Cola built for the bottling companies years ago,
called Basis (Beverage, Analytical, Sales, Information, Systems), which is used for
routing delivery trucks and determining specific customer needs in terms of volume. In
addition Basis serves other functions as well including such responsibilities as
accounting, logging in order entries, and payments. Basis is the central piece of
Coca-Cola's distribution center because it is used primarily as their dispatching and
replenishing system. Without Basis Coca-Cola would be unable to keep track of their
inventory and supplies, which would eventually have a dissolving effect on their overall
internal structure. 
Unfortunately, Coke realizes that their dominance in the cold-beverage industry will not
continue unless they come up with new innovative ways to remain competitive in a global
market. Therefore Coca-Cola is installing a massive integrative system called SAP
Applications (Strategic Alliance Program) which will eventually replace the outdated
Basis. This program is designed to share knowledge with each bottler and set up common
systems and applications that are integrated with each and every bottler within the
Coca-Cola organization. SAP is in the beginning stages of development, but Coca-Cola
plans on using SAP for multi purposes which include keeping track of their financial
data, purchasing, human-resources management, project-management applications, production
and materials management, quality management and plant maintenance, as well as sales and
distribution management. Initially around 5,000 users will have access to SAP
applications which will eventually increase to 25,000 users throughout Coca-Cola. 
Rick Engum, VP of Information Services at Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. in Atlanta states
the following in regards to SAP : These applications will speed the process of doing
business with our suppliers and give us better management of our overall supply chain. By
using common applications all of us in the Coca-Cola system will provide a consistent
level of service [such as timely deliveries] to customers. We could do this to some
extent with the old systems, but it's far easier to do with shared technology. SAP
Applications provides Coca-Cola Enterprises and it's management even further incite on
understanding the business on a daily basis and how to go about making appropriate
changes or adjustments at a moments notice. This project is particularly beneficial to
the many large bottlers that have acquired smaller bottlers in an effort to strengthen
the bottling system, because SAP will allow Coca-Cola management to run all the plants as
one big unified company. 
Furthermore there is an eminent awareness throughout management to remain focused on the
customer and their needs. SAP enables the company to do this through shared knowledge
between each and every bottler. Coca-Cola has also installed ATLAS (Analysis, Tools,
Logistics, And Sales) which will eventually replace Basis, for creating and organizing
delivery routes for each distribution center. In the long-run Coca-Cola feels as though
SAP & ATLAS will help the entire organization become more efficient while minimizing
costs. Another aspect involving Coca-Cola's distribution system is the companies'
ambitious product line. The Coca-Cola Company successfully markets and sells over 160
beverages to a variety of customers throughout their delivery channels. These beverages
are classified into four separate groups, which consist of the following: CSD (Carbonated
Soft Drinks) - Coke, Sprite, Surge, Dr. Pepper etc. -- No Carb- Nestea, juices, Fruitopia
etc. -- IcoTonics - Powerade Water - Desani (filtered water), and Evian (pure spring
water which is imported from Sweden.) The company's core brands are Coca-Cola Classic,
Diet Coke, and Sprite, which rank first, third, and fifth among all carbonated soft
drinks in North America. 
Coca-Cola's customers are mainly retail outlets, restaurants, grocery stores, or any
other operation that buys their products, and in return sells or serves these products to
consumers. The North American Sector's major customers are Burger King, Mcdonald's,
Subway, Wendy's, and many airlines and hotels throughout North America and Canada.
Coca-Cola's primary focus with these products is instant consumption, because that is an
area in the market that has the biggest growth potential. What instant consumption means
is that Coca-Cola is trying to create product accessibility for the consumer in an effort
to increase their sales volume without compensating the level of quality. Vending
machines help accomplish this goal, because they provide ice-cold Coca-Cola products to
consumers in a variety of locations. Recently Coca-Cola began offering the 20 once soda
beverage in their vending machines, which instantly became a wise profitable decision.
The advantage is that consumers end up spending more on the 20 once containers then they
do with the canned soda, which in the long run increases company profits. Full-service
drivers check and stock vending machines on regular routes, in a conscious effort to
maintain fully replenished machines. 
Furthermore the drivers are trained by the company to focus on product presentation in
which they are to follow strict company policies on how to properly stock Coca-Cola
products in retail outlets, as well as grocery stores throughout the country. The drivers
begin each day at 6:00 in the morning by meeting with sales managers, account
representatives, and merchandisers to plan out exactly how the products will be delivered
and sold throughout the day. Employees at all levels throughout the distribution system
take an extremely aggressive approach to producing and delivering Coca-Cola products in
real time without jeopardizing the quality of each and every product item. This shared
dedication to the company is what has enabled Coca-Cola to saturate the national market
and begin its quest for global dominance. International Distribution Internationally
Coca-Cola Company distributes 160 beverage varieties in nearly 200 countries worldwide.
Coca-Cola owns 50% of the international soft drink market. Coca-Cola works extremely hard
to be one of the few companies in the world to successfully reach literally billions of
consumers. Coca-Cola's international distribution is the backbone to the their global
approach. About two-thirds of Coca-Cola's sales come from outside North America, making
the company sensitive to global economic turmoil. On the other hand, that turmoil has
enabled the company to make inexpensive international investments. Coca-Cola's affiliates
have been purchasing numerous bottlers in the U.S. and around the world to recognize its
global bottling system into major anchors in prime markets (Coca-Cola Overview, 1). 
International distribution for Coca-Cola began when they decided to introduce Coke to
Canada and Mexico in 1898. Within that same time period Coca-Cola expanded across the
Atlantic Ocean to Europe. The man responsible for this was Charles Howard Candler, the
oldest son of Coca-Cola's founder Asa Candler. Charles brought with him a gallon of the
secret syrup and sold it to an American owner of a London soda fountain. The Coca-Cola
syrup made an immediate impact in Europe, which called for orders of five-gallon drums to
Germany, Jamaica, and Panama. In 1906, the international bottling and distributing plants
were established in Panama and Cuba. Then in 1926, Coca-Cola's international distribution
began to expand even more with the help of a man named Earnest Woodruff. He worked with
his associates and Coca-Cola on organizing international expansion by creating a Foreign
Department. In 1930, the Foreign Department became a subsidiary called The Coca-Cola
Export Corporation distributing in only a few European countries and Canada. By 1940,
Coca-Cola's sales began to increase with the expansion of bottlers in forty-five
international countries. 
To this day Woodruff's theory is still being implemented as part of Coca-Cola's strategic
global approach. As a result of this strategy, 80% of Coca-Cola's operating income was
coming from outside the United States by the 1990's. In 1993, there was concern with
expanding Coca-Cola's international distribution due to a competitive global market. In
1993, more than 6.3 billion unit cases of Coke and Coke Classic were sold worldwide, in
more than 195 countries. Diet Coke was also the number one low-calorie soda in the world,
available in 117 countries (Global Dominance, 3). Along with the expansion came problems
for the Coke brands such as Fanta, Sprite, and Minute Maid. Coca-Cola didn't want to rely
on its bottlers to distribute and market their products. So, Coca-Cola and a regional
manager in the Phillippines came up with a new strategy model for international
expansion. When entering a new market, the Company would seek to establish distribution
of Coke products in key population centers and develop relationships with the important
retail channels (Global Dominance, 4). 
Coca-Cola is divided into four international geographic operating units and one national
operating unit. The four international geographic operating groups are the Greater Europe
Group, the Latin America Group, the Middle and Far East Group, and the Africa Group. The
Greater Europe Group operates in Western Europe and is also growing in the eastern parts
of Europe. The Latin America Group covers from Tijuana, Mexico, in the north to Tierra
del Fuego in the south, which also includes operations in Central and South America. The
Middle and Far East Group operates in the most populated areas of the world. This group
manages the countries of the Pacific and Middle East. These countries consist of Japan,
Australia, China and India. The last group is the African Group, which operates in the
countries that make up the sub-Saharan Africa. The Company and its geographic operating
units are led by a management team of seasoned soft drink business veterans from every
corner of the globe (Facts, Figures, and Features, 10). 
The Coca-Cola Company has too many countries to that they distribute too, and it would be
impossible to list and explain each and every country. Japan, Argentina, Denmark, France,
Belgium and China are six of Coca-Cola's major distribution countries. The Coca-Cola
Japan Company is a complete beverage corporation that has accomplished leadership by
continually providing customers with beverages of the finest quality. Japan is highly
ambitious in the beverage market. Boasting more than seven thousand different soft drinks
to choose from, the CCJC is extremely competitive. In their vast market, there are five
hundred different manufacturers. Approximately one thousand new types of beverages are
introduced annually. The CCJC offers more than twenty-five brands and sixty flavors.
Fifty percent of all soft drink sales are made through vending machines making them an
important part of sales at the CCJC. The CCJC maintains nine hundred thirty thousand
machines, more than twice the amount of the closest competitor. 
In 1942, Coca-Cola production began in Argentina. Coca-Cola began flying off the shelves
the day it was introduced. A total of seven twenty-four bottle cases and eighteen single
185-milliliter bottles were sold that day. Sales in Argentina climbed up to 300,000 cases
by the end of 1943. Coca-Cola de Argentina S.A. currently sells approximately 1,000 times
more beverages annually than that historic year when it all started in 1942. They
accomplish these goals by using a fleet of 3,000 trucks and 18,000 reliable employees who
see to it those Coca-Cola products are readily available in every corner of the country.
In the 1930's Coca-Cola was imported into Denmark. An estimated forty-percent of
Coca-Cola products are consumed by about 5.2 million Danes. In 1933, Coca-Cola was
introduced to France. Making its first appearance at the Cafe de l'Europe in Paris,
Coca-Cola has been the number one beverage in France since 1966. The total amount of
sales has doubled in eight years. Coca-Cola France has made more than 1,000 jobs
available since 1989. Also, three billion francs have been invested in France since 1989.
The French consumers currently drink roughly 88 servings of Coca-Cola products annually.
The most popular brands in France are Schweppes, Canada Dry, and Dr. Pepper. 
In 1927, Belgium was introduced to Coca-Cola. Due to the popularity of Coca-Cola in
Belgium, it is one of the top 20 countries in terms of consumption. The Coca-Cola Company
employs about 2,000 people and supplies up to 30,000 restaurants in Belgium. Recently, in
Belgium there had been a contamination scare which cost Coca-Cola and its bottlers over
$60 million in sales. Coca-Cola recalled about 14 million cases after E. coli bacteria
got into their products and caused approximately 200 people to become ill. It was said
that bacteria from the pallets got onto the cases of Coke. Then the people who drank the
soda ingested the E. coli bacteria and got sick. There also had been a health scare with
mineral water and the report of E. coli bacteria contamination in Poland. This problem
only happened with brands distributed in Europe. Coca-Cola entered China's market in 1927
and is known as one of the largest soft drink markets in the world. Coca-Cola's
operations in China are a huge part of their success for their global approach. China's
population is about 1.2 billion and Coca-Cola covers approximately 900 million of their
total population. 
Coca-Cola is still trying to reach more consumers in China, so they're establishing a new
distribution strategy to reach the other 300 million people in less-populated and distant
areas. They want to develop a direct distribution system through route sales and opening
more sales centers in the smaller cities. Coca-Cola's main focus in China is to create
affordable packaging and improving distribution. China's consumers prefer to drink Coke
out of non-returnable plastic bottles or cans. Coca-Cola has twenty-three operating
plants throughout China, but many of the western provinces, still do not have franchises.
Hong Kong, which is southeast of China, is home to the world's tallest bottling plant,
which measures fifty-seven stories. Future success for Coca-Cola in China depends on its
main competitor Pepsi Co. Coca-Cola's key strategy for success in the world is investing
in infrastructure. Coca-Cola invests billions of dollars to consolidate and develop new
markets. The Coca-Cola system has successfully applied a simple formula on a global
scale: Provide a moment of pleasure of refreshment for a small amount of money-hundreds
of millions of times a day (Chronicle of CC, 22). 
The Coca-Cola Company's overseas distribution is an around-the-clock operation to get the
consumers their product. Coca-Cola in Europe has different types of delivery systems to
their customers. International warehouses use larger truckloads for bulk orders to
distribute to customer warehouses. They also use smaller trucks for local deliveries.
Also, in North America and Belgium, drivers use side-loaded trucks to deliver 400 or more
cases of product each day. In other European locations, delivery is typically handled by
third-party distributors (Facts 1999, 11). Coca-Cola's target areas are grocery stores,
recreational areas, shops, malls and sporting events. 
Coca-Cola
From a Nickel a Cup—
To a Powerful Giant
Josh Krapf
Economics
Bibliography
Bibliography 
Associated Press. Coca-Cola Recalls More Tainted Drinks. Boston Globe 
National/Foreign Section, p. A4. Available: BOSTON GLOBE File: 631. Coca-Cola 
Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., 2000. Coca-Cola's Global Dominance. www.coca-cola.com 
Coke Insider. Investors Business Daily. Mahoney, Ed. Distribution Manager for Coca-Cola
Enterprises. www.businessworld.com
The Coca-Cola Company. Facts, Figures, and Features. Atlanta: The Coca-Cola Company,
1996. The Coca-Cola Company Overview. Hoover's Company Profiles. www.companyprofiles.com

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/ The Coca-Cola Company. The Chronicle of Coca-Cola: Since
1886. Atlanta: The Coca-Cola Company, 1950.