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Cola Wars Case Study

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Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010
Analysis of Case: HBS Case 9 – 711 – 462, May 26, 2011

Coke and Pepsi are part of an oligopoly market. They are and have been the two largest producers of CSDs since the 50’s and have been competing since the early 1900’s. Coke created a barrier to entry into the market in the early days by trademarking its secret formula and going to “battle” with several imitators which they won; including Pepsi in 1938, which they lost. Coke, as the larger of the two producers (47% market share in 1950) seemed to have the dominant market strategy and Pepsi, as the smaller entity (10% market share), followed suit with the moves of Coke. For example, when Coke switched from sugar to high-fructose corn syrup in order to lower costs, Pepsi did too; when Coke began purchasing bottling plants, Pepsi did too.

The scales of Coke and Pepsi have allowed them continued growth and market dominance over the years, taking advantage of economies of scale. Coke used its size and wealthy franchisees, to compete in price against Pepsi’s independent bottling plants in the 1950’s. This behavior carried forward until the 80’s when Coke began purchasing bottlers as part of Coca-Cola Enterprises, allowing them to be the “anchor bottler” for their own company. In the late 1980’s, Pepsi followed Coke’s lead again, adopting their “anchor bottler” strategy. This was a strategic barrier which became problematic for smaller concentrate producers who either wanted to enter the market, or were already part of the market and therefore very dependent on the Coke/Pepsi bottling network. Many were sent into bankruptcy as they could not compete with the two cola giants.

Coke and Pepsi engaged in competitive battles across several fields, such as standard and mega retail outlets, fast food chains and restaurants, vending machines, gas stations and

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