How The Coca-Cola Company started

THE COCA COLA COMPANY

Type           public

Traded as   NYSE: KO Dow Jones Component S&P 500 component

Industry      Beverage

Founders    Asa griggs candler

Headquarters  Atlanta, geogia U.S

Area served     world wide

Key people    muhtar kent (Chairman and Ceo)

Revenue     US $46.542 billion(2011)

Operating incme  US $10.154 billion(2011)

Net income US -$8.634 billion(2011)

Total Assets  Us $79.974 billion(2011)

Total equity US $31.921 billion(2011)

Employees  146,200 (2011)

Website  www.coca-cola.com
culled from wikipedia/companies that changed the world

Its odd to think of a company like coca cola as being in need of an overhaul.its products, after all are sold in every corner of the globe and have dominated the soft drink industry for more than a century. But even the companies that change the world can take missteps and stumble, and coke is no exception. Forget all the mesmerizing slogans  and heartwarming ads: the distinctively shaped bottles and nostalgic memorabilia;  the high profile presence every where from sports arenas and fast food restaurants. coke may be “the real thing” as first proclaimed in 1942, but it knows it wont stay that way without a substantial make over.

 the Atlanta based company is hardly is hardly at death’s door, of course, and it remains the top purveyor of soft drinks on earth. Its hugely popular menu of products, now sold in 200 countries, includes the worlds first and third best-selling beverages (cola cola classic and diet coke) as well as about 160 other soda pops, coffees, juices, sports drinks, teas and bottled waters boasting  a virtual who’s-who of familiar brand names (sprite, cherry coke,Fanta,minute maid, Fruitopia, Burta Nut among them. Even ubiquitous red and white logo and associated imagery are in demand, with licensed coke merchandise widely available through retailers such as walmart and F.A.O Schwarz, along with a corporate web site.

But there also have been extensive tarnishes to the company ‘s public image and fiscal fitness in recent years that demanded serious attention. These included a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by black employees in the united states, an extensive product recall, stymied expansion efforts in Europe, a controversial severance package awarded to a recent ceo who vacated his position after just two turbulent years, astrained relationship between the company and its critical network of independent bottlers, and a steep and continuing stock price decline

History have always been an odd product. Their history dates back to 1767 when carbonated water was introduced. This so-called “soda water” was flavoured for the first time  in the 1830s. various con men, hucksters, and legitimate entrepreneurs have been trying to find profitable ways to peddle it ever since. The longest lasting of these efforts initially appeared in 1876, when Charles hires sold his root beer as medicine. A long line of hopeful competitors- including Dr pepper –followed. Among them in coca cola in 1886, and pepsi-cola in 1890. All this were considered medicinal products, with coke supposedly good for headaches, indigestion and hangovers. One of its earliest sales slogans was “the ideal brain tonic.”

Once the century turned, the soft drinks was publicly repositioned as a beverage for everyone. Colas monopolised the market from the start, with coke and pepsi beginning their lifelong battle for industry supremacy.

Coke moved to sew up mass marketing sales by granting exclusive bottling rights to a pair of men in Chattanooga ten. The contract, fr one dollar, also marked the birth of a company’s unique stategy of using independent bottlers to mix specific ingredients locally and deliver the resultant product. Aggressive expansion was also a big part of the early plan. By the time Atlanta baker ernest woodruff and a group of investors bought the company for  $25 million in 1919, some 1000 of these bottlers were making coca-cola available across the united states, cuba, puerta rico, panama, the Philippines and guam.

Robert w. woodruff, ernest ‘s son, took the corporate reins in 1923 and embarked upon a remarkable six decades stewardship that elevated coca cola from mere beverage to world’s most valuable brand. Under his watch coke first began emphasizing bottle sales over fountain sales. It kicked off a long standing relationship with the Olympics by giving the US  team 1000 cases of coke before it left for Amsterdam in 1928. It regularly introduced  memorable ad campaigns with catchy slogans such as “the pause that Refreshes”, “the real thing,”

 And “things go better with coke”. It promised “every man in uniform… a bottle of coca-cola for 5 cents, wherever he is and whatever it costs”  during the world war II. It even hired edgar Bergen and his wooden side kick Charlie Mccarthy in 1950 to star in a  live network television show. Nothing seemed out of reach, and consumers responded in droves. Soda pop becam king of all non-alcholic beverages, and coke was industry leader.

One increasingly influential  customer base that did not come running, however, was the American dieting public, which collectively turned its back on all soft drinks because of their high sugar content. Royal crown, a competing cola, first reached out to  this proliferating demographic group in 1961 with an artificially sweetened caffeine-free drink called diet rite. Coke entered the flay with Tab in 1963. The industry was still a long way from capturing popular attention and successful mass sales, but it ultimately would prove as commercially significant to its industry.

The coke bottle was so recognisable by that time and such a symbol of America and consumerism, that andy Warhol incorporated into popular works of art later in the 1960s (along with Campbell soups cans and Marilyn Monroe portraits). The company turned that image on its ear in the following decade, marketing itself as a feel good consumable that was perfect for the fractured times. The zenith of this effort came in 1976, when a group of young people from around the world assembled on a hilltop in Italy to produce one of the most indelible advertising jingle of the era. “I ‘l to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. I’l like to buy the world a coke, and keep it company.” (the commercial proved so popular, coke refilmed it on the same hilltop for a 1990 super bowl broadcast with 16 members of the original cast and their children.)

Nothing stays the same in the corporate world, of course pepsi sales were rising faster than coke’s when Roberto c. goizueta was named board chairman and chief executive officer in 1981. In the 16 years that followed until his cancer-related death, goizueta made his mark by introducing diet coke (which immediately became son popular it revolutionalised the market segment as well as the company’s profit picture) and new coke ( which was laughed out of the picture by universal rejection almost immediately upon its release) when pepsi diversified by acquiring taco bell and pizza hut, goizuet counterd by buying minute maid orange juice, butter nut coffees and teas, and hi-c juice drinks. In  1995, financial world magazine ranked coke the most valuable brand in the world. But within two years, goizueta was dead and douglas Ivester had been appointed to fill his shoes.