Coke vs Pepsi free essay sample

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been rivals for centuries. While most people have their own preference on which cola they prefer, they have no idea what makes these two cola brands so similar yet so different. While both are similar in color and taste, the biggest difference between these two brands are their sugar level. Coca-Cola, the dominant coke brand, contains less sugar compared to that of Pepsi’s. Furthermore, these two world renowned colas are said to help regain energy because of its caffeine content. In addition, Pepsi has higher caffeine content and contains more calories compared to Coke. These two cola types carbonated drinks are slightly different in taste. Coca-Cola has a slight vanilla taste to it while Pepsi has a sort of citrusy taste to it. When poured into a glass, Coca-Cola produces more â€Å"fizz† even though it is much smoother when swallowed. On the other hand, Pepsi maintains its fizzy sensation when swallowed. We will write a custom essay sample on Coke vs Pepsi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Despite all these differences, most people can barely tell the difference between these two colas in a blind-folded taste test. There was an experiment conducted to test students’ preference on both colas. According to Woolfolk and her associates (185-186), most college student Coke drinkers prefer Pepsi in a test where Pepsi and Coke are labeled as S and L respectively. They have concluded that college students prefer the letter S compared to L. They had conducted an experiment where both cups S and L contained half Coke and half Pepsi. Regardless of the type of cola, the students preferred cola S over cola L in 85 percent of the cases. This has proved that students’ preference on their favorite cola did not result from the preference for different colas, but the preferences for certain letters. In conclusion, these two colas’ have differences so slight that most consumers cannot even tell. References Bhasin, Kim. Coke vs. Pepsi: The Cola Wars. Coke vs. Pepsi: The History of the Cola Wars (infographic). N. p. , 4 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. Woolfolk, M. E. , Castellan, W. , amp; Brooks, C. I. (1983). Pepsi versus Coke: Labels, not tastes, prevail, Psychological Reports, 52, 185-186. Print Coke vs pepsi free essay sample In the modern urban culture consumption of soft drinks particularly among younger generation has become very popular. Soft drinks in various flavors and tastes are widely patronized by urbane population at various occasions like dinner parties, marriages, social get together, birthday calibration etc. children of all ages and groups are especially attracted by the mere mentionof the word soft drinks. With the growing popularity of soft drinks, the technology of its production, preservation, transportation and or marketing in the recent years has witnessed phenomenal changes The so-called competition for this product in the market is from different other brands. Mass media, particularly the emergence of television, has contribute to a large extent of the ever growing demand for soft drinks the attractive jingles and sport make the large audience remember this product at all times. It is expected that with the sort of mass advertising, reaching almost the entire country and offering various varieties annual demand for the products expected to rise sharply in the times to come. We will write a custom essay sample on Coke vs pepsi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In any marketing situation, the behavioral / environmental variables relating to consumers, competition and environment are constantly influx. The competitors in a given industry may be making many tactical maneuvers in market all the time. They may introduce or initiate an aggressive promotion campaign or announce a price reduction. The marketing man of the firm hasto meets all these maneuver and care of competitive position of his firm and his brand in the market. The only route open to him for achieving this is the manipulation of his marketing tactics. In today’s highly competitive market place, three players have dominated the industry; The New York based Pepsi Company Inc. The Atlanta based coca- cola and U. K. based Cadbury Schweppes. Through the globe, these major players have been battling it out for a bigger chunk of the ever –growing soft drink market. Now this battle has been evolved up to India too with the arrival of these three giants. Soft drink industry is on amazing growth; ultimately these are only one person who will determine their fortunes. The Indian consumer. The real War to quench his thirst has just begun CHAPTER 2 SOFT DRINK INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW It all began in 1886, when a tree legged brass kettle in HohnStyth pemberton’s backyard in Atlanta was brewing the first P of marketing leged. Unaware the pharmacist has given birth to a caramel colored syrup, which is now the chief ingredient of the world’s favorite drink. The syrup combined with carbonated the soft drink market. It is estimated that this drink is served more than one thousand million times in a day. Equally oblivious to the historic value of his actions was Frank Ix. Robinson, his partner and book keeper. Pemberton Robinson laid the first foundation of this beverage when an average nine drinks per day to begin with, upping volumes as sales grew. In 1894, this beverage got into bottle, courtesy a candy merchant from Mississippi. By the 1950’s Colas was a daily consumption item, stored in-house hold fridges. Soon were born other non- cola variants of this product like orange Lemon. Now, the soft drink industry has been dominated by three major players – (1)The New York based Pepsi co. Inc (2) The Atlanta based coca cola co. . (3)The United Kingdom based Cadbury Schweppes Though out the glove these major players have been battling it. Out for a bigger chunk of the ever-growing cold drink market. Now this battle has begun in India too. India is now the part of cold drink war. Gone are days of Ramesh Chauhan, India’s one time cola king and his bouts of pistol shooting. Expect now to hear the boon of cannons when the Coca Cola Pepsi co. battles it out for, as the Jordon goes a bigger share of throat. By buying over local competition, the two American Cola giants have cleared up the arena and are packing all their power behind building the Indian franchisee of their globe girdling brands. The huge amount invested in fracture has never been seen before. Both players seen an enormous potential in his country where swigging a carbonated beverage is still considered a treat, virtually a luxury. Consequently, by world standards India’s per capita consumption of cold drinks as going by survey results is rock bottom, less than over Neighbors Pakistan Bangladesh, where it is four times as much. Behind the hype, in an effort invisible to consumer Pepsi pumps in Rs 3000crores (1994) to add muscle to its infrastructure in bottling and distribution. This is apart from money that company’s franchised bottles spend in upgrading their plants all this has contributed to substantial gains in the market. In colas, Pepsi is already market leader and in certain cities likeGorakhpur, Pepsi outlets are on one side all the other colas put together on the other. While coke executive scruff at Pepsi’s claims as well as targets, industry observers are of the view that Pepsi has definitely stolen a march over its competitor coke. Apart from numbers, Pepsi has made qualitative gains. The foremost is its image. This image turnaround is no small achievements, considering that since it was established in 1989, taking the hardship route prior to liberalization and weighed down by export commitments. Now, at present as there are three major players coke, Pepsi and Cadbury and there is stiff competition between first two, both Pepsi and coke have started, sponsoring local events and staging frequent consumer promotion campaigns. As the mega event of this century has started, and the marketers using this event – world cup football, cricket events and many more other events. Like Pepsi, coke is picking up equity in its bottles to guarantee their financial support; one side coke is trying to increase its popularity through. Eat Food, enjoy Food. Drink only coca cola. Eat cricket, sleep cricket. Drink only coca cola. Eat movies, sleep movies. Drink only coca cola. On the other side of coin Pepsi has introduced AMITABH BACHHAN for capturing the lemon market through MIRINDA – Lemon with â€Å"zorka jhatkadhere se lage†. But no doubt’ that UK based Cadbury is also recognizing its presence. So there is a real crush in the soft drink market. With launch of the carbon at reorganize drink Crush, few year ago in Gorakhpur. The first in a series of launches, Cadbury Schweppes beverage India (CSBI) HAS PLANNED:-The world third largest soft drink marketers all over the country. CSBIowholly owned subsidiary of the London based $ 6. 52billion. Cadbury Schweppes is hoping that crush is going well and well not suffer the same fate as the Rs. 175 core Cadbury India’s apple drink Apella. CSBI is now with orange (crush) and Schweppes soda in the market. As orange drinks are the smallest of non-cola categories that is Rs. 1100crore market with 10% market share and cola heaving 50% is followed by Lemon segment with 25%. The success of soft drink industry depends upon 4 major factors viz. Availability Visibility Cooling Range 2. 1 AVAILABILITY Availability means the presence of a particular brand at any outlet. If a product is now available at any outlet and the competitor brand is available, the consumer will go for the at because generally the consumption of any soft drink is an impulse decision and not predetermined one. 2. 2 VISIBILITY Visibility is the presence felt, if any outlet has a particular brand of soft drink say- Pepsi cola and this brand is not displayed in the outlet, then its availability is of no use. The soft drink must be shown off properly and attractively so as to catch the attention of the consumer immediately Pepsi achieves visibility by providing glow signboards, hoarding, calendars etc. to the outlets. It also includes various stands to display Pepsi and other flavors of the company. 2. 3 COOLING As the soft drinks are consumed chilled so cooling them plays a vital role in boosting up the sales. The brand, which is available chilled, gets more sales then the one which is not, even if it is more preferred one 2. 4 RANGE This is the last but not the least factor, which affects the sale of the products of particularcompany. Range availability, means the availability of all flavors in all sizes CHAPTER 3 RESARCH METHODLOGY 3. 1 PRIMARY DATA Primary data is a type of information that is obtained directly from first-hand sources by means of surveys, observation or experimentation. It is data that has not been previously published and is derived from a new or original research study and collected at the source such as in marketing. Advantages of primary data: 1. Basic data 2. Un biased information 3. Original data 4. Data from the primary market/ population 5. Data direct from the population. Disadvantages of primary data: . 1. Large volume of data. 2. Huge volume of population. 3. Time consuming 4. Direct and personal intervention has to be there. 5. Raw data. 3. 2 SECONDARY DATA Secondary data is all the information collected for purposes other than the completion of a research project and it’s used to gain initial insight into the research problem. It is classified in terms of its source – either internal or external. Advantages of secondary data: 1. It already exists, so it saves time. 2. It is often cheaper than doing primary research. 3. It may allow you access to data you could not otherwise get. Disadvantages of secondary data: 1. In some cases, it is very expensive (scanner data, e. g. ) 2. You may have less control over how the data was collected. 3. There may be biases in the data that you dont know about. 4. Its answers may not exactly fit your research questions. 5. It may be obsolete data. 3. 3 SAMPLE SIZE The sample size of survey was 25. 3. 4 HYPOTHESIS It is assumed that most of the people around 60% drink Pepsi, but actually its only 28% and 54% of people drink coke. It may be because of the huge publicity done by coke and their effective advertising strategies. It is assumed that the taste preferred would be of coke only around 50%. But actually people prefer the taste of both as 60% agreed to both and 25% prefer coke and 15% prefer Pepsi. It may be because of the different taste and preference of different people. It is assumed that 50% of people feel that coke is more popular than Pepsi. But its 60% of people feel coke is more popular than Pepsi. It may be because of their popularity and brand ambassador. It is assumed50% of the local shops offer both the cold drinks. But actually it 52%. It may be because both the drinks are in almost equal demand. It is assumed 60% that marketing campaign preferred by the consumers would be of both. But actually it’s Pepsi whose marketing campaign is more preferred. It may be because of the more effectiveness and it’s a celebrity campaign. It is assumed 40% that when ordered for cold drinks both the cold drinks are available. But actually its 56%, it may be because of equal demand and its taste is almost the same. It is assumed 50% of people have these cold drinks twice a week. But actually its 60% of the people who have these cold drinks twice the week. It may because of the change in climate and teenagers are very fond of these drinks. It is assumed that advertising influences the choice of products for customer. But actually it’s the availability as 36% of people agreed to it. It may be because of the same taste and if it’s available in the shop people buy that. It is assumed that coca cola is 30% usually recognized through its TV. But it’s actually 40%. It may be because of availability of TV in every house and advertising through television is more effective. It is assumed that 50% of people recognize Pepsi through TV. But it’s actually 40% it may be because of the availability of alternatives Medias. 3. 5 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS Performance appraisal is a process of assessing, summarizing and developing the work performance of an employee. In order to be effective and constructive, the performance manager should make every effort to obtain as much objective information about the employee’s performance as possible. Low performance can push the organization back in today’s tough competition scenario. The project is aimed at analyzing the performance appraisal in companies. Objective: The various objectives of our research are as follows: To examine why an appraisal system is important To study existing appraisal system in various organizations across sectors like BPO, IT Telecom To find the expectation of appraiser and appraise To determine the satisfaction level of the appraise To reveal the various loopholes in the appraisal system if any To find the consequences of an inappropriately conducted appraisal system CHAPTER 4 INTORDUCTION COKE IN INDIA Coca-Cola comes to India with fanfare in the fifties. For a number of days, The Hindustan Times and other newspapers of New Gorakhpur carried full page advertisement showing a big boy in uniform with a soft-drink crown as the cap. There was no indication of the product. After a few days, Coke was introduced. It was an entirely new drink which fascinated people. It soon became the national drink. For the first time, a soft-drink was available from one corner of the country to another. The person who brought Coca-Cola to India was the father of late SardarCharanjit Singh, Sardar Mohan Singh. A practical man Mohan Singh realized that to popularize Coca-Cola, and make it a best seller it was necessary to â€Å"catch them young. † So he focused on youngsters in the society. The company realized that to become a mass consumption product, one has to go to the village. They gave much importance to the distributive network. The company trucks supplied coke to even the remotest village. Few products appears to be more similar than soft drinks, yet the Cola wars that mark the competition between Coke and Pepsi show how even organizations with highly similar product can be differentiated by their business strategies. Then came battles over the issue of bottle size standardization. Coke the arch rival tried to offering more Cola at a lower price. Pepsi which had some of its early investment tied up in 250ml bottles, went the fountain way. The General bottle size freed has settled at 300 ml. 100 ml more than the pre MNC standard. Fountain mix dispensers, carry home bottles, even 1. 50 plastic bottle with caps good enough to keep them lying down and still preserve the fizz It poured in vast sums to whip up its visibility at the retail level, so that consumers were greeted virtually at every street corner by Pepsi’s blue, red and white colors, because they have perception â€Å"the thing on display sells more. †. Coca-Cola is, finally, redoing the real thing to the replicate the success that it’s arch-rival, PepsiCo. Has achieved with its fast and furious marketing. But to win them, Coke is copying Pepsi. CHAPTER 5 MARKETING STATEGIES OF COKE 5. 1 PRODUCT Coke was launched in India in Agra, October 24, in 93, soon after its traditional all Indian launch of its Cola. at the sparking new bottling plants atHathra, near Agra. Coke was back with a bang after its exit in 1977. Coke was planning to launch in next summer the orange drink, Fanta-with the clear lemon drink, sprite, following later in the year. Coke already owns more brands than it will over need, since it has bought out Ramesh Chauhan. Coke just needs to juggle these brands arounddextrously to meet its objectives, to ensure that Pepsi does not gain market share in t Today, Cokes product line includes, Coca-Cola, ThumsUp, Fanta, Gold Spot, Maaza, Citra, Sprite, Bisleri Club Soda and Diet Coke. PACKAGING Coca-Cola India Limited (CCIL) has bottled its Cola drink in different sizes and different packaging i. e. , 200 ml bottle, 300 ml. Bottle, 330 ml. Cans, 500 ml. Bottle fountain Pepsi, and bottles of 1 and 2 liter. PRODUCT POSITIONING One important thing must be noticed that Thums Up is a strong brandin western and southernIndia, while Coca Cola is strong in Northern andEastern India. With volumes of Thums Up being low in the capital, there are ikely chances of Coca Cola slashing the prices of Thums Up to Rs. 5 andcontinue to sell Coca Cola atthe same rate. Analysts feel that thisstrategy may help Coke since it has 2 Cola brands in comparison to Pepsiwhich has just one. Thums Up accounts for 40% of Coca Cola companys turn over,followed by Coca Cola which has a 23% share and Limca which accountsfor 17% of the turn over of the company. (Thums up being the local drink,its share in the market is intact, forcing the company to service the brand, asit did last year Mr. Donald short CEO, Coca Cola India, said that, we will be absolutely comfortable if Thums Up is No. 1 brand for us in India in theyear 2000. We will sell whatever consumers wants us to. Coca Cola Indiahas positioned Thums up as a beverage associated with adventure because of its strong taste and also making it compete with Pepsi as even Pepsi isassociated with adventure, youth. 5. 2 PRICE The price being fixed by industry, leaving very little role for the players to play in the setting of the price, in turn making it difficult for competitors to compete on the basis of price. The fixed cost structure in Carbonated Soft Drinks Industry, and theintense competition make it very difficult to change or alter the prices. Thevarious costs incurred by the individual companys are almost unavoidable. These being the costs of concentrates, standard bottling operations,distributor and bottlers commissions, distribution expenses and the promotional and advertising expenditure (As far as Coke is concerned, it had to incur a little more than Pepsi as Pepsi paved its way to India in 1989while Coke made a come back in 1993. )Currently a 300 ml. Coke bottle is available for Rs. 6 to8 The 330 canwas initially available for Rs. 13 and now, since the price has gave up to Rs. 18 per can. The prices of 500 ml. , 1 ltr. and 2ltr being Rs. 15 Rs. 23 and Rs. 40 respectively( according to the current survey). Dating back to ‘93, when Pepsi hiked the price of Pepsi Cola fromRs. 5 to Rs. 6 per 250 ml. bottle in some parts of the country-including Agra. Coke penetrated the market with price of Rs. 5 for a 300 ml. bottle, makingit cheaper by Rs. 1 and 50 ml. than Pepsi. Cokes strategy at that time beingable to expand the availability of soft drinks even in rural India. Cokes priority being to first increase the number of drinks per drinker, and then thenumber of drinkers itself. Pepsi also tried this but was trapped by a seriesof competitive price increase and changes in bottle sizes by Parle. But the prices of soft drinks have shot up since Pepsis arrival and the current pricesare being mentioned as under Name Bottle Size MRP (in Rs. ) Coke Per Bottle 200 ml 10 Coke 300 ml 18 Coke 500 ml(Plastic / Glass) 30 Coke 2 litre 70 However, the trends may have been in the early 90s, now the pricesof Pepsi and Coke are the same making it difficult in future and present tocompete on the basis of price. 5. 3 PLACE Coke may have gained an early advantage over Pepsi since it took over Parle in 1994. Hence, it had ready access to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers. Coke was had a better distribution network, owingto the wide network of Parle drinks all over India. Coke has further expanded its distribution network. Coke and its product were available in over 2,50,000 outlets (incontrast with Pepsis 2,00,000). Coke has a greater advantage in terms of geographical coverage. But Coke has had problems with its bottlers as the required profits for the bottlers have not been forthcoming. This is more so because Coke hashiked the price of its concentrate by Rs. 8 Further, Cokes operations inIndia are 100% FOBOs. Now, it plans to convert then into COBOs. This isstraining the relationship between the Coke and its bottlers. The company had decided to create a fund to reimburse performing bottlersfor the extra costs incurred on account of the hike in prices of soft drink concentrates. Mr. Short also realized that India is a price sensitive market and the company would have to absorb in the increase in excise duty andsaid that in the long run Coke will have to slash prices for the benefit of theconsumers and said that they were considering a cut in the prices of their fountain soft drinks. Coke and Pepsi have devised strategies to get rid of middlemenin the distribution network. However, 50% of the industry unfortunatelydepends on these middlemen. As of now, around 100 agents are present inGorakhpur. Bottlers of the 2 multinationals have strongly felt the need toremove these middlemen from the distribution system, but very little successhas been achieved in doing so. 5. 4 PROMOTION It must be remembered that soft drinks purchases are an impulse buylow involvement products which makes promotion and advertising animportant marketing tool. The 2 arch rivals have spent a lot on advertisingand on promotional activities. To promote a brand and even to spend a lot on advertising, thecompany must be aware of the perceived quality of the brand, its brand power (if at allthere is) since consumers make purchase decision based ontheir perceptions of value i. e. , of quality relative to price. According to Paul Stobart, Advertising encourages customers torecognize the quality the company offers. Price promotions often produceshort-term sales increases. Coca Cola has entered new markets and also developing market economics(like India) with much-needed jobs Coke attributes its success to bottlers, the Coca Cola system itself, i. e. ,its executive committees, employees, BOD, companypresidents but aboveall from the consumer. Cokes red color catches attention easily and also the Diet Coke whichit introduced was taking the Cake, as Pepsi has not come out with this inIndia. Ever since Cokes entry in India in 1993, Coke made a come back (after quitting in 1977), in October 24 in Agra, the city was flooded bytrucks, there wheelers, tricycle cards-all with huge red Coke-emblazonedumbrellas. Retailers were displaying their Coke bottles in distinctive racks,also with specially-designed iceboxes to keep Coke bottles cold. This wasone big jolt to Pepsi. CHAPTER 6 CASE STUDY Coke vs. Pepsi Cola Wars This Market Model case study follows the more than 100-year â€Å"Cola War† between Coke and Pepsi. When first starting to use the Market Model for market simulation, it is easier to think about this famous competitive battle when there were only two competitive products (the 6. 5 oz Coke in their famous bottle, versus Pepsi’s product). When Coke and Pepsi first started competition head-to-head, Coke had about an 80% market share, and Pepsi had a 20% market share – we can ignore the other competition which has since evaporated. Market Maps can start out to be very simple. In this case, both products share the same category defining benefit – they are both â€Å"Cola Drinks†. If consumers cannot tell the difference in taste between the two in a blind taste test, then the only differentiating qualities are the product brands. Data from the market already gives us a lot of information that we can use to tune the Market Model. We know the Price for Coke and Pepsi, we know their Market Share, and we have a pretty good idea of the Profit Margin (or Marginal Cost) of both from their public financial reports. With these 6 data points we can start to tune our model. If we also have data for another point, say at a time that Pepsi was offering a substantial discount on their product or from another geography, then we would have more than enough data to completely tune a model as simple as the one we are starting with. Because the Market Model uses a proprietary statistical algorithm to impute customer distribution data, the data collection problem becomes much easier and cost effective. Unlike with other statistical techniques, the user does not have to commission an expensive market research report just to tell them what they already know about the existing market. The Market Model allows the user to integrate their own knowledge, and then focus on understanding just those new changes relative to the existing state of the market. For example, after setting up an initial Market Model, the user can run very targeted Conjoint Analysis study to better inform them about what is new to the market (like a new feature). The new data can then be integrated into the Market Map. Once the base model has been constructed and tuned the user can think about how they might change the conditions in the market. Here are some strategic ideas for Pepsi: They might try and add an additional feature, such as a different sized bottle They might try to improve the Pepsi brand