Coca-Cola versus Pepsi-Cola: Competitive Strategies Essay

Coca-Cola (Coke) and Pepsi-Cola (Pepsi) have been the most popular soft drinks for many years, and has also been each other’s biggest competitor. Coke was created in 1885 by John Stith Pemberton, a pharmacist, and was initially made as a tonic (Smith, 2012). In the beginning, Coke had cocaine in it, which was to fight depression and also make consumers addicted to the drink. In 1904, the Food and Drug Administration eliminated the use of cocaine, a key ingredient, in the United States, so Coke decided to keep its name and endorse the beverage through aggressive advertising (Smith, 2012). Thirteen years after the creation of Coke, in 1898, Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist, created a beverage named Brad’s Drink (later changed to Pepsi), and was Coke’s main competitor (Smith, 2012). Both companies focused on advertising, but they took different approaches. These different approaches that each company uses, also reflects the differences of their corporate cultures. Coke a nd Pepsi have been competing with one another since the beginning, and this competition seems to have pushed both companies to remain at the top of their market. Corporate culture is defined as an organization’s system of principles, beliefs, and values (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). Coke’s corporate culture focuses on seven core values, which are leadership, passion, integrity, collaboration, diversity, quality, and accountability (Coca-Cola, 2013). Coke focuses on their employees and their brand in order to keep the promise to â€Å"refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit, and inspire moments of optimism; to create value and make a difference (Coca-Cola, 2013).† On the other hand, Pepsi’s corporate culture focuses on performing with a purpose. Performing with a purpose means blazing new trails, never settling for second best, succeeding and celebrating together, and doing something bigger (PepsiCo, 2012). Pepsi also focuses on nutrition by addressing health concerns. The difference between these two companies is that Coke seems to focus more on their employees, where as Pepsi, seems to focus more on staying ahead of the competition by always coming up with new trends or products. Pepsi’s culture has benefitted Coke by focusing on healthier alternatives rather cola products. In 2006, when Indra Nooyi took over as CEO, she decided not to continue to battle with Coke. Instead of cola products, Nooyi decided to focus on water, juices, teas, and sports drinks. Since Pepsi began focusing on healthier alternatives, of all soft drinks, Coke has controlled 41.9 percent of the market compared to Pepsi’s 29 percent (D’Altorio, 2013). On the other hand, Coke’s focus on their brand has benefitted Pepsi’s decision to not focus mainly on cola products. Coke clearly commands the cola war between the two companies, but Pepsi has won the revenue battle, bringing in 38 percent more revenue than Coke in 2011 (Russell, 2012). Pepsi has expanded the company by starting the Quaker Oats, Gatorade, and Tropicana divisions. By opening up these divisions, Pepsi’s goal is to reach $30 billion in revenue by 2020 (D’Altorio, 2013). Coke’s focus on the brand, allowed the company to clearly control the cola market, but by limiting the company to soft drinks, Coke has allowed Pepsi to tap into other markets and gain more revenue. Another part of Pepsi’s culture that has benefited Coke was â€Å"doing something bigger.† Pepsi has been known to use celebrities to promote their products, but there have been instances where these promotions have backfired. The most recent of these mishaps was in 2002 when Pepsi pulled an ad featuring the rapper Ludacris. Bill O’Reilly called for a boycott of Pepsi because he felt the company used an â€Å"immoral rapper† as a spokesperson (Russell, 2012). After the controversy, Pepsi committed to paying $3 million dollars to the Ludacris Foundation (Russell, 2012). With a popular rapper, such as Ludacris, who has millions of fans, t his controversy created the risk of Pepsi losing millions of consumers, which could have switched over to the competition, Coke. In the future, the part of Coke’s corporate culture that will probably change is their leadership. Companies change leaders often, especially when the current leader is not performing to the standards that the company expects. In order to continue to thrive, Coke has to be sure that they put leaders in place who understand the company’s vision. They must be able to take those visions and continue to move the company forward in its market. Coke has been a leader in the cola market for many years and as a new leader, it will have to be the goal of that leader to ensure that Coke remains at the top of the market or Coke will have to find a new leader. If Coke constantly has to change leadership, then it will affect the company. Finding a great leader is not an easy task, but once that leader is found it is up to him/her to effectively lead the company into the future and not ruin everything that has been built before they came along. Pepsi’s believes in blazing new trails, and thus far it has worked for them. In the future, Pepsi must be careful that by blazing new trails they do not forget what has allowed their success over the years. Although the new trails that they tapped into in the past have worked, there is no guarantee that it will continue to work in the past. There have been companies, like Coke, that have tried new products (New Coke) that did not work. Pepsi has had success with tapping into new markets, but the company must be careful that they stick with what has worked for them so that they do not tarnish the brand that they have worked so hard to establish. The different markets (water, juices, teas, and sports drinks) that have been tapped into has brought Pepsi much success, and instead of blazing new trails, Pepsi needs to focus on making their current product lines bigger and better. Tapping into other markets that they are not already a part of could possibly take away from the produc t lines that they already have in place. Conclusion Coke and Pepsi are the top cola and soft drink companies and each other’s biggest competitor. Both companies have established themselves using different methods, but they both have had success with these methods. Coke has clearly won the rivalry between the two when it comes to the individual cola lines, but when it comes to overall revenue; Pepsi has won the battle of revenue. Although both companies have made mistakes over the years, both have continued to be successful. Coke has stuck with what has worked for them throughout the years, which is the cola and soft drink market. Pepsi on the other hand, tried different markets, and was very successful. These two companies will continue to be rivals from now until the end of time because they are both at the top and continue to fight to make sure that is where they stay.

Hulu: An Evil plot to Destroy the World Essay

All quotations and references refer to â€Å" Hulu: An Evil plot to Destroy the World† unless otherwise noted. 1) Hulu succeeded while everyone predicted its failure due to the following reasons: * Hulu harnessed existing technologies namely online video and broadcast media to create a new platform that was â€Å"focused on helping users find and enjoy the world’s premium, professionally produced content when where and how they want it†. The platform brought together professional content owners/providers, advertisers and content consumers/users in a platform mediated network. * Rather than choose to be a destination site or syndicate content, Hulu chose to be both by being an aggregator of online video. There were web sites that did this for user generated content but Hulu was a leader in this space for professionally generated content. * The business model for Hulu’s platform is 100% advertising supported. * Hulu’s platform model consists of 3 nodes – content providers, advertisers and users * The ‘subsidy side’ in this network is the users who use the platform for free while the ‘money side’ is the advertisers who pay Hulu for running their advertisements. Hulu on the other hand pays content providers for showing their content on the platform. The more the number of users on Hulu the more advertisers value the platform and are attracted to advertise on it. Also, the more the content available on Hulu the more users are attracted to the platform and subsequently, the more the revenue that can be generated from advertising. * Hulu leveraged the cross side network effect between content providers and users by partnering strategically with over 170 content providers including the most popular broadcast and cable networks in the United States. The content providers â€Å"participated in the value created through the distribution of their content†, providing the incentive for them to continue their support of the Hulu platform. * Hulu partnered with 30 affiliated websites including those whose users represented 96% of the monthly unique US-based web users to bring content to its audience and to leverage the cross side network effect between users and advertisers to increase revenues. * Hulu also focused on users and offered its service free to them thereby maximising the cross-side network effects between users and advertisers on its platform resulting in increased revenues generated from advertisers. 2) Hulu’s business strategy is to be focused â€Å"on helping users find and enjoy the world’s premium professionally produced content when, where and how they want it†. Hulu does this by using Internet technology to bring free content to its users anywhere at any time. Hulu is a first mover in this space and is currently enjoying the first mover advantage. However with the ubiquity of internet technology accompanied by lower costs and the commoditization of the technology, the barrier to entry will be reduced and more players will be attracted to the profitable online video business, eating into Hulu’s profitability and success. Also, the increase in IT investments in the internet age causes â€Å"a Winner-take-all dynamic and high turbulence, as each group of dominant innovators is threatened by succeeding waves of innovation† (McAfee and Brynjolfsson, 2008) in Schumpeterian competition. This makes Hulu’s success vulnerable. The case mentions that there is already an emergence of competitive threat from â€Å"TV Everywhere† and even though CEO, Jason Kilar discounts the effect on Hulu, the new entrant is gaining some clout and Broadcasting & Cable has warned that † TV Everywhere was â€Å"starting to look like a real competitor to Hulu.†Ã¢â‚¬  Sustained success for Hulu in what is bound to be an increasingly competitive market will depend on Hulu’s Management and their ability to continue to maintain frugality, drive innovation, operational efficiencies and differentiate their products and services to gain competitive advantage and continue to dominate the market. 3) Input data – Basic – Name, Gender, Age, marital status Contact – address (state, city, zip code), phone number Other- favourite genre, previous shows watched, sites visited previously, ratings of previous shows watched. a) BI techniques i) Using Market basket Analysis Rule: if {Gender = female} then {watches real estate shows} Action: Show Ad Selector for real estate companies and related products when a female user is on Hulu ii) Using Market basket Analysis Rule: if {Married and Age>50 and lives in California} then {has watched >2 court shows in the past and previously visited a tax filing website} Action: Approach tax filing website to place their advertisement on Hulu when court shows are playing. iii) Using user based Collaborative filtering Rule: Find users ‘similar’ to current user by choosing those with the highest similarity coefficient between them and this user on the ratings of other shows. Use a combination of their similarity coefficients to predict current user’s rating for a crime show. Action: if user’s predicted rating for the crime show is high, then advertise any new crime show when user is on Hulu or other affiliate websites. b) Monetization These techniques allow Hulu to increase the click through rates as well as transaction conversion rates for its advertisements because they are targeted at users most likely to respond. Since advertisers are interested in traffic, Hulu can increase revenues by demonstrating to advertisers the number of users that can be targeted using these techniques and the subsequent increase in click through and conversion rates. 4) IT Security Plan for Hulu a) People * Management should make security a high priority and include it in Hulu’s business strategy * Train Hulu employees on the importance of security-keeping passwords confidential and not sharing passwords * Train employees on privacy policies b) Processes * Create security policies and procedures establishing mandatory minimum security standards * Standards should include provisions on customer privacy * Ensure all affiliate websites adhere to mandatory minimum security standards * Set procedures for security incidents * Review security policies annually to address new security threats to the online video industry c) Technology * Encrypt all customer data * Install antivirus software on all servers and computers and keep installations up to date * Have multi-site backup of data * Install monitoring software for servers and network * Incorporate systems logging to track access to Hulu’s IT infrastructure * Ensure firewalls are installed, enabled and have sufficient filters to protect from outside intrusion * Engage ‘Ethical Hacking’ vendors to audit systems annually in order to identify areas of vulnerability. References Andrew McAfee &Erik Brynjolfsson (July-August 2008). What Makes a competitive difference. Harvard Business Review, pg 100.

Microsoft Hazel Case Essay

Hazel had worked for the same Fortune 500 Company for almost 15 years. Although the company had gone through some tough times, things were starting to turn around. Customer orders were up and quality and productivity had improved dramatically from what they had been only a few years earlier due to a company-wide quality improvement program. So it came as a real shock to Hazel and about 400 of her fellow coworkers when they were suddenly terminated following the new CEO’s decision to downsize the company. After recovering from the initial shock, Hazel tried to find employment elsewhere. Despite her efforts, after eight months of searching, she was nowhere closer to finding a job than the day that she had started. Her funds were being depleted and she was getting more and more discouraged. There was one bright spot, though: She was able to bring in a little money by mowing lawns for her neighbors. She got involved quite by chance when she heard one neighbor remark that now that his children were on their own; nobody was around to cut the grass. Almost jokingly, Hazel asked how much he’d be willing to pay. Soon Hazel was mowing the lawns of five neighbors. Other neighbors wanted her to work on their lawns, but she didn’t feel that she could spare any more time from her job search. However, as the rejection letters began to pile up, Hazel knew she had to make an important decision in her life. On a rainy Tuesday morning, she decided to go into business for herself – taking care of neighborhood lawns. She was relieved to give up the stress of job searching, and she was excited about the prospect of being her own boss. But she was also fearful of being completely on her own. Nevertheless, Hazel was determined to make a go of it. At first business was slow, but once people realized Hazel was available, many asked her to take care of their lawns. Some people were simply glad to turn the work over to her; others switched from other lawn care services. By the end of her first year in business, Hazel knew she could earn a living this way. She also performed other services such as fertilizing lawns, weeding gardens, and trimming shrubbery. Business became so good that Hazel  hired two part-time workers to assist her and, even then, she believed she could expand further if she wanted to. Questions: In what ways are Hazel’s customer s likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services? Hazel is the Operations Manager of her business. Among her many responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance. What kinds of things would she likely forecast? What inventory items does Hazel probably have? What scheduling must she do? What things might disrupt her schedules and cause her to reschedule? How important is quality assurance to her business? Why? What kind of maintenance must be performed? Hazel decided to offer the students who worked for her a bonus of $25 if she implemented one of their ideas on how to improve the business, and they responded with several good ones. One idea that she initially rejected now appears to hold great promise. The student that proposed the idea has unfortunately left, and is currently working for a competitor. What should Hazel do? Hazel Case Revisited Questions: What competitive advantage does Hazel have over her competitors? Hazel would like to increase her profits, but she doesn’t believe that it would be wise to raise her prices considering the current state of the local economy (she is aware of this current state because of her keen environmental scanning abilities!). Instead she has given some thought to increasing productivity. Explain how increased productivity could be an alternative to increase prices? What are some of the ways that Hazel could increase productivity? Hazel is thinking about purchasing some new equipment. One type of new equipment she is considering is power sidewalk edgers. She believes that power edgers will lead to an increase in productivity. Another type of new equipment would be a chain saw, which would be used for tree pruning. What trade-offs must Hazel think about in her analysis? Hazel is fairly successful in her neighborhood and now wants to expand into other neighborhoods, including some that are up to five miles away. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of doing this? (this is a classic expansion dilemma) Hazel does not have a formal mission statement and a set of objectives. Take one of the following positions and defend it: Hazel does not need a formal mission statement and a set of objectives. Many small businesses don’t have them. She definitely needs a formal mission statement and a set of objectives. They would be extremely beneficial. There may be some benefit to Hazel’s business, and she should consider developing one.

Alzheimer\s Disease Essays - Cognitive Disorders, Free Essays

Alzheimer?s Disease Alzheimer?s disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer who discovered the disease in 1906 after studying the brain tissue of an elderly woman who died of an unusual mental illness. It is a serious disease which causes mental deterioration and eventually death. Alzheimer?s disease is ?a progressive degenerating process of neural tissue? (Black). The symptoms of this disease can be slowed with certain treatments, but cannot yet be prevented or cured. Although not an infectious disease, Alzheimer?s is still very prominent in the world. Forty-five percent of people who are eighty-five and older have Alzheimer?s disease (Alzheimer?s). Also, the number of cases of Alzheimer?s is rapidly increasing. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that, ?experts suggest that as many as 5.1 million Americans may have Alzheimer?s disease? and that there are ?200,000 individuals under age 65 who have younger-onset Alzheimer?s? (NIH). Alzheimer?s is also the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. While other diseases? mortality rates are declining, Alzheimer?s mortality rate has gone up by sixty-six percent in the past eight years alone (Alzheimer?s). According to the NIH, scientists do not yet understand what causes Alzheimer?s. However, they do believe that Alzheimer?s develops due to a complicated series of events in the brain. The cause of Alzheimer?s is thought to be a mix of factors having to do with genetics, environment, and lifestyle. It is interesting to note that recent studies have shown that African Americans are actually at a higher risk of getting Alzheimer?s than other races. This may be due to the fact that African Americans have a higher rate of vascular disease, which is one of the risk factors of Alzheimer?s (African). Women also are more susceptible to this disease. As the NIH states, ?Because people differ in their genetic make-up and lifestyle, the importance of any one of these factors in increasing or decreasing the risk of developing Alzheimer?s may differ from person to person? (NIH). This makes finding a cure for Alzheimer?s all the more difficult because so many factors can affect it. Alzheimer?s is categorized in four different levels of severity: Early, Mild, Moderate, and Severe. During the Early Alzheimer?s stage, the patient has a decline in certain aspects of cognition such as word-finding, vision/spatial issues, and impaired reasoning or judgment. Some other symptoms may include: depression, social withdrawal, mood swings, distrust in others, irritability, aggressiveness, changes in sleeping habits, wandering, loss of inhibitions, and delusions, such as believing something has been stolen (NIH). Later, in the Mild Alzheimer?s stage, memory loss and other cognitive abilities worsen. A person with Alzheimer?s may have problems such as getting lost, trouble handling money and paying bills, repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks, poor judgment, and mood and personality changes. As it progresses even further into Moderate Alzheimer?s, damage occurs to parts of the brain that control language, reasoning, sensory processing, and consciou s thought. Memory loss and confusion will worsen even more, and the patient will have trouble recognizing familiar people (NIH). The NIH says that, ?[The patient] may be unable to learn new things, carry out tasks that involve multiple steps (such as getting dressed), or cope with new situations. They may have hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia, and may behave impulsively? (NIH). By the time the patient reaches the final stage, Severe Alzheimer?s, the brain tissue will have shrunk significantly. According to the NIH, ?People with severe Alzheimer?s cannot communicate and are completely dependent upon others for their care. Near the end, the person may be in bed most or all of the time as the body shuts down? (NIH). Alzheimer?s vastly affects the daily life of a patient and his or her family. A person with Alzheimer?s will be very limited in the things that most people consider normal, daily tasks. As stated above, they will have trouble communicating with other people, and memory loss will take away most of or all reliability from them. They will also lose the ability to drive safely, as they will be more likely to get lost, will have a harder time turning, or may drift out of their lane more often (Driving). Their family and friends will also be greatly affected

Fast Food and Healthy Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fast Food and Healthy Life - Essay Example There is a big gap in the sensible amounts of food that can be consumed to the amounts of food actually consumed on a daily basis (Young, Lisa R and Nestle, Marion; 2003, p1). Food manufacturers are the biggest culprits of health mismanagement in the United States. Individual intake of food is surreptitiously promoted by packages that invariably provide more than double the quantity of food necessary for one meal. "Foodservice establishments use larger dinner plates, larger pans to bake muffins and pizzas, and larger containers for sodas and fries" (Young, Lisa R and Nestle, Marion; 2003, p2). Customers are not inclined to measure the exact quantity of food they are supposed to consume over one meal course. Normally, food is consumed on the basis of individual likes and no statutory rules are broken if the customer consumes more of a particular food he likes. Adequate portion sizes relevant for a meal marked on the labels are not seriously noted. This state of affairs happens on a very wide scale involving a huge segment of the population anywhere in the world. However, science provides information on the portions of each food that could be safely consumed. Excess food invariably adds to the calories and sooner than later leverage disease-prone organs such as kidneys and the heart with impure blood and once set it becomes difficult to root them out. "There are short-term studies showing that controlling portion sizes helps limit calorie intake, particularly when eating high-calorie foods. What is missing from the research is whether people monitor portion sizes and consistently chooses to eat recommended serving sizes, thus consuming the appropriate amount of calories for maintaining or losing weight" (Do Increased Portion Sizes Affect How Much We Eat, 2006) Obese children and fast food We live in an information age where the television is the best form of entertainment and everyone, including the children, finds endless solace glued to it with fast food packets in their hands. Little wonder then that one in every three children is obese in the United States (Leading by Example, 2010). "Many kids are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the television, computer, or video-game console. And today's busy families have fewer free moments to prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals. From fast food to electronics, quick and easy is the reality formany people in the new millennium" (Leading by Example, 2010). The eat-more-work-less syndrome has become a way of life that does not appear to be a threat until it strikes when it becomes a too late to take corrective action. Granted, lots of teenagers are now taking action and working out to reduce the extra calories. However, the erratic lifestyle they have been leading up to that point when they start

Discussion 1 Week 6 "Comparing First-movers in Technology" Assignment

Discussion 1 Week 6 "Comparing First-movers in Technology" - Assignment Example 244). From the videos, it was evident that Intel’s development of the first microprocessor (Intel Free Press, 2011); while Microsoft’s software design enabled them to pioneer in this endeavor and assume a proactive stance in related technological developments (Microsoft, 2012). Moreover, Intel and Microsoft capitalized and reaped the following advantages: (1) captured the opportunity to â€Å"exploit network effects and positive feedback loops, locking consumers into its technology† (Hill & Jones, 2012, p. 244); (2) enabled establishment of brand loyalty; (3) generated substantial sales volume which eventually enabled economies of scale and learning effects; (4) enabled offering pricing strategies (switching costs); and (5) gained advanced knowledge on the pioneering experience (Hill & Jones, 2012). 2. From the first and second e-Activities, compare Intel’s and Microsoft’s strategies in terms of their ability to profit from innovation. Next, analyze the manner in which shifts in new technologies revolutionized the structure of the industry, increasing profitability and growth through global expansion. Provide a rationale to support your response. Intel’s strategies, when compared to Microsoft’s strategies in terms of abilities to profit from innovation were virtually on the same field. Through pioneering efforts, both Intel and Microsoft gained substantial market shares within their respective fields of endeavors. As such, the developed core competencies established significant competitive advantage that enabled them to retain leadership in these discoveries. Moreover, the manner in which shifts in new technologies revolutionized the structure of the industry, increasing profitability and growth through global expansion – more commonly known as technological paradigm shifts, affect both Intel and Microsoft. For example, cloud computing, which

Eassy of <A Thousand Splendid Suns> Essay

Eassy of - Essay Example Miriam had lost her baby 7 times, giving Rasheed reason to treat her as a worker and violate her frequently. In addition, the author develops the story of Laila; she has a nice and unbroken family, and she learns lots of knowledge from school and from her father. However, a rocket destroys her house and family when they decide to leave Kabul. Her parents die and she is also wounded. Consequently, she has to get married to Rasheed to earn a living because she finds that she is carrying her childhood lover’s child, Tariq. In general, the author depicts Mariam and Laila as poor Afghan women, who have similar experiences living with Rasheed. However, they become best friends after Aziza’s birth. From the analysis of the novel, it can be concluded that although life is unbearable for both Mariam and Laila, only Laila is able to make the decision to leave Rasheed and seek a better life. Mariam is not able to take a risk because she has a broken family. Mariam grows up only with her mother. She does not feel her father’s love even though her father comes to see her once a week. Nana says to Mariam, â€Å" Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a women.( Hosseini, 7). However, she thinks Jalil is a very nice father although he visits only once a week. She used to expect her father’s visiting because he brings gifts to her and his voice is gentle and soft. Nevertheless, everything changes on Mariam’s fifteenth birthday. Mariam insists on watching movies with her siblings, so she goes into the Herat alone. Jalil does not receive her and even lies to her that he is not there. On the next day, Mariam goes back disappointed and then she is shocked because her mother commits suicide under the tree in front of her kolba. Mariam reckons that she lost her parents in one day, and the reason is her leaving Nana . After she gets married to Rasheed, she does everything Rasheed requires of her because he is the only one that she can