Publications

05 Dec 2023
News

Coca-Cola Ranked as the Best Place to Work for Career Growth in a New Study of America’s Largest Companies

October 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

The Slingshot: Improving Water Access

By: John A. Quelch, Margaret L. Rodriguez and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In 2012, over 750 million people around the globe lacked access to safe drinking water. Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, sought to bring fresh water to poor and rural areas with the Slingshot, a water purification device. Kamen's challenge was to identify ways to... View Details

April 2021
Case

Coca-Cola: Preparing for the Next 100 Years

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and James Weber

In early 2020, James Quincey, the 14th chair of the 133-year old The Coca-Cola Company, was in the midst of a years-long transformation of Coca-Cola from being the leading carbonated soft drink (CSD) beverage company into a total beverage company. The company’s... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Diversification; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

May 2001 (Revised March 2007)
Background Note

Balance Sheet, The

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

Discusses the accounting equation and defines common terms found in the statement. Also provides an example of the balance sheets of Coca-Cola Co., Ariba, Inc., and Safeway, Inc. View Details

Keywords: Accounting

19 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 19

improvements in performance. Day 1 of the two-case series focuses on the steps taken by Klein over his eight-year tenure. Supplementary video (both for homework and in class) provides Klein's thoughts about major developments. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Cola Wars: Going Global

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This case is meant to be used in conjunction with the extant "Cola Wars" case studies. It outlines the global positions of Pepsi and Coca-Cola as of 2008 in the soft drink market, and then provides an overview of their competitive situations in three markets: Mexico,... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Food and Beverage Industry; China; India; Mexico

November 2013
Case

Coca-Cola: Liquid and Linked

By: John Gourville and Noah Fisher

Coca-Cola is considering which of several global marketing/promotional efforts to bring to the United States. Each has proven successful in other parts of the world, but for varying reasons. All represent efforts outside of the industry's normal advertising-based... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Promotions; Advertising; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Global Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

May 2006 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2006

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

Examines the industry structure and competitive strategy of Coca-Cola and Pepsi over 100 years of rivalry. New challenges in 2006 include boosting flagging carbonated soft drink (CSD) sales and finding new revenue streams. Both firms also began to modify their... View Details

Keywords: History; Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

January 2002 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in the Twenty-First Century

By: David B. Yoffie and Yusi Wang

Examines the industry structure and competitive strategy of Coca-cola and Pepsi over 100 years of rivalry. New challenges of the 21st century included boosting flagging domestic cola sales and finding new revenue streams. Both firms also began to modify their bottling,... View Details

Keywords: Price; Growth and Development; Brands and Branding; Emerging Markets; Industry Structures; Performance; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

August 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Swire Beverages: Implementing CSR in China

By: Christopher Marquis, G.A. Donovan and YiKwan Chu

Swire Beverage, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in China, recently created a corporate social responsibility (CSR) organization to oversee environmental, community, health and safety initiatives at the companies' nine bottling plants in China. The case considers... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Design; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations; Food and Beverage Industry; China

January 1987 (Revised March 1989)
Background Note

Note on the U.S. Soft Drink Industry in 1986

Demonstrates how knowing the "money mechanics" of the business is essential in developing a successful strategy among industry participants. Deals with the structural attractiveness of the industry from the concentrate producer and bottler perspectives and examines the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

December 2010 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

Examines the industry structure and competitive strategy of Coca-Cola and Pepsi over 100 years of rivalry. The most intense battles of the cola wars were fought over the $74 billion CSD industry in the United States, where the average American consumes 46 gallons of... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

05 Mar 2015
News

Wearable Tech Enables New Era of Employee Monitoring

09 Mar 2022
News

A New Iron Curtain Is Falling

March 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Hundred-Year War, A: Coke vs. Pepsi, 1890s-1990s

By: Chiaki Moriguchi and David Lane

Through their competitive battle, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have created a stable and highly profitable duopoly in the U.S. soft drink industry. As the domestic industry matured and the cola wars moved to international markets, Coke and Pepsi tried to redesign their... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Food and Beverage Industry

November 2012
Exercise

Coca-Cola: Residual Income Valuation Exercise

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The exercise illustrates the use of the residual income (also known as the abnormal earnings) valuation approach. Students are asked to provide a valuation of Coca-Cola Company using the residual income valuation methodology and understand how it maps into the... View Details

Keywords: Business Analysis; Valuation; Residual Income Valuation; Accounting; Financial Accounting; Financial Analysis; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Statements; Discounted Cash Flows

October 2023
Case

To Fizzle Out or Heat Up? PepsiCo and Coca-Cola’s SodaStream and Costa Coffee Acquisitions

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

U.S. beverage giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola shared many similarities by August 2018—both were founded by pharmacists in the 1890s, grew to offer hundreds of drink brands, and championed rival flagship products that drove loyalists into taste-testing wars. That month,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Acquisition; Diversification; Expansion; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2012
Case

Coca-Cola: Residual Income Valuation

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Beiting Cheng and Edward J. Riedl

The case illustrates the use of the residual income (also known as the abnormal earnings) valuation approach. Students are asked to provide a valuation of Coca-Cola Company using the residual income valuation methodology and understand how it maps into the discounted... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Valuation; Financial Statements; Equity; Food and Beverage Industry