Coca-Cola Company

Running Head: THE COCA-COLA COMPANY

The Coca-Cola Company

ACC 499 Accounting Capstone

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is one of the largest beverage company's in the world. It has more than 500 brands of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages. Coca-Cola Company also has the world's largest beverage distribution system. More than 200 countries consume the company's beverages at a rate of 1.7 billion servings per day. Coca-Cola's North American market group had an organic volume increase of 2% for the first quarter 2011. Coca-Cola's cross-licensed brands volume also increased, it was mainly the Dr Pepper brands volume that grew 6% in the first quarter of 2011. Coca-Cola also reported first quarter revenues of $10.5 billion, missing the target by $0.2 billion, which was still above 2010 first quarter revenues by 0.5%. This increase was mainly due to the acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises North American operations. Coca-Cola also saw an increase in operating income of 9% in the First Quarter of 2011. Organic volume of Coca-Cola's sparkling beverages saw a decline of 1% in the quarter, this was up 6% due to the cross-licensed brands like Dr Pepper. Several Coca-Cola brands showed growth for the quarter, such as Coca-Cola Zero, Sprite and Fanta, these brands have showed growth for three to four consecutive quarters. The Seagram's brand had growth over 30% for the quarter. Coca-Cola's North American non-carbonated or still beverages volume growth was up 8% for the quarter and specific brands such as Powerade grew over 20%. Overall, Coca-Cola showed steady growth in all beverage areas for the First quarter of 2011.

There are many factors that help to drive profitability in a company like Coca-Cola or any company for that matter. Some of the key factors include cost of goods sold, the quality of the product, customer loyalty, advertising, company expansion, supply and demand. There are other factors that can influence a company's profitability...