Coca-Cola Background

Case Background

Company Profile

The Coca-Cola Company is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups in the world. Since 1886, the company provides the world with quality array of beverage products and now serving more than 200 countries around the world.

Established in: 1886

Ranking: Owns 4 (Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta) of the world’s top nonalcoholic sparkling beverage

1 Company Associates (employees): 146,200 worldwide (as of December 31, 2011).

2 Operational Reach: 200+ countries

3 Consumer Servings per day: more than 1.7+ billion

Beverage Variety: More than 3,500 products including diet and regular sparkling beverages, and still beverages such as 100% juices, juice drinks, waters, sports and energy drinks, teas and coffees, and milk- and soy-based beverages.

Sector: Consumer Goods

Industry: Non-Alcoholic Ready To Drink Beverages

4 NYSE Ticker Symbol: KO

Brief History of The Coca-Cola Company

The Humble Beginnings

Coca-Cola, or Coke, the product that has given the world its best-known taste was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. Coke became the flagship product of now’s one of the most admired company in the world—The Coca-Cola Company. It was Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist, who invented the syrup for Coca-Cola, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy, where it was first sampled, pronounced "excellent" and placed on sale for five cents (5c) a glass as a soda fountain drink. Carbonated water was teamed with the new syrup to produce a drink that was at once "Delicious and Refreshing," the same theme that continues to echo today wherever Coca-Cola is enjoyed.

Dr. Pemberton's partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, is the one who suggested the name of the product. He believes that the two Cs would look well in advertising and so he penned the now famous trademark "Coca-Cola" in his unique script. (The...