Operations Management Various Cases

Titus Keith U. Caddauan

Module 2: Competitiveness, Strategy and Productivity

1. Contrast the strategies of Pepsi, emphasizing its diet cola, and Coca cola, focusing on reviving its classic coke brand. What is the basis of each one’s strategy?

Coca-Cola advertising has historically focused on wholesomeness and nostalgia for childhood. Coca-Cola advertising is often characterized as "family-friendly" and often relies on "cute" characters like the Coca-Cola polar bear mascot and Santa Claus around Christmas. One example of a heated exchange that occurred during the Cola Wars was Coca-Cola's making a strategic retreat on July 11, 1985, by announcing its plans to bring back the original "Classic" Coke after recently introducing New Coke.

In the late 1990s, Pepsi launched its most successful long-term strategy of the Cola Wars, Pepsi Stuff. Consumers were invited to "Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff" and collect Pepsi Points on billions of packages and cups; they could redeem the points for free Pepsi lifestyle merchandise. After researching and testing the program for over two years to ensure that it resonated with consumers, Pepsi launched Pepsi Stuff, which was an instant success. Tens of millions of consumers participated. Pepsi outperformed Coke during the summer of the Atlanta Olympics - held in Coke's hometown - where Coke was a lead sponsor of the Games. Due to its success, the program was expanded to include Mountain Dew and Pepsi's international markets worldwide. The company continued to run the program for many years, continually innovating with new features each year.

2. When a company compares its product lines, certain criteria must be put in place to assure proper differentiation of its various product lines. The point is, one can only compare two things if they have the same circumstances or characteristics. The company comparing an automated product line to labor intensive one could obviously be silly and actually won’t give a clear representation of...