Coca Cola Organizational Management
On Tuesday, April 23, 1985 The Coca Cola Company announced that it would change the formula of its flagship soft drink; a formula that had been America’s favorite for 100 years. Kansas newspaper editor William Allen White said, “Coca Cola is the sublimated essence of all that America stands for. A decent thing honestly made [and] universally distributed.” (As cited in Oliver, 1986, p.4) How could Coca Cola have tampered with the taste of a drink that was distributed to 155 countries and consumed more than 303 million times a day? Years of planning preceded the arrival of New Coke and years of internal problems contributed to the demise of the old one. Some of the seeds to those problems were planted in the original formulation of the Coca Cola Company, but would go unnoticed during the company’s boom years.
In 1885 John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist registered a trademark for “French Wine Cola-Ideal Nerve Tonic Stimulant”. He eventually changed the formula by taking out the wine and adding caffeine and Kola nut. Thus, Coca Cola was born. Pemberton sold the rights to Coca Cola in 1889 to Georgia business man Asa Candler. Candler sold the syrup to wholesalers who mixed the syrup with carbonated water, and sold it to soda fountain proprietors. Also in 1899 Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead approached Candler with a proposition to bottle Coke. Candler thought it was too expensive a venture and wanted no part of it. Candler sold the bottling rights to Thomas and Whitehead for $1.00! (Oliver, 1986.)
Each bottler had an exclusive right in perpetuity to bottle Coke in his area and no one else except soda fountains could sell Coke in that market. The bottlers actually owned the Coca-Cola trademark in their territories and the company could not refuse to sell them the syrup. (This set up, which formed the heart and soul of the Coca Cola system, would come under attack nearly 100 years later when the Federal Trade Commission charged the company with
In 1885 John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist registered a trademark for “French Wine Cola-Ideal Nerve Tonic Stimulant”. He eventually changed the formula by taking out the wine and adding caffeine and Kola nut. Thus, Coca Cola was born. Pemberton sold the rights to Coca Cola in 1889 to Georgia business man Asa Candler. Candler sold the syrup to wholesalers who mixed the syrup with carbonated water, and sold it to soda fountain proprietors. Also in 1899 Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead approached Candler with a proposition to bottle Coke. Candler thought it was too expensive a venture and wanted no part of it. Candler sold the bottling rights to Thomas and Whitehead for $1.00! (Oliver, 1986.)
Each bottler had an exclusive right in perpetuity to bottle Coke in his area and no one else except soda fountains could sell Coke in that market. The bottlers actually owned the Coca-Cola trademark in their territories and the company could not refuse to sell them the syrup. (This set up, which formed the heart and soul of the Coca Cola system, would come under attack nearly 100 years later when the Federal Trade Commission charged the company with