Pepsi

Coca-Cola versus Pepsi-Cola: Competitive Strategies Coca-Cola (Coke) and Pepsi-Cola (Pepsi) have been the most popular soft drinks for many years, and has also been each other’s biggest competitor. Coke was created in 1885 by John Stith Pemberton, a pharmacist, and was initially made as a tonic (Smith, 2012). In the beginning, Coke had cocaine in it, which was to fight depression and also make consumers addicted to the drink. In 1904, the Food and Drug Administration eliminated the use of cocaine, a key ingredient, in the United States, so Coke decided to keep its name and endorse the beverage through aggressive advertising (Smith, 2012). Thirteen years after the creation of Coke, in 1898, Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist, created a beverage named Brad’s Drink (later changed to Pepsi), and was Coke’s main competitor (Smith, 2012). Both companies focused on advertising, but they took different approaches. These different approaches that each company uses, also reflects the differences of their corporate cultures. Coke and Pepsi have been competing with one another since the beginning, and this competition seems to have pushed both companies to remain at the top of their market. Corporate culture is defined as an organization’s system of principles, beliefs, and values (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). Coke’s corporate culture focuses on seven core values, which are leadership, passion, integrity, collaboration, diversity, quality, and accountability (Coca-Cola, 2013). Coke focuses on their employees and their brand in order to keep the promise to “refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit, and inspire moments of optimism; to create value and make a difference (Coca-Cola, 2013).” On the other hand, Pepsi’s corporate culture focuses on performing with a purpose. Performing with a purpose means blazing new trails, never settling for second best, succeeding and celebrating together, and doing something bigger (PepsiCo, 2012). Pepsi also focuses on nutrition by addressing

References: Boone, L. E. & Kurtz, D. L. (2012). Contemporary Business (14th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Coca-Cola Journey. (2013). Workplace Culture. Retrieved from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/diversity/workplace-culture D’Altorio, Tony. (2013). Coke vs. Pepsi… Are the Cola Wars Finally Over? Retrieved from http://www.investmentu.com/2012/February/are-the-coke-vs-pepsi-cola-wars-over.html PepsiCo. (2012). Performance with Purpose. Retrieved from http://www.pepsico.com/Careers/Why-Work-at-PepsiCo/Culture.html Russell, Mallory. (2012). How Pepsi Went From Coke’s Greatest Rival to An Also-Ran In The Cola Wars. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-pepsi-lost-cola-war-against-coke-2012-5?op=1 Smith, Nicole. (2012). Coke versus Pepsi: Differences in Cultural History Rather than Taste. Retrieved from http://www.articlemyriad.com/coke-pepsi-differences-cultural-history-taste/