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Coca Cola in India

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What aspects of U.S. culture and of Indian culture may have been causes of Coke´s difficulties in India?

The iconic white lettering against the bright red background – a strong brand image that is undoubtedly known throughout the entire world. Holding a market share of 60% in the soft drink market Coca-Cola is a global key player in the beverage industry supported with operations in over 200 countries. Coca-Cola´s brand strength is reinforced by its worldwide distribution and availability. Therefore Coca-Cola chose to penetrate the Indian market as India is one of the most promising countries for overseas business operations according to several rankings and reports. Disastrously, the multinational concern had to face issues regarding its quality, resource and market exploitation. The environmental group CSE accused the company of not being able to adhere to the needs of corporate social responsibility as their products had an unsafe level of pesticides which affect the health of Indian population. Moreover, they were denounced to create severe water shortages for the community by extracting large quantities of water for their factories. Due to its waste extracts, Coca-Cola was criticized for polluting the nearby fresh water and ground water and soil. But it weren´t just these claims that exacerbated the company´s situation in India. In my opinion, it was a lack of understanding of the cultural diversity and not being able to adapt to these differences effectively. It is a well-known fact that countries differ significantly in terms of their national cultures. Coca-Cola´s struggles in India is a good example to illustrate that entrepreneurs must learn from their previous failures and others’ mistakes. Therefore I, as Coa-Cola´s consultant, want to analyse the cultural differences between the U.S. and India, in order to then imply possible causes for the

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