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Almost anybody in the United States can attest to drinking a soft drink beverage from time to time. There are those who even indulge in them on a daily basis. For decades the soft drink industry has produced an immeasurable amount of fluids consumed. In 2012 a study conducted by the Huffington Post found that 48% of Americans drink soda on a daily basis. It’s no surprise that the soft drink industry is a multi billion-dollar industry. Just like any other large, established industry, it is almost impossible for a smaller organization to enter the trade and be profitable. It is especially difficult to compete in the soft drink industry with the two tycoons The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo. Having been around for as long as they have –Coca Cola 1892, PepsiCo 1965 the two companies have crushed their industry rivals and dominated the soda trade making the threat of potential entrants extremely low. The barriers to entry are too high because of unequal access to distribution channels. Usually consumers acquire their soft drinks alongside a meal at a restaurant or maybe a gas station. No restaurant is going to place a new soft drink flavor alongside popular generic flavors that are known to sell and no gas station is going to sell a product that they’re unsure is going to sell. Not only that but the capital requirements required in order to compete with The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo are inconceivable. A smaller organization may attempt to market their products locally and survive but it will never produce high revenues that will be a threat.
Certainly the power of suppliers is high in the soft drink industry as it is practically a monopoly led by the two tycoons. The demand for soft drinks will always be significant allowing suppliers to raise prices and maximize profit(to a certain extent). Meanwhile, the power of buyers is small as demand is large and there are

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