1.0 Introduction :
Nowadays, marketplace is fundamentally different as a result of major societal forces that have resulted in many new consumer and organization capabilities. These forces have created new opportunities and challenges and marketing management has changed significantly in recent years as organization seeks new ways to achieve marketing excellence. Furthermore, to maintain the product’s reputation in the market, organization focuses on branding the product internally and externally through market targeting and product positioning in order to increase organization sales volume and gaining trust from their respective consumers on their products.
2.0CASE SUMMARY
The case is about three companies with 90% of the market share control the carbonated soft drink industry in the United States. These companies include in order of market share size, CocaCola, Pepsi Co, and Dr. Pepper/7Up. These three companies also represent the top ten selling brands in the United States market. In the United States, people consume more carbonated drinks than tap water. Research has shown that the average American drinks about 53 gallons of soft drinks per year. However, soft drink consumption has declined over the past few years (Kerin
& Peterson, 2004). The soft drink industry has three major participants in the production and distribution; concentrate producers, bottlers, and retail outlets. Concentrate producers are responsible for consumer advertising and promotion programs, product development and planning and market research. The bottler’s responsibility is to set up local and retail trade promotions. Among this is selling and servicing retail outlets, placements and maintenance of advertisements, and the restocking of retailer’s shelves and vending machines. Competition in the soft drink industry is mostly relevant among the top three companies;