Coke

History of Coca Cola

Coca Cola a company founded in 1885 by John Pemberton and his partner Frank Robinson has had a historic era in it's growth till 1970 passing through two owners and a number of people, managing it at the top which made Coca Cola what it is today. The company in the early 70's was at its critical stages of loosing its pre eminent position as the No.1 cola drink in U.S.A. to it's erst while competitor Pepsi Cola.

The company was owned by Ernst Woodruff since 1919 and was run by his son Robert Woodruff. Robert's leadership and financial skills had steered the company through number of battles with the Government and the bottlers by the fifties.

"Coca Cola ruled the soft drink world and its name, was universally known as that of any other product in commercial history." Thomas Oliver, The Real Coke, The Real Story.

" All told, to the Coca Cola executives of the sixties, the future looked bright. Everyone connected with Coca-Cola was making money. The policies of the past decades that would rock had not revealed themselves." Thomas Oliver, The Real Coke, The Real Story.

To the world that watched up beat Coke advertisements, packed coke for every picnic, had stocked Coke for every party, the Coca-Cola Company appeared huge and healthy throughout the seventies. But behind the scenes the executives were snared, in a very different drama, bickering among themselves, distracted by tangible issues and loosing sight of the heart of the matter - Coke itself.

The top executives of the Coca-Cola Company of the late seventies actually paid less attention to the marketing and sale of their central product. They were so caught up were they in dodging government allegation, fighting with bottlers over the price of the syrup and squabbling over wether or not to control who owned the company franchises. Gone were the days of the inspired entrepreneur and the spritely intellect, gone the days of answering leadership.

The FTC Government charged Coca-Cola in 71 for granting territorial exclusivity restricted competition. If Government laws prevail a bigger, richer bottler could invade a bottler's territory and take a substantial if not fatal bite out of the market.

There was another conflict inside Coca-Cola, within the walls of the Atlanta head quarters.