Word: china
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...China, though, Coke has remained focused on sales volume, selling soda in small bottles for as little as 15¢. It just introduced a 355-ml bottle--a little more than half the size of its more traditional plastic bottle--for 35¢ in places like the southern coastal provinces, which have been hard hit by the slowdown in exports. Coke's China president, Doug Jackson, says he'll take what he can get in a tough economy. "If you have a little less kuai in your pocket," he says, using the colloquial word for Chinese currency, "folks look for where...
Another key--and another classic from the Coke playbook--has been keeping things cold. In India and China, tradition and a shortage of refrigeration mean that Coca-Cola is often drunk warm. In parts of China where cold drinks are traditionally considered unhealthy, it is even boiled and served with lemon or ginger. So coaxing consumers to drink cold Cokes--the company says 3°C is ideal--was part of the estimated $400 million that was spent on sponsoring last year's Beijing Olympics and related advertising. As sales rebounded in India, bottlers added new technology, including superinsulated retail refrigerators...
...growth-focused model that Deng established in China 30 years ago has given Coke a reasonably stable platform to manage its expansion. "We know exactly where we are going," Jackson explains. "The government says, 'We'll urbanize 20 million people this year, and we'll do it sustainably through to 2020. We'll nearly urbanize the population of the United States over the next 10 years.' I can be very assured that I can place my bets for the company." Of course, Jackson wasn't betting that Beijing would block Coke's proposed $2.4 billion acquisition of Chinese juicemaker Huiyuan...
Though the rejection was widely seen as both a defeat for Coke and a sign of growing protectionism in China, losing Huiyuan might not be all bad. "The regulator's decision spared Coke from overpaying for Huiyuan," says Swartzberg, the Stifel Nicolaus analyst. Now, says Jackson, Coke will build on its own. "Our 2020 goals are the same. We'll build rather than buy and move forward...
...near future, Coke's China investments will be massive. The company, which has spent $1.6 billion in China since 1979, plans to invest $2 billion in growth over the next three years. (Last year, Pepsi announced a $1 billion investment in China over the next four years.) Coke opened a $90 million research center this year in Shanghai, where it has developed new products like the grape, lemon and mixed-fruit flavors added to the Chinese version of Minute Maid, a pulpy fruit drink known as Guo Li Chen...