Cola Wars Continue: Coke vs. Pepsi in the 1990s

Cola Wars Continue: Coke vs. Pepsi in the 1990s

CLO4 Produce a written report analyzing a company’s alternative strategies to position itself or its products in the market. 6

Type: Group Project

You will prepare a strategic analysis of an existing company as part of a group. You will apply the concepts, analytical tools and frameworks of this course to analyze
the firm’s external and internal environments, identify its strategic options, and present a set of recommendations to
maximize the firm’s long-term performance.

Final Presentation
Your final presentation allows each team to report their analysis and recommendations to the class. The exact presentation date and time for each team will be assigned
by a random drawing. Each presentation is followed by questions.

Following is the guidelines for the course project written report. Your presentation will be based on the report; however, it will emphasize the analysis and
recommendation more than the other parts.

Some practical advice (also refer to other tips at the end of this note):

• Focus on a particular duration. For example, period between 95-2005 or challenges firm facing at the end of 2005/ or, say, 2009.
• Focus on some major specific aspects/decisions/challenges associated with erosion of competitive advantage, inability to catch up with the leading competitors,
growth challenges etc. Please do not include all that come across.
• For multinational focus on a single big country or a regional block such as GCC etc. For example Toyota in India.
• Please do not hesitate in asking me for help with your specific questions.
• Good luck with the course Project.
Case Title (18 pt. font)

Interesting Heading

Introduce the company and set the stage: Why is this an interesting story? What are some of the pressing issues for the company or key decisions to be made? Here’s
where you give your opening story, often introducing the key people, key issues, and anything else you think is important to introduce your case and draw in your
reader.

Interesting Company’s History
When, why, and by whom was this company founded? What were some of the key turning points in the company’s evolution, particularly during the period your are
focusing on? Sometimes a timeline in an exhibit is nice, but don’t use a timeline instead of telling an interesting story. Every exhibit must have a reference to it,
and it must indicate a source (see Exhibit 1).

The [your product] Industry

What is the key business or product of interest for the case? Describe it. Reference all of your sources in appropriate bibliographic form, using footnotes. If it
would be interesting, put a picture of the product in an exhibit and refer to the exhibit here (see Exhibit 2). (Note, your exhibits must be in the same order that
they are referred to in the text!).

The [your product] Market
Describe the target market for the product, and what customers look for in this product (or the products anticipated benefits). Give as much sales data as possible
(e.g., current demand, estimated demand, etc.). Graphs in an exhibit are nice here.

Suppliers
What are the necessary supplies? Are any suppliers particularly important? If so, describe them.
Competitors –
What is competition like in this market? Describe a few key competitors in detail (with some financials in exhibits if possible), and how they are different from one
another and from your company.
[Competitor #1]. When was the competitor founded, by whom, and where. What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of this competitor (size, breadth, etc.).
How is this competitor different from your company? Etc. If possible, please provide financials in an exhibit.
[Competitor #2]. When was the competitor founded, by whom, and where. What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of this competitor (size, breadth, etc.).
How is this competitor different from your company? Etc. If possible, please provide financials in an exhibit.
[Competitor #3]. When was the competitor founded, by whom, and where. What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of this competitor (size, breadth, etc.).
How is this competitor different from your company? Etc. If possible, please provide financials in an exhibit.

The Current & Future Challenges

Most good cases emphasize/summarize where the company is headed or what the key decisions are to be made. You can also mention them as specific questions.
Case Analysis

You can either: i) Organize this as a typical case analysis (refer to the bullet points below) and then answer the challenges mentioned above at the end, or ii) you
can do your complete analysis, and then find a way to break it up into pieces that would fit under the questions corresponding to the challenges. One way or another,
you need to make sure you do a complete analysis. A typical strategic case analysis includes:
• external analysis of industry and macro-environmental factors –
• internal analysis of strengths and weaknesses, including identification of sources of sustainable competitive advantage and financial ratios when appropriate –
• business-level strategy, including overall positioning, and how this is supported through functional-level strategies such as marketing strategies,
manufacturing strategies, etc. –
• corporate-level strategy when appropriate, including analysis of what businesses the firm is in, how it entered them (e.g., Joint venture? Acquisition?
Internal development?), and whether these were good choices –
• analysis of structure and controls if appropriate –
• analysis of special topics such as international expansion, new product development ventures, etc. –
• Recommendations (duly supported by facts and analysis) that address all key issues –

If you decide to break your analysis up and do it in the response to the questions, it is a little trickier, but can end up being more exciting. Just make sure you
haven’t left any part of the analysis out! (You may be forced to add a “key issue” like “How attractive is the industry overall?”or “how is the company positioned?”
just to make sure you have an opportunity to do all of the analysis components.)

If you used any figures or tables (for instance, strengths & weaknesses, pros/cons, or a proposed organization chart) in your analysis, you can group them at the end
in exhibits. Make sure that your analysis does not include information that is not in the case.

Update

Make sure you provide an update to the case, if your case ended in the past.

Exhibit (s) 1:
Nice exhibits to include: timeline, financials (income statement and balance sheet), comparative market numbers (such as market share pie charts, etc.), any
interesting and relevant advertisements the firm has used or product descriptions, comparative financials for competitors, etc.
[This template is to guide you about components you need to include, and provides your formatting. You don’t, however, have to use this exact order of topics or
organization, and you should come up with your own interesting headings. You can use other cases that you have read as models for your case. Look at how the case
authors divided up their sections, and the types of headings and subheadings they use. Look at what types of material they have included (and what types they haven’t
included). This is not an exact template of what your case will look like, because each case has unique issues and therefore will have a unique organization. This
template is to provide formatting, and should serve only as a guideline for your content.]

Tips:
These are the minimum elements; you may decide that your case needs other features as well.
Shoot for 8-10 pages (8 as a minimum and 10 as a maximum) with double spacing, 12 pts. Times New Roman, not including exhibits. Exhibits will be placed in an appendix.
Presentations will be 35-40 minutes long. Criteria for evaluating your presentation will include: Content, ability to present the material clearly, use the appropriate
visual aids for presentation, following the allotted time frame for your presentation and most importantly your ability to answer questions.
Use interesting headings and subheadings that clearly communicate what each section is about
Make sure all exhibits are referenced in the text.
Make sure you use a minimum of 3 references and you cite all of your sources.
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