Coca-Cola

ARTICLE ESSAY

THEARTICLE

"In India, pressures on the water supply created by a Coca-Cola plant have caused wells to dry up. Is it just a politically motivated thirst that has led local people to protest?" was written by Mark Thomas for the February 2, 2004 edition of the New Statesmen.

Coca-Cola opened a new manufacturing plant in Plachimada, Kerala, a drought striken area, and pretty much ruined the crops and the scarce clean water supply.

TERMS:

Foreign Uncontrollable:

Definition: Elements of a foreign environment over which a marketer does not have control, such as: political/legal forces, economic forces, competitive forces, level of technology, structure of distribution, geography and infrastructure, and cultural forces. Application: Coca-Cola has no control over the climate in Plachimada, but they could decide not to go into business there.

Market Research:

Definition: The systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data to provide information useful in marketing decision making.

Application: Coca-Cola should have researched the area to see if there was an abundant amount of resources to manufacture their products. Instead, they use all that's available and ruined what is left and they now have to bus in all the necessary resources.

Economic Development:

Definition: An increase in national production that results in an increase in the average per capita gross domestic product.

Application: Coca-cola tried to develop an area where the population is very poor. They wanted to establish a plant which would give the residents a job which would increase the amount of money floating around in their town. Coke would do this because they were being able to produce their product very cheaply while marketing it to a brand new audience.