Coca Cola Market Structure Analysis

Market structures describe the competitive environment in which a firm operates. The characteristics of the market structure will have a major-influence on the competitive strategies and tactics that are implemented by firms. (Octotutor, 2014). For the purpose of this analysis, I have chosen to analyze the Coco-Cola Company, which operates in an oligopoly. This type of market has many implications for both consumers and competing firms.

Coca-Cola Company is one of the premier global consumer brands. The company has been around for a century and has been growing constantly. Today Coca-Cola manufactures more than 500 sparkling and still brands that are sold in more than 200 countries around the world. Coca-Cola’s main competitor is Pepsi. Therefore,

First, two firms control the vast majority of the market share, which include Coca-Cola and Pepsi. There are smaller firms in the market, but their market share in the industry is miniscule by comparison to these two dominant firms. Small companies generally lack the financial capital to launch brand on a large scale. Next, the barriers to entry in the industry are very high. Producing soft drinks for a wide market would require a significant investment in production equipment, brand material, and advertising. The high cost of operating in this industry prevents many companies from entering the competitive arena. Last, these two companies engage in non-price product differentiation. Rarely will you see Pepsi attempt to undercut Coca-Cola in price. Instead, you see these companies use creative advertisements to compete (Neary

Coca-Cola controlled the market structure and maintained its competitive advantage over its competitors. The company therefore managed to have a large share in the soft drinks market that was characterized with few and weak competitors. However, the introduction of Pepsi was worrying. Coca-Cola enjoyed the advantages of a monopoly until the resurgence of Pepsi. Pepsi proved to be a potential competitor. Coca-Cola strives to utilize every strategy available to become successful whenever it launches its business in overseas markets. Pepsi seemed to have discovered Coca-Cola’s disadvantages and it was using them to check Coke’s dominance. The new market structure brought about cut throat competition between the two cola giants. However, the competition ate into a large chunk of the two companies’