Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Change Is (almost) Complete

So, early on Saturday morning KO took over CCE in North America to align most of the big North American beverage businesses. As with both Pepsi and Dr Pepper Snapple the fanfare will be overshadowed inside Coke by the talks of duplication and synergy. In real terms for the employees this change will mean relocation and lost jobs for many employees. It will be a trying time, and efficiencies will be made. Wall Street will applaud.

But we are now left with three behemoth beverage businesses, with massive challenges regarding what portfolio they sell, and the degree of autonomy that can be left to the marketing manager, branch manager, route salesman and merchandiser. It remains to be seen whether such centralization can be successful, or whether it creates more opportunities for the small, nimble innovative companies.

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