In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaurants and bars around the world, Coca-Cola has

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问题     In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaurants and bars around the world, Coca-Cola has nearly always been in the lead and Pepsi in second place. When Warren Buffett, Coke’s long-time investor, told the board that he had visited a pizza parlor in Omaha, Nebraska , with his grandson only to discover it served nothing but Pepsi, Coke’s bosses acted swiftly to remove their arch-rival from the menu and replace it with Coke.
    If only the Atlanta-based company had moved determinedly in response to changing consumer tastes, it might have avoided a humiliating reversal in fortunes. On December 12th PepsiCo overtook Coca-Cola in market capitalization for the first time. With PepsiCo’s share price having risen by 14% this year, its stock market value reached $ 98. 4 billion, compared with $ 97.9 billion for Coca-Cola, which has seen its shares decline by 1.2% in the same period.
    Pepsi is powered not by its traditional fizzy drinks—sales of those are flat—but such products as Gatorade, a sports drink that has seen sales grow by more than 30%. Gatorade also represents a broader diversification by PepsiCo away from a reliance on sugary colas and into other products. PepsiCo now reportedly gets around 20% of its revenue from soft drinks, unlike Coca-Cola, where they account for some 80%.
    Many of the brands that PepsiCo has been acquiring and promoting appeal to consumers’ concerns about their health. PepsiCo’s latest advertising program promotes a new "Smart Spot" symbol, which allows people to identify healthier products. The spots are being attached to Gatorade and other PepsiCo brands such as Tropicana orange juice, Aquarian water, baked Lay’s crisps and Quaker Granola Bars.
    Coca-Cola will now try to regain the crown. Having endured various troubles and two chief executives since the death in 1997 of Roberto Goizueta, a much-admired boss, Coke brought a veteran, Neville Isdell, out of retirement last year to reinvigorate the company. Mr. Isdell knows a thing or two about being in second place. In the 1980s he took Coke from the number two spot in the Philippines to move ahead of Pepsi.
    Mr. Isdell has Coke’s own sports drink, Powerade, in his portfolio—but he could have had Gato-rade. Five years ago another fizzy drink (champagne) was on ice, to celebrate Coca-Cola’s $ 15. 8 billion takeover of Quaker Oats, then owner of Gatorade. This takeover was supposed to lead Coke into what looked to be a hot new market for health drinks. But the "Sage of Omaha" , as Mr. Buffett is known, blocked the deal, in part because it would have diluted the value of Coke’s shares. Pepsi took over Quaker Oats instead—a memory that must leave Mr. Buffett and other Coke shareholders with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Why the Coke company is facing the embarrassing situation ?

选项 A、Coke is now in a humiliating state.
B、Pepsi excelled Coke in sales.
C、Coke fails to give priority to the dynamic market.
D、PepsiCo overtook Coca-Cola in market capitalization.

答案C

解析 细节题(和因果相关)。面对因果题目一定要注意区分因果,这里能表明原因的只有第二段第一句:If only the Atlanta—based company had moved determinedly in response to changing consumer tastes,C选项用dynamic market完美替换了changing consumer tastes,故为正确选项;A和D都是结果;[B]Pepsi excelled Coke in sales.文中并未提到,且其根本不是原因。
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