Coca Cola (2011) aim to be the beverage industry leader in energy efficiency and climate protection!! Browsing through their website shows a huge number of innovations which they have come up with over the years, there really is not much competition left for them to compete with as they buy out all there competition when a new idea comes onto the market.
The innovation i wanted to focus on was to do with the new packaging which Coca Cola is highly advertising at this time to show that they have a strong position on helping the environment and developing environmentally friendly products. The new packaging is called "PlantBottle" packaging, the new bottle has the same design as the old one but is 30% plant based and is 100% recyclable. Coca Cola (2011) state our focus on life-cycle management has helped the use of high value recyclable materials and reusable packages.
About 85% of our global beverages volume is delivered in primary packaging made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, aluminium, glass and steel. The materials are 100% reusable. They continue to drive new innovations around bottle closures, recently a shorter height closure was developed to reduce the amount of plastic in the packaging. Coca Cola show a huge variety of innovative ways that they are reducing our carbon footprint, the link below shows how they are reducing the packaging of their products to help with disposal and recycling
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/package_design.html
Even though Coca Cola put a lot of money in to their innovation they have had a number of failed products which have cost millions for the company. Shavinina (2003: 850) explains that Coca Cola developed a new formula for Coke, in an effort which lasted for two years the company spent around $4million on the new formula conducting extensive testing with customers to develop a taste that they would prefer. The blind taste tests showed that 60% of the consumers preferred the new product. When the new product was entered onto the market it was quickly rejected and consumers were demanding the old formula back within three months of its release.
This just shows that product innovation alone cannot always be a success for a company without the backing up of the other areas of the company such as the marketing and customer relations sectors, all are needed to work together for a company to be successful.
Website, Coca Cola Reducing Packaging, 2011,
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/package_design.html
[Internet] Accessed 17/01/12
Shavinina. V. L, 2003, The International Handbook on Innovation, Elsevier Ltd, P. 850
No comments:
Post a Comment