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When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

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Re: When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

#61

Post by Gwypaas »

sandworm101 wrote: post #52

Longtime traveler here. I was in india in the early nineties to witness thumbs up. Coke is a big bad corporation and that makes them evil, but when I traveled I always drink coke. Coke has always been obsessed with keeping its flavor consistent across markets. To get there they have to start with consistent water. That means their water is filtered and treated properly before it is turned into coke. So, when I am tra…

Quite interesting since american coke and the rest of the world is quite different due to the sweetener used which is adapted to the local market. In the US being HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), and honestly when I lived in the US I could really taste the HFCS, something not really right with the products from my perspective.

The rest of the world tends to use either cane sugar or sugar beets as their goto sweetener depending on location.

Re: When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

#62

Post by sumanthvepa »

sandworm101 wrote: post #52

Longtime traveler here. I was in india in the early nineties to witness thumbs up. Coke is a big bad corporation and that makes them evil, but when I traveled I always drink coke. Coke has always been obsessed with keeping its flavor consistent across markets. To get there they have to start with consistent water. That means their water is filtered and treated properly before it is turned into coke. So, when I am tra…

If your health is the reason is why you are drinking Coke, I have some bad news for you. Coke is produced by local bottlers, franchisees, who produce it under license. The production standards for Coke vary across the world, and the health codes each bottler follows usually confirm to local law, which varies. The Coke process is simple enough that you get the same taste, but you won't get the same health standard. And even more ironically those local products you talk about are actually owned by Coke, and all those brands are made in the same factory. Yes, drinking out out a bottle is safer than drinking tap water in India, but do your health a favor and just buy yourself a bottle of branded water -- Aquafina is the Coke brand here. You'll be fine.

Re: When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

#63

Post by sandworm101 »

sumanthvepa wrote: post #62
sandworm101 wrote: post #52

Longtime traveler here. I was in india in the early nineties to witness thumbs up. Coke is a big bad corporation and that makes them evil, but when I traveled I always drink coke. Coke has always been obsessed with keeping its flavor consistent across markets. To get there they have to start with consistent water. That means their water is filtered and treated properly before it is turned into coke. So, when I am tra…

If your health is the reason is why you are drinking Coke, I have some bad news for you. Coke is produced by local bottlers, franchisees, who produce it under license. The production standards for Coke vary across the world, and the health codes each bottler follows usually confirm to local law, which varies. The Coke process is simple enough that you get the same taste, but you won't get the same health standard. An…

When "coke" read "coke products". And there were far fewer of those when I was last in Bombay. Those local bottlers are inspected by coke... which is better than being inspected by nobody. I'll take industrial standards of health over local/nonexistant standards.

Re: When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

#64

Post by pkilgore »

I've stopped reading stories like these through a lens of globalism or protectionism, but instead from the perspective of concentration of market power and competition.

It seems to me more and more that the mere existence of a Goliath in a marketplace causes far fewer David's to even attempt competition, whereas their breakup or de-integration can cause new markets to flourish (and eventually new Goliaths to arise).

The part of the story that seems to be missing above that you would normally see in the USA is that the upstarts in India here were not purchased / tookover / or otherwise integrated by the larger entity.

I wonder why this didn't happen? Is there something about India's corporate law or antitrust?

Re: When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

#66

Post by elSidCampeador »

Protectionism by itself may not be a very bad thing - it was the top-down planning mechanism tacked on top of the protectionism that did India in. Every bloody aspect of industry was regulated by the government, which was counterproductive.

For example, Bajaj scooters could only manufacture a fixed number of scooters, and that number was decided by a bureaucrat with no idea of how much demand there was. The waiting list for these scooters stretched to 10 years at times! [source - interview with Chairman of Bajaj Group here https://www.hbs.edu/creating-emerging-markets/Documents/tran... ]

Re: When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

#67

Post by osamagirl69 »

slim wrote: post #45
nkurz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm dubious about the numbers as well, but this article tries to do a full calculation of water usage for a .5L bottle of Coca Cola produced in the Netherlands: https://www.waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/CocaCola-TNC-... It concludes that each .5L bottle requires 35L of water as input. The majority of this is from the water required to grow sugar beets, which comes primarily from natural rainfall. Obviously, Indi…

coke gets delivered around the world in barrels concentrated. only water is added in factories.

Even in places where concentrate is delivered, they add the sweetener (HFCS, sugar, fruit juice, etc depending on location and product) at the bottling plant.

Coke is about 10% by volume sugar, and the pre-mixed syrup with sweetener (like used in soda fountains) is usually prepared for a 5:1 dilution ratio in a soda fountain. The concentrate that goes to the bottling plants is basically straight phosphoric acid and caffeine with some secret 'natural flavors' that is usually diluted at more than 1:100 ratio with the sweetener.

Re: When India kicked out Coca-Cola, local sodas thrived (2019)

#70

Post by paxys »

missedthecue wrote: post #68

When [country] enacted protectionist polices, [protected industry] thrived!

Look up the limitless number of examples of government overregulation and failed policies for the past hundreds of years in every country in the world and you'll see why it isn't that obvious.
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