Apply a critical Perspective to the company decision in the 1980s to Essay

Apply a critical Perspective to the company decision in the 1980s to launch reformulated Coca Cola and suggest where a different approach to the loss of sales might have produced a different outcome - Essay Example The popularity of Pepsi products were focused on the sweetness factor which was missing in the Coke. As such, in April 1985, the company announced the decision to introduce the New Coke which had a sweeter taste and take the old flavour Coke off the shelves. This decision on the part of the company went on to become a big marketing blunder in the history of Coca Cola. The launch of the New Coke received a high level of protests from the consumers and had far reached effects on the sales and profitability of the company. Coca Cola as forced to call back the New Coke products within six weeks of their launch in the market due to extensive consumer protests and criticism regarding the decision of the company. Though, Coca Cola reversed itself and tried to position the old Coke back as the important product of the brand both in terms of production and sales, yet the sales of Coke continued dropping for a long time causing huge damage to the brand reputation as well a the profitability of the company. Coca Cola was known to be a market oriented and market savvy business which was renowned for its ability to serve the customer needs. But the blunder of new coke created much negative impact for the company and indicated its inefficiency in identifying the market needs and being blinded by the sole aim to compete with its rival, Pepsi. The paper will discuss the background of the problem and will try to find out the reasons for decision failure. It will talk about the initial response and the response of the market in the decision problem part and will also talk about the alternative strategies in the next part. The marketing and financial implications of the New Coke launch indicated the decision to be incomplete and inaccurate. Though extensive market research was carried out by the company before making the decision of replacing the old flavour of the Coke with a new flavour similar to Pepsi, it can