Discussion Post: Operations Management
I believe Coca-Cola to be an exception to the statement "generating a steady stream of new products to market is extremely important to competitiveness". I believe this to be true in many cases but based on Coke's history I would say it is not necessarily true in theirs. While Coke does offer many other products such as juices and teas and they do often bring new products to market (a few that come to mind are Coke Zero and the Coca-Cola Freestyle drink dispensers one might see in a fast-food restaurant), I believe that their success can be primarily attributed to consistency and brand loyalty. The flavor of Coke has remained relatively unchanged throughout the years so customers always know what they are getting. I would also imagine that through this uniformity, Coke has been able to come up with some effective cost saving methods of production. As far as brand loyalty is concerned, people who like Coke products seem to develop an extreme loyalty to the product and will refuse a competitor such as Pepsi. I've known some whose loyalty to Coke products borderlines religious zealotry. It also probably doesn't hurt that many of Coke's products are addictive which encourages repeat customers.
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