Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are the leading competitors in the market for cola products. In 1960 Coca-Cola introduced Sprite, which today is the worldwide leader in the lemon-lime soft drink market and ranks fourth among all soft drinks worldwide. Prior to 1999, PepsiCo did not have a product that competed directly against Sprite and had to decide whether to introduce such a soft drink. By not introducing a lemon-lime drink, PepsiCo would continue to earn a $200 million profit and Coca Cola would continue to earn a $300 million profit.
Suppose that by introducing a new lemon-line soft drink, one of two possible strategies could be pursued : (1) PepsiCo could trigger a price war with Coca-Cola in both lemon-lime and cola markets or (2) Coca-Cola could acquiesce and each firm maintains its current 50/50 split of the cola market and split the lemon-lime market 70/30 in favor of Coca-Cola. If Pepsi introduced a lemon-lime drink and a price war resulted, both companies would earn profits of $100 million. Alternatively, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo would earn $275 million and $227 million, respectively, if PepsiCo introduce a lemon-lime drink and Coca-Cola acquiesced and split the markets as listed above.
Diagram this situation using the extensive or tree-form of a game.
If you were a manager of PepsiCo, would you try to convince your colleagues that introducing the new soft drink is the most profitable strategy? Why or why not?