September 2010

Coca-Cola recently bought one of the four largest juice makers in Russia, Nidan Juices. Both Coca-Cola and their rival Pepsi Co. are looking overseas for markets where they can sell their products. Coca-Cola is still pushing to expand its line of non-carbonated drinks, so this move is big news because it works toward both. In the last 20 years, Coca-Cola has spend 2 billion dollars in Russia, and in the coming couple of years it plans to invest another billion. Over 6 months ago, Coca-Cola made its first move in acquiring Nidan. They finally sealed the deal and are hoping for great cost savings and revenue in Russia in the future.  

August 2010

Sony is gearing up for the holiday season! (It’s only summer now, but Sony has to start thinking about holiday sales early). Sony’s current e-reader (a product used to read books electronically) is looking to compete with Amazon’s new product. Sony is not simply going to cut prices to outdo Amazon, instead they are trying to make their product more advanced by including a touch screen. The company is taking a bit of a risk hoping that consumers won't be able to do without a touch screen, because when Sony’s product includes all of the features that Amazon’s does (plus its exclusive touch screen), it is much more expensive. Interestingly, Amazon doesn’t care so much about selling the reader as the electronic books that go with it, because that is where it expects to make its profit. Sony is concerned just with selling the readers, so hopefully it can obtain a share of the market.