INDIANISATION
ADDS POWER TO COCA-COLA
Coca-Cola India
is positioned as a major sourcing destination for its global
operations. While the soft drinks major may have had to Indianise
itself to gain a stronghold in the domestic market, it is
now looking at exporting materials and business models to
its global operations.
Coca-Cola India
joins the likes of Henkel Spic, Sara Lee, Ford and Hyundai
to embrace outsourcing of goods and practices to global sister
concerns.
From the Coca-Cola
stables, products like 'Sunfill' and 'Georgia' are exported
to several countries. In fact, the company is looking at replicating
the business model of Georgia - tea and coffee in a vended
form - in Bahrain, select south-east Asian nations, and China.
The powder drink
concentrate brand Sunfill is present in Indonesia, Sri Lanka
and Bangladesh. Both Sunfill and Georgia are brands created
for India with the objective of tapping a bigger slice of
the non-alchoholic beverages market.
Apart from product
brands, the company is also a major supplier of commodities
and materials like sugar, coffee, PET bottles, recycled glass
bottles, crowns, labels and caps to its global operations,
a senior Coke official said.
Procurement costs
of commodities are much lower on account of existing economies
of scale and better bargaining power on bulk purchases. The
company is able to pass on the benefits to its global operations.
''It is a win-win situation for us. We pass on some benefits
and also gain on fulfillment of our export obligations,''
company sources said.
The company is
also increasing supplies of packing items like bottles and
caps globally. It is only in India that Coca-Cola has a mix
of its own bottling facilities and arrangements with independent
bottlers. Coca-Cola has 27 owned units, 17 franchisee units,
and 22 co-packers. While Coca-Cola Worldwide does not own
any bottling unit, the Indian strategy is to gain a hands-on
expertise in bottling.
Recycled glass
bottles are more an exception than a norm in advanced countries.
Coca-Cola India's traditional markets would be those of Sri
Lanka and Vietnam where glass bottles are still prevalent.
Company officials said countries like China and even Germany
are evaluating the possibility of using glass bottles as PET
collection and disposal are huge environmental concerns.
The company is
also looking at becoming a major source point, considering
that the India division now covers five overseas destinations
of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives. ''This
will obviously mean synergy in manufacturing and marketing,''
sources said
