The Cola Wars: The story of the global battle between the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, Inc. Hardcover – January 1, 1980

A full subtitle would read: "A history of the nonessential in the United States from Reconstruction through the Nixon era." Read how Coke rose, in Atlanta, fron the ashes of the Civil War; how Pepsi got its start in North Carolina. The book takes away lots of old assumptions I'd long held. (For instance, I learned it all started with the syrup, not the bottle.) Each page has its own little charge of fizz. "Advertizing is our real product," said one Coke executive. Read how these guys became big players on the international scene. But watch out for "Cola Wars" by Dennis J Barton. Make sure "The" is in front of "Cola Wars." Barton's book is a novel I haven't read. It may be good but it's not "the real thing."

Executive Summary:This is a review of The Cola Wars: The story of the global battle between the Coca-Cola Company and Pepsi Co, Inc. by J.C. Louis. The summary of the book is about how Coca-Cola and Pepsi were developed. The book covers the history of both companies, business practices, and how they rose to the level they are today. The target audience for the book would be historians and anyone that would be interested in learning about how these large corporations were created and competed against each other. The weakness of the book is too much political jargon and unnecessary history. The strengths of the book are the in depth analysis it shares of all the characters and it does a good job of placing the reader back in the era when the companies were just being created. We do not recommend this book because it was filled with useless information in certain parts of the book and it was hard to read and understand.Who is the book written for?This book is written for people with a desire to learn about how to manage a corporation. The beginning of the book talks about how the products were created and then it leads on into how to manage a corporation. The author takes you on a journey from infancy stage through maturity, citing the environmental political environment at each stage of development. Historians or anyone interested in learning about how to manage a large corporation would be interested in this book. Coca cola or Pepsi lovers / fans would also be interested in learning how these corporations became to be the organizations they are today.Specific Strengths of the Book:The strengths of the book are the in depth analysis it shares of all the characters in the book and the environment they had to deal with. The author does a great job in illustrating each company's strategic strengthens and weaknesses in advertising, expanding, and globalization. We also enjoyed the author's use of the current political and/or economic environment at certain points in the book in order to "put" the reader "there", for example, using quotes from soldiers during World War II, "...just the thought of having a Coke again is enough to keep you going.." It would be easy for the book to just talk about the company and the people involved with the company but it goes into great detail describing the environment surrounding the companies and why that had an impact on how successful they became. We also enjoyed how it showed how simple products or items can become a worldwide trademark.Specific Weaknesses of the Book:The main weakness of the book to us was it was written in a way that was hard to read. Having all that information about the company and environment was great but it made it pretty difficult to read. Some of the information we did not find relevant to the company at all and we felt could have been left out of the book altogether. It was an interesting read but it was sometimes hard to keep up with. There is almost an entire chapter dedicated to politics and Pepsi, with endless dates and numerous agencies mentioned. At times the author went on tangents and didn't keep to the main theme of the book.What Other Reviewers Have Said for and Against the Book and Your Reply:Douglas G. Berg said "A full subtitle would read: "A history of the nonessential in the United States from Reconstruction through the Nixon era." Read how Coke rose, in Atlanta, from the ashes of the Civil War; how Pepsi got its start in North Carolina. The book takes away lots of old assumptions I'd long held."In a way we agree with Douglas Berg and disagree. It took away some of the minor assumptions we had held about the companies. We learned so much from this book that we did not know before. One assumption some of us had was that Coca Cola and its bottles were both part of the same organization. But in reality Coca-Cola is not a single entity like that. Coca-Cola and its bottling operations are two separate entities. It really didn't take away any big assumptions we had held about these companies but it changed our mind about some of the small things.Recommendations:We would recommend this book to anyone with a passion for history on large corporations. Although the book at times is well written and places the reader in a particular era, it is filled with too much history in certain points that makes it unnecessary and boring. If you are looking for a quick summary of how these organizations came to be then you would not be interested in this book. This book goes into extensive detail about the market conditions, the leaders of the companies, and the practices of the companies that led them to where they are today.

Great book should be required reading for all history classes.

Great book!