The Other Guy Blinked : How Pepsi Won the Cola Wars

Rating:
Summary: Well.............................
Review: This book is a nice history tool. Whoever who was there at the eighties would remember the epic "Colas war" between Pepsi and Coke. You could have a lot of insights about advertising, diversification and marketing at the time with this book. Problems are: (1) This is obviusly biased, for Enrico couldn't write a book granting any victory to Coke; (2) What happened next: Goizueta became sort of brahman of the business community of America and the main topic of Enrico's book (the debacle of New Coke due, according to him, to Coke's despair because of the excellent performance of Pepsi which in turn lead to this well-rememberede disaster) has became a classic case of how a leader turns a catastrophe into a golden opportunity. Of course, debacle it was when the book was written and I bought all the insights of Enrico, but almost 20 years after it doesn't seem such a problem at all. At the end, in spite of this book, considering the market value of Coke and the results of its planning, probably it was Coke's army leaded by Goizueta who won the war if it was a war at all, since nobody call like this any more.

Rating:
Summary: Well.............................
Review: This book is a nice history tool. Whoever who was there at the eighties would remember the epic "Colas war" between Pepsi and Coke. You could have a lot of insights about advertising, diversification and marketing at the time with this book. Problems are: (1) This is obviusly biased, for Enrico couldn't write a book granting any victory to Coke; (2) What happened next: Goizueta became sort of brahman of the business community of America and the main topic of Enrico's book (the debacle of New Coke due, according to him, to Coke's despair because of the excellent performance of Pepsi which in turn lead to this well-rememberede disaster) has became a classic case of how a leader turns a catastrophe into a golden opportunity. Of course, debacle it was when the book was written and I bought all the insights of Enrico, but almost 20 years after it doesn't seem such a problem at all. At the end, in spite of this book, considering the market value of Coke and the results of its planning, probably it was Coke's army leaded by Goizueta who won the war if it was a war at all, since nobody call like this any more.

Rating:
Summary: A must read book for every young executive!
Review: While reading this book, I actually felt like I was in Pepsi's corporate headquarters, in Purchase New York, listening in on their strategic planning and implementation. Roger Enrico wrote this book when he was just the president of Pepsi USA. He tells a great story of the underdog going to battle with the giant. Today Enrico is the CEO of Pepsi CO, and responsible for the spin off that created the new company Tricon. Reading this book will emphasize one's understanding of the importance and value of having a good mentor. Also, after reading Enrico's accounts of the "cola wars" one may never want to watch television or go to the movies again, because all of the real life drama is created by the competition that corporate America thrives on. Enrico points out that Pepsi alone sells enough soft drinks in a year to float an entire armada, and then proposes the question "why?" As he says, water is a lot cheaper and booze provides a better kick. Its all about great marketing. Once I picked the book up, I couldn't put it down.