READ CAREFULLY AND THEN RESPOND
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola company was founded in the United States in 1886. The company set up bottling plants in Canada in 1906. In 1928, it introduced the soft drink Coca-Cola at the Olympic Games which were held in Amsterdam. In the 1940s, the company began to set up bottling plants in countries around the world. Coca-Cola is popular because it has been advertised as a brand of soft drink connected with fun, friends and good times. Its international image was successfully promoted by a 1971 commercial, where a group of young people from all over the world gathered on a hilltop in Italy to sing "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke." In 1978, the Coca-Cola Company was selected as the only non-Chinese company allowed to sell packaged cold drinks in the People's Republic of China. Today, the company produces nearly 400 brands in over 200 countries. More than 70 percent of the company’s income comes from outside the United States. Coca-Cola is an extraordinarily successful example of multinationalization. Its success raises the question of why and how it has been so successful. The multinationalization of the Coca-Cola Company is also often used as an example to illustrate the concept of economic globalization.