The impact that political and legal forces have on the carbonated soft drink market basically relate purely to the labelling and ingredient content in the products.
Drought affects Australia increasing water usage costs even higher than they already are.
Implications:
Virgin Cola does not have the money to spend on relabelling or changing the label of their soft drinks, therefore labelling must abide by the conditions of the ACCC to prevent any issues.
OPPORTUNITIES
RATING*
THREATS
RATING*
The ACCC requires by law that labelling give sugar and kilojoule content. 15
Regulations by the government are costly to abide by. Water usage costs are high after drought.
The rating is based on a double-digit 5-point scale for the degree of significance and for probability of occurrence. The first number/5 represents the degree of significance rating out of 5, 5= extremely significant and 1 = not very significant. The second number/5 represents the probability of occurrence, 5= extremely likely and 1 = low probability.
TECHNOLOGICAL FORCES
Technological forces have a high impact on the carbonated beverage market in Australia, continuing technological advancements allow the supply chain of competitors to become faster and faster. The development of things such as recyclable bottles and new and improved vending machines also adds another dimension to the carbonated soft drink market.
Scenario:
Advanced technology allows companies’ to develop 100% recyclable bottles and cans making them available to all companies’
Implications:
The continual advancement in technological forces will effect potential new entrants. New entrants are looking for a point of differentiation and technological advancements may be this point.
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
New and improved ingredients can be used in Virgin Cola, ingredients that are cheaper can be found and worked with.
Coke have been researching and planning to develop the new “PlantBottle” which is aiming at being 100% recyclable. 16
Primary inputs for soft drinks manufacturers include concentrates, a range of natural and synthetic sweeteners such as corn syrup and refined sugar (sucrose), aspartame, and similar ingredients17.
Companies must take into account the unpredictablility of natural disasters which heavily effect the production of natural and raw materials.
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
“In the 12 months to 30 June 2010, Australia's population increased by 377,100 people, reaching 22,342,000. The annual growth rate for the year ended 30 June 2010 (1.7%) was lower than that recorded for the year ended 30 June 2009 (2.2%).” 18
Due to Australias unpredictable weather, water availability in the last decade has been scarce, this creates rising costs for water usage which will affect the cost of raw materials to create the product.