Introduction

The beverage industry of Bangladesh is an old, steady yet neglected industry. For many years,
the only product of the industry was Carbonated Beverage or Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) and
the number of players was limited to only a handful. Today, the industry has flourished
considerably with a bunch of new enterprises and through the introduction of newer and more
diverse products.
1.2

Objective

The major purpose of this report is to focus light on one of the oldest and key player of the
beverage industry of Bangladesh, Abdul Monem Ltd. (abbreviated as AML). The underlying
objectives

of

the

report

are

To know about the inception of the enterprise, as a whole and of its beverage unit as well.

To

know

the

operations

and

the

management

structure

of

AML.

Put light on the production, distribution and promotion of the beverage products of AML.
To review the strategic moves and plans of AML as a Strategic Business Unit to gain market
share,

make

Recommend

good

profit

and

relevant

strategic

moves

achieve
to

achieve

sustainable
even

growth.

better

result.

Conduct a sample survey and interpret the results to visualize whether the strategies of AML are
working well for the enterprise.
1.3

Methodology

The mode of methodology selected for this research is known as Multi-methodology. Also known
as Mixed Methods Research, Multi-methodology is an approach to professional research that
combines the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data.
Qualitative

Analysis

The sample data gathered in qualitative research are analyzed and categorized into patterns as
the primary basis for organizing and drawing results for the report. Qualitative research for this
report involved three methods for gathering information:

Direct
in

analysis of documents and materials.

depth

observation
interviews

and

The key methods to be used for data collection are the Key Informant Interview (KII) and Depth
Interview.
Quantitative

Analysis

The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories
and/or hypotheses pertaining to natural phenomena. The Quantitative Research techniques
applied

for

this

report

Collection

of

Modeling

are

sample

and

analysis

data
of

data

Evaluation of results
1.4 Conceptual Framework
1.5

Scope

Due to several unavoidable situation and reality, the extent of this report has been compromised
up

to

certain

limit.

The

boundaries

of

this

report

are

thus

This report focuses only on the beverage production units and facilities of AML, the other
business

fronts

of

AML

are

not

covered

in

this

report.

This report will focus on the value chain activity of the beverage production unit of AML, from
production

to

promotion,

and

the

key

strategic

factors

affecting

those

activities.

The report will also focus on the ethical and CSR activities of AML as a whole, i.e. for every
business unit of the enterprise.
1.6

Limitations

The extent and limit of the report were constricted due to some of the following considerations:
The time allocated for the report was limited which constricted the extent of this report.
The beverage industry of Bangladesh is not well documented, so no strict facts and figures
were found from the enterprise respondants or any other secondary sources.
Chapter

An Overview of Abdul Monem Ltd.

2.1

Introduction

Abdul Monem Ltd. (AML) is the only official bottler of Coca Cola, Sprite, Fanta Orange and Fanta
Lemon in Bangladesh authorized by the Coca Cola International headquarter located in Atlanta,
USA. Through three bottling plants located in Dhaka, Comilla and Chittagong and with a devoted

distribution channel spread all around the country, AML has well established its strong and
dominant presence in beverage industry of Bangladesh.
2.2

Inception

and

Expansion

AML started its operation back in 1956 as a construction firm and was engaged in major
government construction work. Within a few decades, the organization diversified its operation in
other industries, especially in food and beverage industry. AML started its Ice Cream Plant in
Chittagong in 1964 with a brand name IGLOO followed by the bottling license and distributorship
of Coca Cola in 1982. Today, AML has eight different business lines running with a yearly
turnover of over US$ 85.7 million dollar or BDT 6 billion. The group of business of AML are
consist

of

Construction Contractors for the road & highways, bridges, buildings & flood embankment

Bottler

and

Distributor

Manufacturer

Abdul

Coca

of

Fanta

&

Ice

Sugar

AM
Manufacturer

Cola,

IGLOO

Monem

of

Refinery

Pharma

of

AmoMilk

Sprite
Cream
Ltd.
Ltd.

Liquid

Pasteurized

Milk

Manufacture

of

IGLOO

Ghee

Manufacture

of

IGLOO

Sugar

Trading

&

Distributing

product

of

Danone

Brands

AML InfoTech Ltd.

2.3 LOGISTICS support for the Beverage Unit
The Company has strong logistic fleet and manpower to ensure the distribution of its beverage
product to each corner of the market place. Even the unit has its own Cargo Vessels to service
the Southern part of the country where waterways is holding a major part of the land. The satellite
warehouses established at different logistic locations help to facilitate keeping the sufficient
stocks in the remote areas.
The bottling plants of AML for bottling Coca Cola are located in Dhaka, Comilla and Chittagong.
However, at present, the operation of Dhaka plant is suspended and the total bottling operation is
constricted to the other two plants. The details of the Chittagong and Comilla plant are given
below
Chittagong

:
Comilla

Site

Area

Year

10

of
Controlled-Fully

Packages

Mill.
250

Automated)

Capability

H&K

1000

Germany
/

BPM
cases/Yr

ml,

1987

600

6.5

Acres

1997

KHS

Capacity

operation

Line
(PLC

Acres

KHS

175

Germany

450
4.5

ml

BPM

Mill.
ml,

250

Plastic

cases/Yr
ml,

1000

ml
cases

Fill height detector

2.4 Mission Statement
The mission of Abdul Monem Ltd is to build business ventures committed to achieving the highest
quality product and serve the betterment of society.
While the mission statement of AML is desirable and focused, it lacks clarity, is too generic and
swarming with superlatives like best and highest. The mission statement lacks motivation and is
so broad that it really doesnt rule out any opportunity that the management may opt to pursue.
2.5 Vision Statement
Abdul Monem Ltd aims at providing the society with significant assistance in achieving the
maximum potentiality.
The vision statement of AML is focused and obtainable. The vision guides its personnel to a
definite direction and provides an idea about its utilization of its potentials.
2.6 Objectives : The Balanced Scorecard Approach
AML strives to set up well defined and obtainable strategic and financial objectives while keeping
in mind the long range and short range goals. To maintain an organizational profile that is
trustworthy to all its stakeholders, AML gives more priority to provide a uniform balance on all
objective fronts.

Financial

Objective

Abdul Monem Limited aims at generating appropriate financial results through sustainable growth
and constant renewal of balanced business structure.
Strategic

Objective

Abdul Monem Limited is open and trustworthy to all its business partners and consumers.
Through devoted business activities, it wish to make worthwhile contribution to the progress of
the country.
Short

Term

Goals

AML aims to be one of the top market leaders, if not the supreme, while maintaining its profit and
goodwill assuring maximum benefit to its clients and employees. To achieve the companys short
term goals, the senior executives exhibit behavior based on the principles of leadership and
teamwork in general and situational leadership model in particular. They are result oriented,
accountable, open and humane.
Long

Term

Goals

Guided by the vision, AML believes in ensuring long term existence by being profitable,
successful and sustainable. This is achieved by the companys commitments in providing valueadding products and services demonstrate the companys commitment to use resources
optimally.
2.7 Strategy Making Hierarchy
The beverage unit of Abdul Monem Limited works under two different managements. The
production and quality control of the beverage is maintained and strictly monitored by the
international Coca Cola authority headquartered at Atlanta, USA, whereas the local operations
are maintained under the supervision of Abdul Monem Limited Beverage Unit Management
Board.
International

Management

of

Coca

Cola

At the lowest level of the International Coca Cola management team is the local authorized
bottler, Abdul Monem Limited. AML is accountable to the Country Manager of Coca Cola Far East
Limited office located in Bangladesh. The hierarchy then goes up to the Vice President of South
West Asia Regional Office to the President of Coca Cola India to President of Coca Cola

EURESIA Group which is directly responsible to the highest authority for the operation of Coca
Cola all over the work, the President of Board of Director of Coca Cola at Atlanta, USA.
Local

Management

for

Beverage

Operation

The strategies and operations of the beverage unit of AML are maintained under the control of
the General Managers of corresponding divisions. The General Managers are supervised by the
Chief Operating Officer of the Coca Cola Operations, who is accountable to the Board of
Directors composed of The Managing Director and Deputy Managing Directors. The operation
and performance of the Coca Cola operations of AML are closely monitored by the International
Coca Cola Authority through its regional stations.
A conceptual flow diagram of the strategy making hierarchy of Abdul Monem Limited is given
below:
2.7 SWOT Analysis
The Strengths and Weakness of an enterprise represents its internal health and vulnerability
whereas the Opportunity and Threats represents its degree of external exposure and interactivity.
SWOT analysis provides a good overview of whether its overall situation is fundamentally healthy
or unhealthy and provides the basis for crafting strategy on every front.
SWOT

Matrix

Strengths
1. International brand image of Coca Cola
2. Technical expertise and R&D provided by international authority of Coca Cola
3. Nationwide distributorship driven by highly motivated workforce
4. Value chain integration through the efficient use of the other business entities of the group,
such as the products of IGLOO Sugar is used as a base ingredient in Coca Cola.
Weakness
1. Over dependency on the international Coca Cola authority.
2. No room for crafting brand level strategies concerning the beverage Coca Cola

Opportunities
1. At present, AML only bottles and distributes only three brands of beverages Coca Cola,
Sprite and Fanta. It is always possible to introduce other world famous Coca Cola brands like
Bislery (Drinking Water), Maaza (Mango Drink) and others.
2. AML currently can distribute its beverages only in Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet and Barishal
Division. The acquisition of the distributorship of the whole Bangladesh will be a great opportunity
for AML.
Threats
1. The ever rising number of new entrants in the business.
2. Narrow band of beverage product line compared to the competitors.
3. Dominance of substitute beverage products like fruit juice.
2.8 Major Rivals
The rivals for the beverage unit of AML range from the rivals producing other carbonated
beverages as well as from the producers of other beverages such as Fruit Juices, Flavored Milk,
Synthetic Drinks and Pure Drinking Water. Notably, the major rivals of AML are:
Rival

Carbonated

Transcom

Pertex

AMCL
Globe

Beverage

Beverage

(Pepsi

Group

Cola,

(RC
PRAN

Cola,
(Pran

Beverage

Producers
7up,

Mirinda)

RC

Lemon)

Cola,

(Uro

Cola,

Pran
Uro

Up)
Lemon)

Akij Food and Beverage Limited, AFBL (Lemu, Mojo, Spa)

Rival

Fruit
AMCL

Juice
Pran

(Pran

Producers
Fruit

Juice)

Acme Pharmaceuticals (Acme Juice)

Rival

Other
AMCL

Beverage
Pran

(Synthetic

Producers
Lychi

Drink)

Milk

Vita

(Flavored

Milk)

Arong (Flavored Milk)

2.9 Recognition
In 1991 the Company was awarded with the Presidents Turtle Award by the President of The
Coca-Cola Company for recognition of its contribution for positioning the brand. This is the most
prestigious reward to the Bottlers from The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC).
Chapter

Abdul Monem Limited : Strategical Analysis

3.1 Competitive Strategy
AML and its beverage products, i.e. Coca Cola, Sprite, Fanta Orange and Fanta Lemon are well
known for providing best value to its clients for the cost they pay for it. AML only have four
products in its beverage line, so clearly they are not going for Broad Differentiation. Though the
competition in the industry is tense than ever, still the price set by AML is in the top region, so
they are not eyeing to be the Low Cost Provider either. They produce no products for any niche
group or for any special price facilitated groups. Thus, strategically AML can be classified as he
Best Cost Provider.
3.2 Complementary Strategy
3.2.1

Strategic

Alliances

or

Collaborative

Partnership

From the very beginning of its beverage operation, AML has been the market leader by a great
distance. They never felt any necessity to make collaboration with any rivals. However, since
AML is authorized for distributing its products only in half of the regions of the country, they made
a strategic alliance with the enterprise, Tabani Beverage, that distributes on the other half of the
country. According to this alliance, AML will provide and supply Tabani Beverage with all the
products they need and Tabani Beverage is only authorized to distribute those to its own territory.
Due to this alliance, though AML lost the authority for the distributorship all over the country, they
made sure to utilize their total capacity of production by producing beverage products for the
whole nation.

3.2.2

Merger

and

Acquisition

Though no record for merger was found in the history of AML, the entrance of AML in beverage
industry was the result of a huge acquisition of cotemporary scenario. Till 1982, the authorized
bottler of Coca Cola for Bangladesh was entitled to K. Rahman & Company. AML took over its
bottling operation by acquiring the plant of the K. Rahman & Company in Chittagong in 1982. It
has set up two more bottling plants, one in Dhaka and other in Comilla, till then.
3.2.3

Value

Chain

and

Vertical

Integration

As a group of company, AML enjoys the privilege of vertical integration through both forward and
backward linkage operations. It has its own plants for producing raw materials and own diverse
and well equipped distribution channel for distributing the finished product.
The Value Chain starts from acquiring the main ingredient of the beverage, called the FORMULA.
The FORMULA is a chemical compound that works as the heart of the beverage and due to
business secret, no one except for the original Coca Cola Company can produce it. After
receiving the concentrated FORMULA, it is diluted and processed by adding other components
like drinking water, sugar, Carbon Dioxide and so on. The sugar used in this process demand
high quality, so AML established its own sugar plant, IGLOO Sugar to get a regular supply of high
quality sugar.
The finished beverage is then bottled and sent to the major regional distributors who make it
available in the shops for the customers through local dealers.
A flow chart for the complete Value Chain process is given below :

3.2.4

Outsourcing

The only outsourced item in the total value chain process of AML in producing, bottling and
distributing Coca Cola is the making of the bottle itself. For the case of glass bottles, the regional
headquarter of Coca Cola, Coca Cola India (CCI) supplies AML the bottle they require to ensure
the quality of the bottle regarding shape, strength and safety. For the PET bottles, AML has
outsourced them through making special orders to the outside producers of PET bottles.
3.2.5

Strategic

Moves

For decades, the beverage industry of Bangladesh has been a monopolistic market with Coca
Cola the only market leader. Thus, undertaking any strategic moves, offensive or defensive, was
unnecessary. However, as the competition grew, being offensive or defensive through adopting
new strategic moves became more and more crucial.
In 1987 the Company made an aggressive move to expand the market by installing a new H&K
bottling line with an installed capacity of 450 Bottles Per Minute (BPM) bottling capacity at
Comilla. With this move, the Company immediately gained the market leadership position from
the Pepsi which was the leader for more than 27 years. Long term planning and
aggressive marketing approach rewarded the Company with the market leadership position for
the brands that remains till date.
AML also takes defensive moves time to time by sending messages of retaliation to its rivals by
occasional price cut and offering frills. Such moves have become more and more common
especially during the festive seasons like Eid.
3.3 Functional Area Strategy
Functional Area Strategies are mostly monitored and supervised by the Board of Directors. This
is due to the necessity to keep balance between different lines of business that the enterprise
pursues. While the Technological support and Research and Development activities are mostly
provided by Coca Cola International, AML is responsible for the production, bottling, marketing
and sales and distribution of Coca Cola in Bangladesh. While the accounts and finance division is
separate for the beverage unit of AML, the Human Resource Department works for the whole
enterprise as a whole.
3.4

Timing

of

Strategy

As a player of a monopolistic market, the timing of strategy was never been a problem for AML as

a bottler and distributor of Coca Cola in Bangladesh. Almost all the technology and approaches in
the beverage industry of Bangladesh are one way or another introduced by Coca Cola and AML.
In this regard, AML and Coca Cola has always been the First Mover in the beverage industry of
Bangladesh.
3.5 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Business Ethics for the beverage industry mainly comes from the health perspective. All the
ingredients used in the production of Coca Cola under AML are strictly monitored by the Coca
Cola Company, USA. Any violation from the required standard would result in a cancellation of
the license.
As for the social responsibility, AML runs one madrasa, one college and one Etimkhana for the
poor people of the village Brijesswar in Brahmanbaria under the financing of AML Foundation.
AML Foundation is also engaged in providing micro finance to the poor of the village. Other than
that, AML runs relief works and provides pure drinking water in any case of natural disaster.
Chapter

Findings & Recommendations

4.1 Findings
The carbonated beverage industry of Bangladesh is visibly a matured and declining industry.
The existing market of carbonated beverage is seriously threatened by the emergence of other
substitute

beverage

products.

Due to the narrow product line, AML and its beverage unit is having a hard time to maintain its
share

in

the

market.

Over the last decade, numerous number of new enterprises has entered the industry and
eventually

have

swamped

the

industry

for

its

volume.

The policy and technology determined by the Coca Cola Company, USA are not always suitable
for the case of Bangladesh.
4.2 Recommendations
To introduce other well anticipated products of Coca Cola Company in local market.
Going for some alliance with some of the major rivals or if possible acquiring some of them.

 As the oldest enterprise in the beverage industry of the country, the only cost AML can consider
is the variable cost of the product and can forget about the establishment cost as it should have
been recovered after all these days. Thus, AML can consider a serious price cut to rule out the
smaller player from the market and gain more share.
Strengths

of
International

Technical

brand

expertise

Nationwide

and

AML

image

R&D

provided

distributorship

driven

by

of

Coca

international
by

authority

highly

of

motivated

Cola
Coca

Cola

workforce

Value chain integration through the efficient use of the other business entities of the group, such
as the products of IGLOO Sugar is used as a base ingredient in Coca Cola.
Weakness

Over

of
dependency

on

the

AML

international

Coca

Cola

authority.

No room for crafting brand level strategies concerning the beverage Coca Cola
Opportunities

for

AML

At present, AML only bottles and distributes only three brands of beverages Coca Cola, Sprite
and Fanta. It is always possible to introduce other world famous Coca Cola brands like Bislery
(Drinking

Water),

Maaza

(Mango

Drink)

and

others.

AML currently can distribute its beverages only in Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet and Barishal
Division. The distributor for the rest of the country is Tabani Beverage, who gets the supply of
beverages from AML. The acquisition of the distributorship of the whole Bangladesh will be a
great opportunity for AML.
Threats

The

Narrow

for
ever
band

rising
of

number
beverage

of
product

AML
new

entrants

in

line

compared

to

the
the

business.
competitors.

Dominance of substitute beverage products like fruit juice.

Chapter
Abdul Monem Limited : Strategic Analysis
3.1 Competitive Strategy

AML and its beverage products, i.e. Coca Cola, Sprite, Fanta Orange and Fanta Lemon are well
known for providing best value to its clients for the cost they pay for it. AML only have four
products in its beverage line, so clearly they are not going for Broad Differentiation. Though the
competition in the industry is tense than ever, still the price set by AML is in the top region, so
they are not eyeing to be the Low Cost Provider either. They produce no products for any niche
group or for any special price facilitated groups. Thus, strategically AML can be classified as he
Best Cost Provider.
3.2 Complementary Strategy
3.2.1

Strategic

Alliances

or

Collaborative

Partnership

From the very beginning of its beverage operation, AML has been the market leader by a great
distance. They never felt any necessity to make collaboration with any rivals. However, since
AML is authorized for distributing its products only in half of the regions of the country, they made
a strategic alliance with the enterprise, Tabani Beverage, that distributes on the other half of the
country. According to this alliance, AML will provide and supply Tabani Beverage with all the
products they need and Tabani Beverage is only authorized to distribute those to its own territory.
Due to this alliance, though AML lost the authority for the distributorship all over the country, they
made sure to utilize their total capacity of production by producing beverage products for the
whole nation.
3.2.2

Merger

and

Acquisition

Though no record for merger was found in the history of AML, the entrance of AML in beverage
industry was the result of a huge acquisition of cotemporary scenario. Till 1982, the authorized
bottler of Coca Cola for Bangladesh was entitled to K. Rahman & Company. AML took over its
bottling operation by acquiring the plant of the K. Rahman & Company in Chittagong in 1982. It
has set up two more bottling plants, one in Dhaka and other in Comilla, till then.
3.2.3

Value

Chain

and

Vertical

Integration

As a group of company, AML enjoys the privilege of vertical integration through both forward and
backward linkage operations. It has its own plants for producing raw materials and own diverse
and well equipped distribution channel for distributing the finished product.
The Value Chain starts from acquiring the main ingredient of the beverage, called the FORMULA.
The FORMULA is a chemical compound that works as the heart of the beverage and due to

business secret, no one except for the original Coca Cola Company can produce it. After
receiving the concentrated FORMULA, it is diluted and processed by adding other components
like drinking water, sugar, Carbon Dioxide and so on. The sugar used in this process demand
high quality, so AML established its own sugar plant, IGLOO Sugar to get a regular supply of high
quality sugar.
The finished beverage is then bottled and sent to the major regional distributors who make it
available in the shops for the customers through local dealers.
A flow chart for the complete Value Chain process is given in the following page.
3.2.4

Outsourcing

The only outsourced item in the total value chain process of AML in producing, bottling and
distributing Coca Cola is the making of the bottle itself. For the case of glass bottles, the regional
headquarter of Coca Cola, Coca Cola India (CCI) supplies AML the bottle they require to ensure
the quality of the bottle regarding shape, strength and safety. For the PET bottles, AML has
outsourced them through making special orders to the outside producers of PET bottles.
3.2.5

Strategic

Moves

For decades, the beverage industry of Bangladesh has been a monopolistic market with Coca
Cola the only market leader. Thus, undertaking any strategic moves, offensive or defensive, was
unnecessary. However, as the competition grew, being offensive or defensive through adopting
new strategic moves became more and more crucial.
In 1987 the Company made an aggressive move to expand the market by installing a new H&K
bottling line with an installed capacity of 450 Bottles Per Minute (BPM) bottling capacity at
Comilla. With this move, the Company immediately gained the market leadership position from
the Pepsi which was the leader for more than 27 years. Long term planning and aggressive
marketing approach rewarded the Company with the market leadership position for the brands
that remains till date.
AML also takes defensive moves time to time by sending messages of retaliation to its rivals by
occasional price cut and offering frills. Such moves have become more and more common
especially during the festive seasons like Eid.
Value Chain Activities of the Beverage Unit of Abdul Monem Limited

3.3 Functional Area Strategy

Functional Area Strategies are mostly monitored and supervised by the Board of Directors. This
is due to the necessity to keep balance between different lines of business that the enterprise
pursues. While the Technological support and Research and Development activities are mostly
provided by Coca Cola International, AML is responsible for the production, bottling, marketing
and sales and distribution of Coca Cola in Bangladesh. While the accounts and finance division is
separate for the beverage unit of AML, the Human Resource Department works for the whole
enterprise as a whole.
3.4

Timing

of

Strategy

As a player of a monopolistic market, the timing of strategy was never been a problem for AML as
a bottler and distributor of Coca Cola in Bangladesh. Almost all the technology and approaches in
the beverage industry of Bangladesh are one way or another introduced by Coca Cola and AML.
In this regard, AML and Coca Cola has always been the First Mover in the beverage industry of
Bangladesh.
3.5 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Business Ethics for the beverage industry mainly comes from the health perspective. All the
ingredients used in the production of Coca Cola under AML are strictly monitored by the Coca
Cola Company, USA. Any violation from the required standard would result in a cancellation of
the license.
As for the social responsibility, AML runs one madrasa, one college and one Etimkhana for the
poor people of the village Brijesswar in Brahmanbaria under the financing of AML Foundation.

AML Foundation is also engaged in providing micro finance to the poor of the village. Other than
that, AML runs relief works and provides pure drinking water in any case of natural disaster.
Chapter

Findings & Recommendations

4.1 Evaluating the Strategies of Abdul Monem Ltd.
The last and the most important of all phases of Strategy Making Process or Strategy Executing
Process is the Evaluation. An evaluation of the effectiveness of existing strategies enables
the management to review, correct and adjusts any flaw in the system. Evaluation also dictates
the effectiveness of the employees who employ the strategies as well as the effectiveness of the
management itself.
For the beverage industry of Bangladesh, at the present scenario, the major objective of all the
players are to grab the maximum of the potential market share. This is due to the following
reasons:
The market size is limited and the possibility of expansion of new market is very low.
The industry is overcrowded with huge number of players that the market can withstand.

New
The

products

players
are

seriously

are

emerging

competed

against

all
the

rival

the
substitute

time.
products.

The industry, as a matured or even declining industry, is loosing its consumer base day by day.
Introduction of new product or new technology is apparently absent.
4.1.1

Method

of

the

Survey

To identify the market share of the beverage products of Abdul Monem Ltd. in the beverage
product market in Bangladesh, a questionnaire survey was conducted. Due to the time
constraints, the survey was conducted in only three retail stores located in three major locations
of Dhaka city. It is to be noted that as the number of sample is less than thirty in this case, the
results of this survey cannot be considered for any statistical analysis. However, the result should
give a qualitative view of the relative position of Abdul Monem Ltd. among the other competitors
in the beverage market of Bangladesh.
4.1.2

Detail

of

the

Survey

The survey was conducted in three prominent retail stores located in three prime locations of

Dhaka city; Bikrampur General Store at Kalabagan, Tasmia Departmental Store at Palashi and
Big Bazar at Mirpur. A formatted questionnaire was supplied to each of the store keepers to fill
out. The questionnaire contained both open ended and close ended questions regarding the
products of Abdul Monem Ltd, as the focus of the survey was to distinguish the difference
between the market share of Abdul Monem Ltd. and its rivals, not any other single enterprise.
4.1.3

Results

from

the

survey

The results of the survey show that all the stores under consideration sell the beverage products
of Abdul Monem Ltd. for a long period of time, though over the last few years, demand for other
brands and vendors are on an increasing trend.
Abdul Monem Ltd. markets its beverages in three different packaging systems; glass bottles, PET
bottles and Cans, whereas, most of the other beverage manufacturers packages their product in
only PET and Can form. Thus, the market share of Abdul Monem Ltd. in glass bottle beverages is
expectedly high compared to its rivals. Survey show that Abdul Monem Ltd. holds more than 70
percent of the total market share of glass bottled beverage industry.

For the PET bottled beverage industry, Abdul Monem Ltd. is facing a serious challenge from its
rival. Almost all of the rivals have diversified their PET bottled line of beverage to suit the volume
difference of the clients, whereas Abdul Monem Ltd. has a very limited number of diversified PET
bottle series. This narrow band of diversification has cost them to lose valuable market share in
the industry.
Also in the canned beverage market, Abdul Momen Ltd. lost its major market share to the new
comers for the lack of its marketing priorities. Abdul Momen Ltd. considers marketing its glass
bottled and PET bottled products as top priority and provides less than adequate attention to its

Canned beverage item. The rivals took the advantage of this opportunity and gained major
market share over Abdul Monem Ltd. at this segment of the market.
However, the distribution network, availability and consumer response seems to have always
been in favor for Abdul Monem Ltd. and Coca Cola. The retailers are more than happy with the
efficient distribution channel run by Abdul Monem Ltd. compared to that of other vendors. The
availability of the product is also very good throughout the year and the consumers also value the
beverage products of Abdul Monem Ltd. as best value, mainly due to the brand image of Coca
Cola and shear quality control.

4.1.4 Findings from the survey

Abdul Monem Ltd. is still the market leader for the glass bottled beverage market in
Bangladesh, mainly due to the fact that most of the rivals do not produce glass bottled
beverages.
Its market share in PET bottled and Canned beverage market has seriously declined and on a
serious

threat

under

the

aggression

of

the

rivals

in

this

segment.

However, the establishment and infrastructure of Abdul Monem Ltd. to distribute the product to
the footstep of the consumer remained best of all
4.2 Key Findings
The carbonated beverage industry of Bangladesh is visibly a matured and declining industry.
The existing market of carbonated beverage is seriously threatened by the emergence of other
substitute

beverage

products.

Due to the narrow product line, AML and its beverage unit is having a hard time to maintain its

share

in

the

market.

Over the last decade, numerous number of new enterprises has entered the industry and
eventually

have

swamped

the

industry

for

its

volume.

The policy and technology determined by the Coca Cola Company, USA are not always suitable
for the case of Bangladesh.
4.3 Recommendations
To introduce other well anticipated products of Coca Cola Company in local market.
Going for some alliance with some of the major rivals or if possible acquiring some of them.
As the oldest enterprise in the beverage industry of the country, the only cost AML can consider
is the variable cost of the product and can forget about the establishment cost as it should have
been recovered after all these days. Thus, AML can consider a serious price cut to rule out the
smaller player from the market and gain more share.