Lipton Ice Tea Goes Global: The Eastern European Challenge (Part B - Strategy)

This is part of a case series. The case describes the rollout of Lipton Ice Tea across Europe in the late 1990s to early 2000s, a brand variant identified by Unilever's Foods division as having the potential to go global and to spearhead the development of a new category in the soft drinks market. Unilever faced the challenge of developing new partnerships and business systems which are alien to the company's historical role as a supplier to the grocery sector. Part B describes the business system created to support the launch of LIT in Russia, a partnership with the regional PepsiCo bottler, Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG). It provides answers to the uncertainties posed at the end of Part A and can be used either as a handout or wrap-up at the end of a session focusing purely on Part A, or as a case to be taught on its own. This two-part case has been written with the purpose of multiple usages. There is one single version of Part A and three variants of Part B, which enable the case to be taught from the standpoints of Strategy, Brand Management, and Operations Management.