????可口可樂(lè)誕生源于一個(gè)藥物問(wèn)題。

????可口可樂(lè)（Coca-Cola）品牌的創(chuàng)始人是亞特蘭大藥劑師約翰?彭伯頓。他在美國(guó)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)中參加過(guò)保衛(wèi)佐治亞州哥倫布市的戰(zhàn)斗，據(jù)很多人猜測(cè)，因?yàn)閰?zhàn)導(dǎo)致傷病纏身，他染上了吸食嗎啡（一種麻醉劑）的惡習(xí)。19世紀(jì)80年代，彭伯頓的健康狀況非常糟糕，同時(shí)經(jīng)濟(jì)上也遭受打擊。1872年，彭伯頓申請(qǐng)破產(chǎn)。幾年后，他又眼睜睜地看著自己在亞特蘭大的生意在兩場(chǎng)大火中被付之一炬。1886年，他終于擺脫債務(wù)纏身的窘境，但是手頭依然缺錢(qián)。

????就在這一年，彭伯頓在亞特蘭大推出了可口可樂(lè)。19世紀(jì)70年代末，一種叫做Vin Mariani的法國(guó)專利藥物在國(guó)際市場(chǎng)非常暢銷，這種藥是由混合了古柯樹(shù)葉的波爾多葡萄酒制成。彭伯頓的可口可樂(lè)就是仿照這種藥物飲料而來(lái)。為什么不呢？這種藥物飲料實(shí)際上是一種帶可卡因成分的葡萄酒，習(xí)慣了這種味道的消費(fèi)者對(duì)其趨之若鶩。眾多大牌名人認(rèn)為該飲料有滋補(bǔ)復(fù)元之功效，其中包括美國(guó)總統(tǒng)尤里西斯?辛普森?格蘭特和羅馬教皇利奧十三世。

????為錢(qián)所困的彭伯頓看到了商機(jī)，認(rèn)為仿制這款熱門(mén)飲料一定是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的生意。而他真就這么做了，1885年，他開(kāi)始售賣(mài)自己的飲料品牌：法國(guó)古柯葡萄酒（French Wine of Coca）。但是問(wèn)題是，當(dāng)時(shí)的清教徒呼吁禁酒，導(dǎo)致亞特蘭大全城推行禁酒令，于是彭伯頓不得不將葡萄酒換成汽水。于是在1886年，就有了這種無(wú)酒精飲料可口可樂(lè)。

????換成汽水不僅僅是應(yīng)對(duì)禁酒令的權(quán)宜之計(jì)，這也讓彭伯頓得以將約80%的產(chǎn)品生產(chǎn)外包出去。冷飲店的經(jīng)營(yíng)者們需要做的，僅僅是按一定比例將水兌入彭伯頓制成的飲料（至少五盎司水兌一盎司糖漿）。如此一來(lái)，彭伯頓出售的就只是黑色的濃縮糖漿，從而可以節(jié)省大筆運(yùn)輸費(fèi)用。當(dāng)然，冷飲店冰柜里的水就是自來(lái)水。

????1899年，亞特蘭大藥劑師艾薩?錢(qián)德勒與可口可樂(lè)簽訂了首份裝瓶授權(quán)合同，并接管公司，之后沿用了這種經(jīng)營(yíng)模式。錢(qián)德勒開(kāi)始并不同意采用這種分銷模式，因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)大多數(shù)裝瓶業(yè)務(wù)很不成熟，但是他后來(lái)認(rèn)識(shí)到，裝瓶分銷可以讓產(chǎn)品深入遠(yuǎn)離市中心的農(nóng)村市場(chǎng)。這種經(jīng)營(yíng)模式更大的好處在于：位于小城鎮(zhèn)的獨(dú)立企業(yè)主們自掏腰包助力市場(chǎng)擴(kuò)張。裝瓶公司們墊款購(gòu)買(mǎi)機(jī)器，支付包裝、市政用水以及卡車和輪胎的費(fèi)用，可口可樂(lè)的糖漿也由此迅速滲透到全國(guó)各地的商業(yè)大動(dòng)脈。

????然而，可口可樂(lè)的外包戰(zhàn)略并沒(méi)有就此止步。在供應(yīng)方面，可口可樂(lè)還盡量避免持有工廠和廠房。比如，該公司既沒(méi)有在加勒比海擁有糖種植園，或在中西部持有高果糖玉米糖漿的濕磨廠，也沒(méi)有在東南部持有脫咖啡因的設(shè)施。相反，公司依賴大量獨(dú)立的企業(yè)，如孟山都化學(xué)公司（Monsanto Chemical Company）、嘉吉公司（Cargill）、好時(shí)公司（Hershey Chocolate Company）等等，來(lái)對(duì)成品飲料中的關(guān)鍵成分進(jìn)行采掘、加工和提煉?？傊?，可口可樂(lè)不喜歡垂直的業(yè)務(wù)整合，而是作為某種商品經(jīng)紀(jì)人，通過(guò)在獨(dú)立經(jīng)營(yíng)的生產(chǎn)商和分銷商之間傳輸材料來(lái)賺錢(qián)。

????From the very beginning, Coca-Cola had a drug problem.

????The brand’s founder, Atlanta pharmacist John Stith Pemberton, was addicted to morphine, a narcotic many suspected Pemberton began using after suffering a series of debilitating wounds while defending the city of Columbus, Georgia, during the Civil War. By the 1880s, Pemberton was not well, and he was also hurting financially. In 1872, Pemberton filed for bankruptcy and a few years later watched helplessly when two fires ravaged his Atlanta business. In 1886, he had finally clawed his way out of debt but was still strapped for cash.

????That was the year Pemberton introduced Atlanta to Coca-Cola. Pemberton patterned his drink after a French patent medicine called Vin Mariani, a Bordeaux wine mixed with coca leaves, which had become quite popular in international markets by the end of the 1870s, and why not? Here was a drink that was essentially cocaine-laced wine, inducing quite a buzz for the habitual consumer. All sorts of luminaries testified to its restorative properties, including U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and Pope Leo XIII.

????Cash-poor Pemberton believed it made smart business sense to create a knockoff of this popular beverage, which is exactly what he did, selling his own French Wine of Coca in 1885. The problem was, Protestant clamoring for prohibition led to citywide restrictions on alcohol consumption in Atlanta, forcing Pemberton to replace the wine with carbonated water. Thus, Coca-Cola became a kind of temperance drink in 1886.

????The decision to switch to water was more than just an expedient solution to a prohibition problem: it allowed Pemberton to outsource roughly 80% of his product’s volume onto others. That’s because it was soda fountain operators who mixed the water—at least five ounces per one ounce of syrup—into Pemberton’s finished beverages. All Pemberton sold was a dark, syrupy concentrate, which allowed him to save enormous amounts of money on transportation costs. Of course, the soda fountain water ultimately came from the municipal tap.

????This model continued under Pemberton’s successor, Atlanta pharmacist Asa Candler, who signed the first bottling franchise contracts for Coca-Cola in 1899. Initially hesitant to approve this distribution method—considering the rudimentary nature of most bottling operations at the time—Candler came to see that bottling enabled Coke to reach rural markets far removed from city centers. What made the deal even sweeter was the fact that independent businessmen in small towns covered the tab for this expansion. Bottlers fronted the capital to buy the machinery, packaging, and municipal water, as well as the trucks and tires that spread Coke’s syrup through the nation’s commercial arteries.

????But Coke’s outsourcing strategy didn’t stop there. On the supply side, Coke also shunned ownership of factories and plants. The company did not own sugar plantations in the Caribbean, high-fructose corn syrup wet mills in the Midwest, or decaffeination facilities in the Southeast. Rather, the company relied on a host of independent businesses—the Monsanto Chemical Company, Cargill, Hershey Chocolate Company, among many others—to mine, process, and refine the critical ingredients that went into its finished beverages. In short, Coke was averse to vertical business integration, and instead acted as a kind of commodity broker, making money by transferring materials from independently owned producers and distributors.