Hansen's Beverage Company Analysis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Japan, specifically Osaka, has been identified as a very lucrative market. It is in Hansen's Beverage Company's best interest to pursue a pilot program in the city of Osaka. Hansen's will test two product lines: fruit juice and tea. Both would be positioned as high-end, healthy, and fun-to-drink beverages. Our target audience is comprised of 15-30 year old, males and females. Japanese youth are interested in and open to experiencing products imported from America; the youth segment currently makes up 33.7% of the population of the region of Osaka.

The city of Osaka is an excellent region in which to launch a pilot program, since it is the second largest city, has the highest concentration of youth in Japan and it is also the nerve center of Japanese international trade. In addition, Osaka's residents worry about the quality of their water, therefore substituting water consumption with fruit juice or tea is very common. Hansen's Beverage Co. will fill this demand with two product lines: Natural Soda and Imported from Nature teas.

The enclosed proposal offers an extensive overview of Hansen's Natural Company's historical, political, social, and competitive landscape, while highlighting the company's current successes in the global market place and its strategic goals. In order to continue our success and increase profitability in the Japanese marketplace, a rigorous assessment of Japan, specific to the region of Osaka, was conducted. This assessment was a critical part of the proposal that follows, as it is essential to mitigating the barrage of challenges that generally arise when introducing a new product or service into a foreign market.

As lead consultants, we sought to understand Japan from several dimensions to assess business viability and gain insight into the idiosyncrasies of the country as a whole. To secure broader insight into the region of Osaka, analysis has been focused and compartmentalized into six elements: history, economics, politics, society and culture, environment, and competition; these elements are explored in-depth in the sections that follow.

We are confident that this comprehensive proposal will help you, as shareholders, make an informed decision; we are confident that your decision will ultimately support our recommendation: to expand Hansen's global footprint to include the coveted region of Osaka.

Pilot Overview and High-Level Operating Costs*

Our planned pilot will last four months; the first month would incorporate the production and distribution. Hansen's Beverage Co. will ship 2.4 million bottles to Osaka. Of the total, 2 million of the bottles will be used to saturate Osaka's vending machines, as vending machines account for ~70% of ‘soft drink' sales in Japan. The remaining 400,000 bottles will