PepsiCo and Ocean Spray's newly formed Latin American strategic alliance may be indicative of a resurging trend in joint ventures and co-packaging arrangements in the food industry. This is especially interesting since five or six years ago such arrangements appeared to be dead in the water. PepsiCo spent large resources on expanding its own Gatorade manufacturing facilities beginning around 2006. Nestle did the same with its Nesquik brand. At least for these large manufacturers, who were more likely to weather the economic tempest, the thinking was they could achieve a better return on their investment by moving the manufacturing in-house rather than endure a more volatile partner's financial risks - not to mention the inherent risk with sharing the technologies involved.
展开▼
