Tim, excellent work on your job for analyzing Ford in this Milestone 3 assignment. I thought you did an excellent job addressing the foreign and domestic perspectives for Ford. I was surprised that China is importing Ford as much as they are, being the number one purchaser. It is a very difficult time for all car companies given the massive supply chain and microchip shortages, huge growth in used car prices due to rising inflation and lack of supply, and general economic uncertainty. I think Ford seems to be extremely well positioned given your research and dialogue in what steps they are taking to combat these economic forces. Excellent work.

Tim, excellent job on your post for this Milestone 3 unit. I thought you did a great job being informative and insightful in regard to the Coca-Cola company’s growth in foreign and domestic markets. With the level of recent uncertainty regarding supply chain issues, inflation, unemployment, COVID-19, and global invasions, there is much to be of concern for all corporations and Coca-Cola has shown excellent leadership and positioning in combating these issues. CEO James Quincey said "there’s pressure built up for '22 that will necessitate some price increases. We intend to manage those intelligently, thinking through the way we use package sizes and really optimize the price points for consumers" (Doering, 2021). Coca-Cola’s saw revenue decrease around 4 billion, from $2019 to 2020 (Coca-Cola Company, 2021). In response to this, Coca-Cola cut dozens of brands, a move laying off over 2,200 workers, with the goal of “invest in growing brands like Minute Maid and Simply Juices and fund the launch of new products like Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Coca-Cola Energy, and Aha sparkling water” (Durbin, 2020). The projected costs of the severance packages for employees as a result of this decision were around $350 million to $550 million, which is no minor commitment for Coca-Cola, highlighting their confidence in the direction of these newer products (Doering, 2020). References Coca-Cola Co. (2021, October 6). Coca-Cola Company statistics and Facts. Market.us. from https://market.us/statistics/food-and-beverage- companies/coca-cola-company/ Doering, C. (2021, May 04). As inflation rates, food and beverage manufacturers pass higher costs on to consumers. https://www.fooddive.com/news/as-inflation-rages-food-and-beverage-manufacturers- pass-higher-costs-on-to/599148/ Doering, C. (2020, August 28). Coca-Cola to offer buyouts to 4,000 employees, with layoffs to follow. Food Dive. from https://www.fooddive.com/news/coca-cola-to-offer-buyouts-to-4000-employees-with- layoffs-to-follow/584333/ Durbin, D.-ann. (2020, December 17). Coca-Cola laying off 2,200 workers as it pares brands. AP NEWS. from https://apnews.com/article/layoffs- james-quincey-coronavirus-pandemic-e3364940775d662b92f78fb97c8af5da

Timothy, excellent job on your post. I immediately noted the amount of quality sources and research contained within your Milestone. Also, great choice on McDonald’s, I went with Coca-Cola for mine but both are giants in their industries and they even go together. I was interested to learn about how large of a market share McDonald‘s in Japan as that would not have been my guess for second largest in revenue. You had an excellent post, great work!

I thought this was a very informed and insightful post—-great work. I think you did an excellent job of showing how impactful recent events have truly been on Russia and it’s people. I know the majority of the world tends to focus on one aspect of the situation that is often media generated, but this shows free thinking to take your own perspective and research some of the implications of recent events.