Case Analysis Ultimate_Writer

Jaden Barr

Park, A. (2014, May 06). The One Good Thing about Teens and Sports Drinks. Time. Retrieved

from http://time.com/88405/the-one-good-thing-about-teens-and-sports-drinks/

This article discusses the research study conducted by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and whether teenagers should be drinking sports drinks. It indicates that the sports drink industry’s main target market is athletes and the majority of these athletes are teenagers that participate in organized sports teams. The main conclusion of the study was that those who consumed sports drinks regularly exercise more often, but they are also more likely to participate in unhealthy activities as well. The study, which asked nearly 300 students in grades 6-12 a series of 235 questions, showed that nearly 40% of the students surveyed drank a sports drink at least once per week (para. 2). Both genders, male and female, who drank sports drinks regularly were found to participate in negative activities such as smoking, playing video games, and drinking other sugary drinks such as soda and juice. “Consumption of sports and energy drinks has tripled among teens in the past decade and about 12% of U.S. teens still drink a sports or energy drink on any given day” (para. 3). The research and the article concludes that the best way to hydrate is to drink water over the popular sports drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade.

This article can be used in the industry situational analysis section discussing the substitutes found in the Porter’s Five Forces model. The substitute mentioned in this case study would be water as it highlighted dangers of teens that consume sports drinks regularly. This article can also be utilized in the strengths and weaknesses portion, as Gatorade offers several low-calorie or no calorie beverage options; Gatorade also offers an organic line that can be used to fight this trend in the current market. An opportunity when participating in the sports drink industry is trying to find the ultimate beverage for an athlete. These beverages will often contain sugar to be useful in energizing an athlete, so if non athletes are using the product for casual consumption rather than for athletic purposes it can be viewed as an unhealthy option. Gatorade will have to find a way to combat this weakness within many of their products and turn it into a strength in the marketplace.