88 Chocolate Fortunes
ered these three key cities. Its customized distribution and
sales solutions in these cities, along with its focus on the sev-
enteen next best cities (using subdistributors), had a signifi-
cant impact on growing its sales during the latter 1990s. But
simply improving its chocolate’s taste, as well as the corpora-
tion’s sales and distribution, did not ensure Cadbury success
in dominating China’s chocolate market. Beijing Cadbury was
not alone there, and its archrival Mars had not been idly
standing by, waiting for Cadbury to get its act together.
The Battle for Chocolate Bars
At the end of the 1990s, as self-consumption of chocolate
began to accelerate in China, Cadbury and Mars engaged in a
heated head-to-head battle for the core ...