consumers thought it was the same coke. the company could deliver the product at substantially lower cost and maintain profit levels. soon, pepsi and coe"'s other competitors made the sugar switch. economic analyst richard gill explains why companies cannot afford to ignore cost-cutting opportunites. for soft drink producers, the change to high fructose corn syrup was an important one-- cutting costs and sustaining profits. to the consumer, it seemed a nonchange. coke in 1980 tasted no different than in 1975. consumers generally didn't know a change occurred. still, the change did affect consumers. the substitution permitted soft drinks to be sold more cheaply than they would have been. in a competitve environment, lowered costs almost invariably translate into downward pressures on consumer prices. such substitutions are not only beneficial, they are characteristic in a market economy. there's more than one way to make coke, grow wheat, even to produce drinking water. in africa, for example, you may see water collected in