Coca-Cola targets kids

Kyle Smith

Issue date: 3/12/03 Section: Editorials

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In this time of recession, public schools are in big trouble. Faced with plummeting revenues,
state legislatures are being forced to cut school funding all over the place. Here in Colorado,
legislators are trying to find ways around Amendment 23, a measure passed by voters in 2000
that requires public school funding to be increased by inflation plus one percent each year for 10
years. All over the country, schools are on the chopping block.

But who's that coming to help? No, it's not Uncle Sam, but your other uncle, the rich one. That's
right, the Coca-Cola Corporation. Or, depending on what district you're in, Pepsi-Cola, or
perhaps some other large corporation. That's right, to show its goodwill and belief in good
education, corporate America wants to help out your local elementary school. All it asks in
exchange is the right to paste its logo on every possible surface and sell you textbooks asking
young math students to count in M&M's or measure the circumference of Oreos.

Well, praise be unto Cola! This is exactly what we need! The school gets the new computers it
needs, while the sponsor gets the right to tell students to only drink Coke products and gets a
nice tax write-off in the process. For a corporation, sponsoring a school is a brilliant marketing
move; they get immediate access to that all-important young demographic, and $250,000--a huge
sum for a school district--is pocket change for a coorperation in relation to typical advertising
budgets.

The corporate whoring of America's schools has been happening for several years now, and it is
steadily growing. Some would make the argument that kids are already bombarded with
advertising from every other direction, so one more logo shouldn't hurt. However, schools are
where we are supposed to teach people how to be critical and independent thinkers, and if a child
grows up in a school environment that tells them that only Pepsi paves the road to a hip lifestyle,
how can that mission not be compromised?

But when it comes down to a choice between raising taxes and making sure schools are always
adequately funded or selling our schools to manufacturers of brightly packaged addictive sugar
water, America says, "Drink more Coke."

Coca Cola targets to be water neutral by 2012

Agencies
Posted: 2009-03-17 20:02:06+05:30 IST
Updated: Mar 17, 2009 at 2002 hrs IST

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Global recession driving Cadbury salesCiti may need $10 bn more: ReportCiti may
need $10 bn more: ReportCoca Cola targets to be water neutral by 2012

New Delhi: Global beverages major Coca Cola is planning to undertake a series of initiatives,
including water harvesting and recycling, as part of its strategy to replenish groundwater used by
the company and become water neutral by 2012.

“Our target is to neutralise all ground water usage by the company in India by the end of the
current calender year and become water neutral for all products and processes by 2012,” said
Coca Cola India Director (Quality and Environment) Navneet Mehta at a CII summit here.

Water neutrality is a term referred to describe the ratio of ground water usage by any user vis-a-
vis the quantity put back into nature.

He said the company had adopted various water management strategies including rainwater
harvesting, water management techniques and recycling to replenish groundwater levels.

“The company has achieved a replenishment level of 82 per cent on its annual ground water
usage in India so far,” Mehta added.

The company is also planning to commission a study of five watershed projects this year. “We
will study the results and our plan is to have such watershed projects in all our 56 plants within
next five years,” he added.
“Our ground water usage ratio has improved by up to 42 per cent between 1998 and 2008. We
have a policy of annually revising water use plans in all our facilities in India,” Mehta said.

Under its corporate social responsibility initiatives, Coca Cola India is expanding its community
access programme and would be soon starting a project to provide drinking water to 1,000
schools across the country by 2010.

It currently runs such a programme in Chennai, under which drinking water is provided to
30,000 school children in various institutions of the city.

“We have a total of 4,000 projects dedicated to water harvesting and renewal deployed in the
country. As per the last year's figures, these projects had a combined recharge potential of 39
lakh cubic metre of water annually,” he said.

AIMS
1. To reduce the mortality in children under the age of five from simple causes such as dehydration from
diarrhoea
2. To reduce maternal mortality ratio
3. To increase the availability of condoms
4. To reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
5. To increase the knowledge of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases (causes and prevention)
OBJECTIVES
1. To engage Coca-Cola in exploring the viability and options for using their distribution networks in
developing countries to distribute ‘social products’ such as oral rehydration salts (ORS) and related
educational materials on health, hygiene and sanitation.
2. To help engage an appropriate international NGO, or NGOs, to partner with Coca-Cola at a global
level and local levels on this initiative.
3. To support Coca-Cola and its partners in modelling different scenarios which combine Coca-Cola’s
distribution network with local health initiatives in order to achieve our aims.
4. To support Coca-Cola and its partners in selecting the most promising scenarios as the basis for field
trials.
5. To support the international NGO, or NGOs, to engage local NGOs and local Health Institutions in
order to undertake trials linking this idea with local support infrastructure.
6. To engage and inform as many people as possible, encouraging them to support this campaign,
managing expectations and offers of help and promoting constructive debate.
7. To help gather and make available appropriate research reports and opinion in this area, and ensure
that the group and its supporters are well-informed.
8. To establish a core group of enablers and activists to lead on the different aspects of this campaign.
9. To monitor the progress of the campaign and ensure that any trials and roll-outs are effectively
monitored and evaluated
In 2001, our Company established the six strategic priorities listed on the facing page as the basis for our success. As the
Company executes these priorities around the world, we are guided by the following operating principles:

The consumer is at the center of everything we do.

We will strengthen and protect our core branded beverage business by building global brands.

Relevance and differentiation are the basis of our competitive advantage.

We will sustain our success by creating new ways to deliver value through innovation.

Resource allocation will be determined by the potential for opportunity-driven growth.

Our actions will be guided by entrepreneurship, speed-to-market and prudent risk-taking.

We will create value beyond our bottom line in every community in which we operate.

In 2003, we continued to transform The Coca-Cola Company on the basis of our strategic priorities and our operating
principles. We improved alignment of operations and economics with our bottling partners by coordinating business planning
and establishing joint supply chain management companies in North America, China and Japan. We increased the efficiency
and productivity of our operations with the integration of our North American business into a single unit. We re-asserted
leadership in innovation with new brands, packages and consumer experiences. We began to re-establish our marketing
expertise with the “Real” integrated marketing platform. And in a very challenging economic and business environment, our
Company delivered solid financial and operating results.
Of course, the best evidence of our progress is found in the operating results from our geographic business units.
Immediately following this letter you will find operations reviews from each unit, with a focus on development and results in
key markets.
Delivering results takes a commitment to flawless execution. It requires unwavering attention to customers. It means
breakthrough marketing and aggressive innovation. It demands a relentless focus on cost reduction and faster time-to-
market. It takes a commitment to total quality in everything we do. And it takes crystal-clear strategy.
 When we put all of this together, we accelerate carbonated soft-drink growth led by brand Coca-Cola, and we selectively
and profitably expand our family of beverage brands. We grow profits for us and our bottling partners, and we create more
value for our customers across channels. As a result, we are able to invest more resources in our brands, and in the
marketing, innovation and distribution capabilities of the Coca-Cola system. This is our formula for growth.
As our Company enters 2004, we believe we are in an excellent position to continue creating value for you, and we thank
you for your investment and your confidence.

thinking about how organizations today are more distributed and decentralized, relying on the performance at
the interface to the customer. Compared to core competencies that power the creation of new products and live
deep within the company, most companies have one or more particular capabilities that live at the fringes
where organizations exert their last influence over performance before the consumer takes over. I’m starting to
collectively refer to these capabilities as edge competencies (yes it’s a little jargony, but core capabilities
probably was as well back in 1990).

For example, Coca-Cola’s core competency is the manufacture and distribution of nonalcoholic beverages, and
their edge competency is how they create brands through marketing campaigns.

T-Mobile’s core competency is building telecommunications infrastructure, and their edge competency is the
design of each customer-facing service.

The concept becomes interesting when you think about how executives crafting the organization’s strategy
must align with one or two particular project teams doing tactical work (incidentally, I think the dichotomy of
strategic and tactical is less useful in these situations, since the importance of edge project work can have
deep importance to the organization).

There should also be a feedback loop between core competencies and edge competencies, so that customers
are both informed and have a voice in crafting an organization’s work.

Read more: http://noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/?p=1684#ixzz0F6L8JjYt&B

NONALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE MAKERS RANKED BY BEVERAGE SALES

 Company Symbol Price Change Market Cap P/E

The Coca-Cola Company KO 42.92 0.28% 99.36B 17.67

Pepsico, Inc. PEP 49.75 0.53% 77.45B 15.39