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As an affordable luxury,
non-alcoholic commercial beverages have
a huge opportunity to grow along with the global middle class, which
actually is growing and booming.
As faster, more rapid, economic growth shifts to places in
Africa, across Asia,
and Latin America, consumer goods companies have to adapt with the right
products in the right
stores at the right prices at the right time to meet the
needs of
new consumers. Rapid urbanization is also bringing
more people into cities
than ever before, and fast-paced
urban lifestyles with more time outside of the home are
very conducive to our beverages as people seek
on-the-go cold refreshment. In terms of
demographics, we see aging populations in much of the developed world except for
the United States.
As a result, we have to appeal to mature consumers with innovations like
Caffeine Free Coke Zero, for example.
And we have to make sure our brands are
connecting strongly with teens and their moms,
helping the next generation actually fall in love
with our brands, starting with Coca-Cola.
Women represent another global economic force, starting with their leadership in
household spending decisions. Women’s entrepreneurship
is also surging in the world with millions of women
starting, owning and building up their own
businesses from scratch. That’s going to
make a profound impact in this decade we’re in
and also beyond. Finally, with the
global middle class growing, we can all help
create solutions that use less water,
less oil, less resources
of all kinds. Actually it’s up to us to
convert waste into resources, and businesses should be
really at the forefront of sustainable growth.
After all, our businesses can only
be as strong and healthy as the communities
that we proudly serve.
One distinct advantage for the Coca-Cola system
is that we are already a very local business
in 200-plus countries all around the world — to be exact, 207 nations.
We source locally. We market locally.
We produce locally. We hire locally.
We distribute locally. And we
are a very very local national business from that perspective.
That gives us the tremendous
insight into markets we serve proudly,
and an edge in actually operating sustainably.
Now we want to connect even more closely with
our communities, creating value for a
growing breadth of stakeholders. For our shareholders, of course,
but also for our bottling partners,
also for retail and restaurant customers alike,
consumers, our suppliers, NGOs [non-governmental organizations], civil service organizations,
governments, and so on.
Now, more than ever, business has to work across
that golden triangle of government,
civil society, and business. That’s where
progress — real progress — and real value creation
is happening every single day.
In terms of risks, I think it’s clear that many governments need to make the
kinds of decisions
that encourage economic growth and reduce uncertainty for businesses,
for consumers and for everyone.
On our end, everyone across
our global Coca-Cola system has to be living our 2020 Vision for growth
every single day, remaining constructively discontent,
and making choices in the best long-term
interest of our system, of our company, and of our brands.
We have to keep investing
in our brand marketing, in our innovation,
in our manufacturing, in our distribution,
and in our service capability. We cannot
let up. We have to make each dollar,
each euro, each rupee, each ruble
work harder. We must also understand that we don’t have all the right answers.
We can never allow arrogance to creep back into our system, even for a moment.
So, instead, I believe that our approach must remain
one of humble confidence, one of partnering with others to make
real and lasting progress.