Strategic Leadership

Coca-Cola has had a string of excellent CEO's including Robert Goizueta, Douglas Ivester, Douglas Daft, Neville Isdel and the current CEO, Muhtar Kent. Mr. Kent believes it is imperative for the leaders of global companys to be well informed of international affairs and to have extensive experience of living and working in markets around the world. 80% of Coke's business is outside of the U.S and it is extremely important to understand those international markets to be successful in them. Muhtar Kent describes putting all of his decisions and actions through a global filter. How are decisions made in Atlanta at the world headquarters going to effect Coke sales and profits in China or Mexico. Kent has developed a 2020 Vision which is a strategic renewal process that aligns Coke and their bottling partners around the world toward common goals and priorities that help Coca-Cola double their business in the next decade. He believes the whole company and its array of diverse leaders is much more important than any individual parts. Kent is such a strong believer in this, he has created a program where they take a rising star within the company and place them in a whole new special team assignment around the world. This tactic puts individuals far outside their comfort zone and forces them to work with new people in markets they have no experience in. Muhtar Kent believes building a diverse and inclusive workforce is central to their vision including expectations that must be met.

Innovation

According to Fast Company's top 50 most innovative companies, Coke ranked number 14 this year along with other extremely innovative companies like Nike, Amazon and Apple. Coke's third strategic priority in their sustainability plan is to "innovate for the future". Coke is constantly looking for opportunities in innovation, collaboration and partnership that will assist Coca-Cola in being on-the-ball when it comes to business, industry, and societal changes that they will encounter. Coke has developed an innovation framework which is based on key points in their value chain. Three types of innovation that Coke believes they have to contribute to most:

-Process Innovation: Coke continually innovates internally in the ways in which they operate including their systems and processes to drive efficiency and effectiveness. Recently, Coke has installed equipment to assist monitoring and targeting systems which save energy and water during the production process. They have also introduced new plant-based packaging to be more eco-friendly.

-Thought Leadership: Coke drives to be the thought leader in recycling. Coke's 2020 Vision wishes to reduce their carbon footprint by a third of what it is today. 47% of Coke's carbon footprint is in their packaging. By using recycled materials during packaging and production, they will decrease their carbon footprint and ideally be close to their one third reduction. Coke has also launched a thought leadership project in the UK to find out the dynamics of individuals who recycle and how or where they recycle.

-Collaboration: Coke wishes to work with suppliers and customers to find opportunities to co-create new solutions to existing problems. In 2012 Coke launched a second plastic processing joint venture after a successful partnership with ECOplastics in 2011. Coke also recently launched a venture in which it will significantly increase the availability of recycled plastic in France.