Coca Cola
Coca Cola
Coca Cola
Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company
and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.
Our Vision
Our vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by
describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality
growth.
People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be.
Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate and
satisfy people's desires and needs.
Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create
mutual, enduring value.
Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support
sustainable communities.
Profit: Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall
responsibilities.
Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization.
Values
Leadership: The courage to shape a better future
Collaboration: Leverage collective genius
Integrity: Be real
Accountability: If it is to be, it's up to me
Passion: Committed in heart and mind
Diversity: As inclusive as our brands
Quality: What we do, we do well
Policies
We value the relationship we have with our employees. The success of our business depends on
every employee in our global enterprise. We are committed to fostering open and inclusive
workplaces that are based on recognized workplace human rights, where all employees are
valued and inspired to be the best they can be.
The Coca-Cola Company's Workplace Rights Policy is guided by international human rights
standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labor
Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the United
Nations Global Compact.
Corporate Governance
The Board of Directors of The Coca-Cola Company has adopted the following guidelines in
furtherance of its continuing efforts to enhance its corporate governance. The Board will review
and amend these guidelines as it deems necessary and appropriate.
The Board is elected by the shareholders to oversee their interest in the long-term health and the
overall success of the business and its financial strength. The Board serves as the ultimate
decision-making body of the Company, except for those matters reserved to or shared with the
shareholders. The Board selects and oversees the members of senior management, who are
charged by the Board with conducting the business of the Company.
The core responsibility of the Directors is to exercise their business judgment to act in what they
reasonably believe to be in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. Directors must
fulfill their responsibilities consistent with their fiduciary duty to the shareholders, in compliance
with all applicable laws and regulations. Directors will also, as appropriate, take into
consideration the interests of other stakeholders, including employees and the members of
communities in which the Company operates.
The Board provides advice and counsel to the Chief Executive Officer and other senior officers
of the Company. The Board oversees that the assets of the Company are properly safeguarded,
that appropriate financial and other controls are maintained, and that the Company's business is
conducted wisely and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and proper
governance.
In discharging their duties, Directors may rely on the Company's senior executives and outside
advisors and auditors. Accordingly, skill and integrity will be important factors in selection of
the Company's senior executives and other advisors. The Board has the authority to hire
independent legal, financial or other advisors as they may deem necessary.
Directors are expected to attend all meetings of the Board and of the Committees on which they
serve. Directors should devote the time and effort necessary to fulfill their responsibilities.
Information important to Directors' understanding of issues to come before the Board or a
Committee will be provided sufficiently in advance of meetings to permit Directors to inform
themselves. Directors are expected to review these materials before meetings.
The Board will hold regularly scheduled meetings at least five times a year. The Chairman of the
Board will set the agenda for Board meetings. Any Director may suggest items for inclusion on
the agenda. Any Director may raise a subject that is not on the agenda at any meeting. Certain
items pertinent to the oversight and monitoring function of the Board will be brought to the
Board regularly. The Board will review the Company's long-term strategic plans and the most
significant financial, accounting and risk management issues facing the Company at least one
Board meeting each year.
Non-management Directors will meet in regular executive sessions. Normally, such meetings
will occur during regularly scheduled Board meetings. Meetings of the non-management
Directors will be chaired by the Chairman of the Committee on Directors and Corporate
Governance, who will at all times be an independent Director.
The Board believes that whether to have the same person occupy the offices of Chairman of the
Board and Chief Executive Officer should be decided by the Board, from time to time, in its
business judgment after considering relevant circumstances.
2. Director Qualifications.
Directors may be nominated by the Board or by shareholders in accordance with the By Laws.
The Committee on Directors and Corporate Governance will review all nominees for the Board,
including proposed nominees of shareholders, in accordance with its charter. The assessment will
include a review of the nominee's judgment, experience, independence, understanding of the
Company's or other related industries, and such other factors as the Committee concludes are
pertinent in light of the current needs of the Board. The Board believes that its membership
should reflect a diversity of experience, gender, race, ethnicity and age. The Committee will
select qualified nominees and review its recommendations with the Board, which will decide
whether to invite the nominee to join the Board. The Chairman of the Board should extend the
Board's invitation to join the Board. The Board will require that nominees become shareholders
of the Company prior to the solicitation of proxies for their election.
In accordance with the By-Laws, Directors are elected for a term of one year. The Board does
not believe that it should establish limits on the number of terms a Director may serve. Term
limits may cause the loss of experience and expertise important to the optimal operation of the
Board. However, to ensure that the Board remains composed of high functioning members able
to keep their commitments to Board service, the Committee on Directors and Corporate
Governance will evaluate the qualifications and performance of each incumbent Director before
recommending the nomination of that Director for an additional term.
The Board expects that when an executive who serves on the Board resigns from his or her
executive position, he or she will also simultaneously submit his or her resignation from the
Board. Whether the individual continues to serve on the Board is a matter for discussion at that
time with the Board.
It is the sense of the Board that individual Directors who change the responsibility they held
when elected to the Board or who should reach the age of 74 should submit a letter of resignation
to the Board to be effective on acceptance by the Board. These letters of resignation will be
considered by the Board and, if applicable, annually thereafter.
3. Determination of Independence.
To be considered "independent" for purposes of the Director qualification standards, (1) the
Director must meet the bright-line independence standards under the NYSE listing standards,
and (2) the Board must affirmatively determine that the Director otherwise has no material
relationship with the Company, directly or as an officer, shareholder or partner of an
organization that has a relationship with the Company. In each case, the Board shall broadly
consider all relevant facts and circumstances.
The following relationships will not be considered to be material relationships that would impair
a Director's independence (categorical standards):
(i) the Director is an executive officer or employee or any member of his or her immediate
family is an executive officer of any other organization that does business with the Company and
the annual sales to, or purchases from, the Company are less than $1 million or 1% of the
consolidated gross revenues of such organization, whichever is more;
(ii) the Director or any member of his or her immediate family is an executive officer of any
other organization which is indebted to the Company, or to which the Company is indebted, and
the total amount of either company's indebtedness to the other is less than $1 million or 1% of
the total consolidated assets of the organization on which the Director or any member of his or
her immediate family serves as an executive officer, whichever is more;
(iii) the Director is a director or trustee but not an executive officer or any member of his or her
immediate family is a director, trustee or employee, but not an executive officer, of any other
organization (other than the Company's outside auditing firm) that does business with, or
receives donations from, the Company;
(iv) The Director or any member of his or her immediate family holds a less than 10% interest in
any organization that has a relationship with the Company; or
(v) the Director or any member of his or her immediate family serves as an executive officer of a
charitable or educational organization which receives contributions from the Company in a
single fiscal year of less than $1 million or 2% of that organization's consolidated gross
revenues, whichever is more.
Annually, the Board will review all relevant relationships of Directors to determine whether
Directors meet the categorical standards described above. The Board may determine that a
Director who has a relationship that exceeds the limits described in the categorical standards (to
the extent that any such relationship would not constitute a bar to independence under the NYSE
listing standards), is nonetheless independent. The Company will explain in the next proxy
statement the basis for any Board determination that a relationship is immaterial despite the fact
that it does not come within the categorical standards set forth above.
In addition to meeting the independence standards for Directors set forth above, Audit
Committee members may not receive direct or indirect compensation from the Company other
than as Directors, and may not be affiliated persons of the Company and must otherwise satisfy
the independence requirements set forth in Rule 10A-3(b) (1) of the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Audit Committee members may receive Directors' fees.
4. Committees of the Board.
The Board has seven standing Committees: Audit, Compensation, Directors and Corporate
Governance, Executive, Finance, Management Development, and Public Issues and Diversity
Review. The Board may establish additional Committees as necessary or appropriate.
Only independent Directors may serve on the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee
and the Committee on Directors and Corporate Governance. Each of the standing Committees
will have its own charter. The charter will set forth the responsibilities of each Committee, the
qualifications and procedures of the Committee and how the Committee will report to the Board.
Each Committee will conduct a self-evaluation annually.
The Chairman of each Committee will determine the frequency of Committee meetings,
consistent with the Committee's charter and the Company's needs.
Directors have full and free access to officers, employees and the books and records of the
Company. Any meetings or contact that a Director wishes to initiate may be arranged through the
Chief Executive Officer or the Secretary or directly by the Director. The Directors should use
their judgment to ensure that any such contact is not disruptive to the business operations of the
Company.
The Board welcomes the regular attendance at Board meetings of non-Board members who are
in the most senior management positions in the Company. The Chairman of the Board shall
extend such invitations.
All new Directors must participate in the Company's Orientation Program, which should be
conducted as soon as reasonably practicable after the meeting at which a new Director is elected.
This orientation will include presentations by senior management to familiarize new Directors
with the Company's business and strategic plans, its significant financial, accounting and risk
management issues, its compliance programs, its Code of Business Conduct, its principal
officers, and its internal and independent auditors. Any sitting Directors may attend the
Orientation Program.
To ensure that the Chief Executive Officer is providing the best leadership for the Company, the
Board will annually evaluate the Chief Executive Officer's performance in an executive session
of non-management Directors. The Compensation Committee will measure the Chief Executive
Officer's performance against his goals and objectives and, considering the full Board's
evaluation, determine the compensation of the Chief Executive Officer.
The full Board will review the Compensation Committee's actions. The Board, with input from
the Committee on Directors and Corporate Governance, shall annually review and ratify
corporate goals and objectives relevant to the Chief Executive Officer's compensation.
8. Management Succession.
The Board will determine policies and principles for selection of the Chief Executive Officer and
policies regarding succession in the event of an emergency or the retirement of the Chief
Executive Officer. The Board, with input from the Management Development Committee, will
oversee senior management development and the planning for succession to senior positions.
The Board of Directors will conduct an annual self-evaluation to determine whether the Board
and its Committees are functioning effectively. During the year, the Committee on Directors and
Corporate Governance shall receive input on the Board's performance from Directors and,
through its Chairman, will discuss the input with the full Board and oversee the full Board's
review of its performance. The assessment will focus on the Board's contribution to the
Company and specifically focus on areas in which the Board or management believes that the
Board or any of its Committees could improve.
The form and amount of Director Compensation shall be determined by the Committee on
Directors and Corporate Governance and then recommended to the full Board for action in
accordance with the Committee charter. In determining compensation, the Committee on
Directors and Corporate Governance shall take into consideration the responsibilities of the
Directors and fees and other forms of compensation being paid by other corporations comparable
to the Company.
The Board believes that management speaks for the Company. From time to time, at the request
of management, individual Board members may meet or otherwise communicate with various
constituencies that are involved with the Company. Where comments from the Board are
appropriate, they will normally come from the Chairman.
Objectives
Coca Cola had started, over the years they had achieved these objectives. So the
companies have come up with six strategic objectives to provide the
company with a framework for the company's success. In 2003, every
function of The Coca-Cola Company integrated these priorities into
their business plans. And this year, they will continue to establish
these priorities, and their benefits into every aspect of the
business.
Goals
"Diversity, in its broadest sense, is a clear business imperative for our company and its future,
and it is a top priority for me," Daft stated. "This makes us a better employer and business
partner. It helps us compete more effectively in the marketplace. It makes us better neighbors in
the communities we serve. And finally, it builds value for our shareowners."
Our community water initiatives in China are diverse and widespread, reaching people in cities
and rural villages across the country. Beginning in 2005, we partnered with the Beijing
Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, the Beijing Youth League, the Beijing Young
Pioneers and the First News newspaper to start a city-wide education campaign for 100,000
students and their families to "Save a Barrel of Water." The program has expanded to reach
approximately 150,000 students in 15 cities.
Another initiative we joined in 2008 is the "Water Resources Management and Drinking Water
Safety in Rural Regions of China," the first public-private partnership among the United Nations
Development Programme; the Ministry of Water Resources; the China International Center for
Economic and Technical Exchange; and our Company. This project will establish four
demonstration sites in the water-stressed provinces of Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang and
Liaoning.
The four-year, $6.7 million project aims to improve the quality of drinking water and drinking
water conditions in rural areas; improve water treatment; strengthen water resource conservation;
and promote ecological restoration and the development of ecological agriculture.
The project will pilot improvement programs in four schools along the Yangtze River, where
there is currently a lack of basic sanitation and clean running water.