Coca-Cola'S Boss -- Kent'S Secret Of Success

The secret of success of Coca-Cola boss Kent

Kent, chairman of Coca-Cola, said that the initial capacity of Coca-Cola bottles with grooves was only 6.5 ounces. The last drink was ice, and the trick was to make people drink and drink.

MuhtarKent greeted the new year with a high-speed ride in South Africa.

About two years ago, Kent, 66, handed over the post of chief executive of Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola) to James Quincy (JamesQuincey) and became a less stressed chairman.

Kent took a sip of coke and said, "I began to take a little more time to look after myself and lose 35 pounds."

He returned to the golf course.

Before that, Kent, CEO, couldn't devote enough time to golf, which made him almost despondent to give up the sport.

"It's all about time allocation, just like capital allocation."

Kent is thinking about time now. He plans to hand over the position of chairman to Quincy in April, to end his 10 year in charge of the $200 billion beverage group.

Kent worked for most of his 40 years in a company. When he left office, he wanted to frame his impact as "focusing on long-term success".

Buffett, Coca-Cola's largest shareholder, once told him that he wanted managers to run businesses as a family asset that they could not sell for years, WarrenBuffett said.

"In my opinion, in essence, this is what we are trying to do."

Kent said, "what matters is not what the company did on the day you left as CEO, but what you did after three or four years."

Judging from the longer term, managers are good for Kent: when Quincy took over as CEO in 2017, Coca-Cola's share price lagged behind its competitors because of its weak demand for sugary soft drinks.

After Quincy began to explain the strategy of accelerating business diversification and increasing investment, Coca-Cola's share price outperformed its competitors.

Kent recalled: "I have been saying since 2010 that when we run this enterprise, we should focus not only on the next quarter, but also on the next 1/4 centuries."

In 2010, under the leadership of Kent, Coca-Cola bought us assets of its largest bottling partner, Coca-ColaEnterprises, for $12 billion, shaking the relationship between the two sides for a century.

Previously, Coca-Cola brand was separated from bottling franchise business, which provides 2 billion products to 27 million retailers worldwide (except Cuba and North Korea) every day.

In Australia's Amatil and Efes BeverageGroup in Turkey, Kent operated Coca-Cola's bottling business.

He said he had long known that he needed to integrate the bottling business system in the United States and rectify it, but finding problems was not enough.

"You need courage and long-term vision to endure the tenacity of soot when crossing a tunnel."

Kent said he borrowed Winston WinstonChurchill, saying he encouraged him to persevere in a long drawn out battle that was later developed into.

Integrating bottling operations is a capital intensive task, which has dragged Coca-Cola's profit margins down until Kent pformed the bottling assets into franchising business at the end of the CEO's term.

"Everyone told me it was impossible.

And then it turned out to be more difficult than I thought.

He admits, but he believes that this decision will strengthen Coca-Cola's foundation in a greater degree in the next 10 years than any other decisions he made.

Now, he says, "hungry and thirsty" new bottling manufacturers are investing again: "thinking has changed from maintenance to growth."

However, because Wall Street is more concerned about the next quarter, it has tested the patience of some shareholders and put pressure on short-term performance.

Kent's response is to cut costs and shift the focus from production to income.

Criticism of the bottling business also led to criticism that Kent paid too much attention to Coca-Cola brand when carbonated drinks were on the decline.

Kent refuted the idea and pointed out that he added 1000 brands to the group's product mix, from drinking water to juice.

Meanwhile, Kent has taken other measures to build a healthier long-term ecosystem for the company. He elaborated a sustainable strategy based on water saving, consumer welfare and women empowerment.

"When we illustrate this vision, that is, more powerful communities can export more powerful businesses, people think we...

It's Martians. "

He admitted.

But he said that the goal of achieving the water balance (waterneutrality) set by the company saved money, while training 5 million women entrepreneurs in emerging markets will train a generation of loyal retailers.

Such investments are also part of what Kent calls "typical global enterprises".

Kent's growing experience made it easy for him to accept this culture.

He was born in New York, when his father was Consul General of Turkey in New York. Later, he lived in India, Iran, Poland and Thailand.

He received a degree in economics from Universityof Hull, and then returned to New York, where he was accepted by Coca-Cola's bottling factory's sales trainee program.

Kent is the fourth chief executive of Coca-Cola in 10 years. Achieving smooth cross rod is a necessary condition for him to be judged as a successful leader.

Succession planning requires constant attention from the CEO. He said, "you need to identify who you think you can be as early as possible, then you need to start a path for them and win the support of the board."

Quincy was not the only candidate to help himself, but in order to test the Englishman, Kent first pferred him from Argentina to Mexico, then pferred to northwest Europe, then promoted Quincy as chief operating officer.

Kent said that along the way, "there is a lot of hard work and continuous guidance and guidance throughout the whole process."

Kent said his leadership style was inspired by a belief that every business had a "hit point".

That's where 1 dollars, 10 rubles, or 100 yen bills change hands.

Wherever Kent goes, he visits the retailer.

He also told a story: one time he went to Pennsylvania station in New York, and he reminded his colleagues to pay attention to the beverage bottles left by the commuters who left the table.

"There's so much left in all the bottles."

Kent said he pointed to half the zero coke left.

"I said, what's the matter? People will not leave their money on the table."

Inspired by that observation, Coca-Cola launched the trumpet product, which coincided with politicians' concern over the spread of "large" sugar sweetened beverages.

Kent said that the original Coca-Cola bottle with a groove is only 6.5 ounces, and the last drink is still ice.

Kent said the trick is to make people drink and drink more.

"This is the key; you will want to have another drink."