Investor Relations

An important part of a companies business plan is their investor relations. Companies want to keep the media, public's, investors, and employees informed of all the companies financial information. This is very important relationship that should be taken seriously. Coca-Cola company does a great job at keeping everyone informed. If you go to investors page there are many different links for someones knowledge. There are links to the multiple countries factories and of the annual report as a whole. Coke has an annual report that it puts out each year. First, they start out by stating what their plans are for the future. Coke is calling it 2020 Vision. It is more of a marketing strategy. To show the public's, investors and employees how Coke Brand is changing with the times.

Coke then goes on to talk about the actual numbers and the new products that were launched in 2009. It also continues to discuss what changes they are making to make there brand more environmentally friendly. Coke also describes in each different page, about the factories that are in different countries. It talks about what they are doing and then has tables for different elements. It is more of a marketing ploy to show anyone who is interested in what is happening financially within the company.

In the complete Annual report document, the letter to the CEO is one of the first things that is available to read. This is extremely important document because it is one of the only times a year a shareholder will hear from the person that is in charge. In Coke's case it is Michael Kent, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. Here he is talking about how entering 2009, one of the wrost economic years, Coke wanted to focuz on what they could control. According to the CEO, Coke "worked to ensure that we came out of this crisis in an even stronger position by communicating with our consumers and retail customers; investing in innovation; and enhancing our distribution, sales and production capabilities around the world." He continues to target the investors interest by noting the amounts of profit that was made in 2009 and what they plan to do in the upcoming years. I think that by shareholders and investors reading this it will give them confidence in Coke. It will insure that they are making the right choice by choosing to invest in Coca-Cola.

On the website they have multiple press releases available to the public about the company. The news release that was written for the annual report was published on February 9, 2010. This is a way for the general public to understand what is happening with in the company. They are using plan terms that describe the profits and how Coca Cola is changing. It also has a chart to show the financial highlights and notes about the news release to explain certain statistically numbers. There are two quotes that are said by the CEO. The first one is talking about the past year and how they ended it on a high note. The next quote is a paragraph adn it is explaining what tey hope to achieve before 2020. It is a way for the everyone to have faith within the company, that big things are going to happen in the future.

The news releases, CEO letters, and annual reports are to show the shareholders that the company is not trying to hid anything that is happening. They want to get all the information out so that everyone knows what is going on with the company. Also, what they plan to do for the future. Coke does a great job at Investor Relations and it shows that they do care about their consumers.

Improving their reputation

The Coca-Cola company is a huge corporation. They have multiple projects and efforts that they are doing in relation to the community. The Coca-Cola Company Foundation, helps in
various organizations. They donate to community initiatives, education, environment, disaster relief, health care, HIV/AIDS and active healthy living. In 2008 alone, the Coca-Cola Foundation donated $82 million to the above initiatives. Recently, Coca-Cola donated $1 million to the disaster relief in Haiti after the earthquake.

A major focus is on the environment. All throughout their sustainability page they talk about what they are doing to make their products and factories more environmentally friendly. Also, how they are helping around the world in environmental efforts. We all know and love those Coca-Cola commercials with the polar bears, the penguins and the seals. They are a classic. However, in reality, these animals are suffering and may not be around much longer. By then, those cutesy commercials with the animals drinking coca-cola will not be so funny anymore. One of Coke's environmental issues they are helping with is Climate. On this web page you can see that the first picture is of the polar bear. In this page, along with the other pages listed on the left hand side, have all the information on what Coke is doing to help change their products and buildings to help the cause. Here it is stating that Coke has partnered with the WWF to help save wildlife. This is showing the community that yes, even though we are creating products, we can create these products in a better environmental way. There are people who care about the environment, people who are nutty over the environment and those who just really could care less, but Coke's environmental campaign will help in all those areas of people. It shows the environmental nuts that coke is helping and you should buy from them because they are the more environmental safe product and the ones who don't care about the environment, well they will buy coke no matter what.

Not only is the company as a whole improving their products and manufacturing practices to be environmentally safe, but the company employees are also giving back to the community. In 2008, company associates volunteered 273,000 hours of community service. This is telling the community that not only does the brand care about helping out, but the people who are working for this brand care. It is a network of caring that will help to improve the conditions of the community. What is not only a good community relation tactic but a good employee relation tactic, is that if a employee wants to make personal contributions to qualified organizations, then the Coca-Cola Gift Matching Program will match those contributions on a 2-for-1 basis. This will not only get the brands name out to the thousands of organizations, it helps out on a larger scale but also, the smaller organizations that need help. Employees from the company are also helping out with the WWF. This is showing how the company and its employees are reaching out o the community to make the enviornment a better place to live. here is a video that is talking about the partnership between WWF and Coke.

I think that the Coca-Cola Company is doing a great job at community relations. They are touching on a variety of areas that will effect more people. The company brings in tons of revenue each year and it is a great thing for them to give back to the community that helps put money in their pockets. I especially think it is such a good idea that not only do they help initiatives and people who need help each year, but they are changing their product manufacturing practices and helping to improve the planet around them. I think it is a good idea for them to come out and say that we are cleaning up our factories and they have set goals that they want to achieve by certain deadlines. For example by the end of 2010 they have to have 40-50% improved energy efficiency. From a Public Relations perspective, this was a good move for the company. It is making their reputation a reliable one. As before they started these initiatives, there was many criticism of the company and its product. To the right is a picture making fun of how Coke for all of the environmental issues their product caused. Now consumers can investigate the website and see for themselves all the initiatives Coca-Cola is taking to improve their environmental contribution.