Coca Cola 2008 Annual Review - A qualitative analysis

• It's clear from the first page that the company's performance was very stable as the report announces growth in cases sold, operating income, net operating revenues and operating cash flow.

• The Chairman Isdell Neville opens the report. After some due economical considerations he expresses his wish to bring sustainability into Coca Cola, mentioning water stewardship, sustainable packaging, energy use and climate protection (pg 5)

• It is then the turn of the CEO Muhtar Kent, who reassures the shareholders about the company's goals:

"The true power and resilience of our business was reflected in our ability to meet or exceed our long‑term growth targets for the third year in a row and add a billion incremental unit cases in volume—the equivalent to adding a market the size of Japan" (pg 6)

Kent underlines the minimization of the printing of the report which saved the company about $1 million.

• The 2008 company's highlights include the Diet Coke Red Dress program, which put "messaging about heart health on 2.5 billion packages of Diet Coke and Caffeine-Free Diet Coke® products throughout the United States".

The section includes the following commitment:

"Set new global targets to improve water efficiency and reduce carbon emissions within our systemwide operations. Our goals are to improve our systemwide water efficiency 20 percent by 2012 and to grow our business but not our systemwide carbon footprint, reducing our emissions in developed countries by 5 percent by 2015. Both goals will be compared to a 2004 baseline"

• The report continues offering a view of the future strategies

"Estimates show that over the next 12 years the worldwide population will grow by more than 800 million people. In addition, 1 billion new people will have entered the middle class, and nearly 900 million people will have migrated to urban centers. That means more consumers with more money, who have the ability to purchase more ready‑to‑drink beverages"

• The report includes a section titled "Live Positive" (pg.27-28).

The Coca-Cola Company states its commitment to adopt sustainable business practices regarding the safeguarding of the environment and support to communities. The report mentions that since the adoption of the "Workplace Rights Policy" launched in 2007, more than 175 assessments and training sessions worldwide have been conducted.

Most of the sustainability claims are related to the environment but there is no mention, for example, of which standards the Coca-Cola Company will adopt in selecting new partners.

Despite the fact that I'm pleased to see a growing concern for communicating sustainability practices to the shareholders, I have to say that I'm concerned about the lack of homogeneity between growth considerations and sustainability claims. The latter seem to be relegated to merely accessory sticky notes. This disembodiment contradicts the vision of CSR as a philosophy that needs to guide every aspect of a company's operations.