Coke can still improve, CEO says

ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. has been re-energized but the world's largest beverage firm has more room for improvement, Coke Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Neville Isdell said Wednesday night.

"The moment you declare victory ... you have just sown the first seeds of your defeat," Isdell said in an address to ACG Atlanta, the local chapter for the Association for Corporate Growth.

ACG Atlanta, a group of business professionals involved in mergers and acquisitions, presented the Coke chief with the Bernie Abrams Leadership Award.

Isdell came out of retirement to become Coke chairman and CEO in 2004, returning to the company at time when its growth was slowing and employee morale was low. Isdell will be replaced July 1 as CEO by Muhtar Kent, Coke's president and chief operating officer. Isdell will serve as chairman of the Coke board until the 2009 shareholders meeting.

Coke has made key changes in the past few years, Isdell said. Employee morale is higher, he said. Coke has mended relationships with its bottlers, Isdell said.

"It was contentious before," he said. "Now, it's constructive."

The company has broadened its portfolio, acquiring brands such as Glaceau's Vitaminwater, Isdell said.

It also has revived the core Coca-Cola soft-drink brand, something analysts and the media doubted could be done, he said. Coke's carbonated soft drink case volume rose 3 percent in the first quarter.

Coke, though, must continue to innovate, he said. He cited Coke Zero, a no-calorie soft drink introduced in 2005 that's become one of the company's billion-dollar brands in terms of annual sales.

"Let me tell you, there's much more in the pipeline," Isdell said.

Joe Guy Collier writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.