Muhtar Kent on business continuity
From Kent Program Summer Training Panel 2: The Golden Triangle: Transforming Conflict through Cooperation · · Columbia SIPA
“We made a very different decision there that we would keep operating wherever possible and whenever possible through the war. We made that for three main reasons: firstly, we were aware that we provide an essential service to our riders, our consumers, as public transport in many parts of Ukraine has simply shut down. The other side of our platform are our drivers; it's not lost on us that continuing to earn an income remains important. And lastly, symbolism; we recognize that it's important we have a globally visible brand, and it was important that if we were able to operate, other companies could take a second look and maybe they can keep operating as well.”
On , Muhtar Kent, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Coca-Cola Company (The), spoke about business continuity during Kent Program Summer Training Panel 2: The Golden Triangle: Transforming Conflict through Cooperation on Columbia SIPA.
About Muhtar Kent
At Coca-Cola's 2019 annual shareholders meeting, outgoing Chairman Muhtar Kent responded to activist Ray Rogers' allegations of human rights abuses at Coca-Cola facilities in Latin America and elsewhere by stating that "nothing could be further from the truth of those allegations" and that "there's just no ground to any of those allegations." Kent said the company sees "eye to eye with all our bottlers related to issues of adhering to the highest standards of human rights," but noted that bottlers are "independent companies run by independent leadership teams" and that "not everything can be dictated to bottlers." He said the company would continue to work with activists to "influence" and "bring matters to a better place." In a 2018 CNBC interview, Kent described the global business environment as characterized by "volatility, volatility, volatility, and more unknowns," adding that "running a global business is just getting tougher and harder" due to socio-political dynamics. He said he was a "realistic optimist" that the US-China trade dispute would be resolved "for the benefit of both countries and the world." Kent also said that while Coca-Cola is "the quintessential American brand," the company is "so local" in China, noting that its ownership includes Chinese state-owned and Chinese enterprise partners.