Business View - February 2016 93
U.S. Congress. Policy and advocacy is done in lots of
places around the country. We also are the General
Secretariat for the International Council of Beverages
Associations, so we have a global focus, as well.”
It’s fairly well-known that the industry is fiercely
competitive. How do you build consensus amongst
companies that are engaged in the ‘cola wars?’
Don’t they sometimes have conflicting agendas?
“The ‘cola wars’ in the marketplace are alive and well.
So, in the marketplace, they’re ferocious competitors.
And whenever I’m talking about the industry to com-
munity or national leaders, I’ll say ‘I think the industry
is a great testament to the power of free enterprise – a
good competitor makes you that much better.’ And it’s
interesting and fun to watch the competition between
them because one-upsmanship leads to a lot of inno-
vation and creativity in how they do things. Of course
from an ABA standpoint, a rising tides lifts all boats.
Our desire is to see them all doing really well in the
marketplace – that means it’s a healthy industry.
“The thing about ABA that we think is our real value-
added, is that when they come to the table, that’s
where we work collaboratively. And we actually see,
over and over, in our research, or just talking one-on-
one with elected officials and others, that people be-
lieve we are much more credible when we’re speak-
ing with one voice. If we come in and say ‘Here’s a
recommendation from these arch-rivals,’ it gets more
attention because if they’re working together to try to
accomplish something, then they must really mean it.
“We do have some heated discussions and different
points of view. The companies look at policy from the
standpoint of their own business strategies, so it takes
a lot of discussion and analysis and looking at data
to figure out where we can stand collectively on policy
issues or other initiatives that we do together. But I
think that’s healthy – from a business perspective and
a public policy standpoint - and it gets us to a good
place.”
FOOD & BEVERAGE
