Top executives of Coca-Cola Bottlers Inc. were in town recently to meet with their local associates who have worked non-stop to ensure their products remain dominant in the market. {{more}}
Atty. JB Baylon, director for Public Affairs & Communications of Coca-Cola Export Corp., said that he and Coca-Cola Bottlers President and CEO Bill Schultz visited Dumaguete to congratulate their partners “for the excellent work they’ve accomplished for the first nine months of the year”.
He said Schultz was also here to encourage the local Coca-Cola team to “make sure we end the year with record achievements”.
The Coca-Cola executives paid a courtesy call on Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria and checked out their stalls and marketing hardware at the Dumaguete Public Market, the food strip across the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, Robinsons Mall, and at the tempurahan along the boulevard.
“We strive to be able to offer our consumers their preferred non-alcoholic beverage options depending on their consumption occasion,” Baylon said.
“To achieve this, we need to make sure we are available when our consumers want us, [we are] affordable — given all that our consumers spend on, and above all, truly their preferred beverage option because of all that we stand for, especially product quality and our corporate social responsibility (CSR),” he added.
As its CSR, Coca-Cola has been a major supporter of sports events like soccer football, and of community papers in the country. Baylon said they are in the process of exploring how to deepen their partnership with the Philippine Press Institute, for instance, in the area of community journalism.
“We continue to try to make sure we remain relevant to our consumers — in the variety of the produces we offer, in the consistency of quality of our products, and in our contributions to the communities we serve, whether through CSR programs or sponsorships of local events and festivities which cement our being part of the everyday lives of Filipinos in Dumaguete and throughout the country,” Baylon said.
Asked about how one of the world’s biggest multinational corporations can help provide career opportunities for the thousands of graduates from this University Town, Baylon said they do have employed a number of graduates from Dumaguete schools. “Which means they met the standards that Coca-Cola was looking for, and that they, in turn, were happy to work for Coca-Cola.”
He added that Coca-Cola is not worried about more job-seekers going for the popular call center industry. “Coca-Cola has a special appeal due to its brand name and its global nature. Some of our associates have moved from Manila to posts in Hong Kong, Bangkok, even our head office in Atlanta [Georgia]. No BPO can offer that opportunity,” Baylon said.
A new mega bottling facility is rising in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental — the first one they’re building in 10 years. Baylon said the first phase is worth about $30 million.
In Negros Oriental and Siquijor, Coca-Cola products are distributed by AMRU Trading managed by Antonio Ramas-Uypitching.
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