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Eight Questions With Johnnie Booker of The Coca-Cola Co.
May 30, 2008
Atlanta Woman: Describe The Coca-Cola Co.’s commitment to doing business with
minority- and women-owned businesses?
Booker: Although the
company’s commitment to supplier diversity has been in existence for more than three decades,
former chairman Doug Daft made a public pledge in 2000 to spend $800 million with minority- and
women-owned businesses over a five-year period. After exceeding this goal in 2005, we’ve continued
to raise our annual target and increase spend year-over-year.
AW: When you joined Coca-Cola, it was only doing about $66 million with MWBE
suppliers, and within five years the company had reached $1 billion. How does a company make such
dramatic progress so quickly?
Booker: In 2000, we did approximately $67 million in spending with MWBEs. At the
end of that year, Doug Daft made a public commitment to spend $800 million with MWBEs over the next
five years.
In 2004, when Neville Isdell became chairman and CEO, he remained dedicated to this
commitment and took the program to the next level by engaging senior leadership to ensure the
program was incorporated throughout the supply chain and in all other business activities. In 2006,
Mr. Isdell announced that the company, between 2001 and 2005, exceeded the five-year pledge and had
spent more than $1 billion with minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MWBEs).
In addition to senior leadership commitment, we have been able to make good progress by
developing supplier diversity champions through a comprehensive training program. This training is
focused on supplier diversity as a competitive marketplace advantage. To date, over 400 champions
have been trained.
These champions serve as advocates within their respective departments and promote the use of
MWBEs. We also leverage our supplier diversity mentoring program. By working with a WBE consultant,
the program develops the capabilities and capacity of MWBEs to increase their competitiveness for
additional opportunities with Coca-Cola and other corporations. And, we sponsor the Governor of
Georgia’s Mentoring Protégé Program, which provides valued networking and training programs for our
MWBEs.
AW: Why did Coca-Cola make such a commitment to supplier diversity?
Booker: We have made a commitment to proactively build relationships with, and
purchase goods and services from MWBEs. We believe leveraging diversity is integral in achieving
sustainable growth in the marketplace.
Our collective commitment to diversity will create maximum value for our business, our
associates, our partners and the communities in which we do business. It’s about fostering an
environment where people choose to work and thrive by contributing their unique backgrounds,
experiences and talents to collectively deliver amazing results.
AW: What are the latest statistics for Coca-Cola in terms of supplier diversity?
Booker: In 2007, The Coca-Cola Company spent approximately $366 million with
first- and second- tier MWBEs. Through our prime suppliers, the Second-Tier Supplier Program
ensures a diverse supplier pool exists across our supply chain to increase the utilization of MWBEs
in our business.
AW: What are some of your best practices?
Booker: Our supplier diversity mentoring program is one of our best practice
initiatives. Each year, we select three to four of our MWBE suppliers to participate. Company
managers serve as mentors and help them to drive growth and excellence in their specific service or
product area. The focus of this formal training and developmental program is to better prepare them
to meet the business needs of The Coca-Cola Company, as well as other corporations.
We also sponsor some of our MWBEs in executive management programs at the Kellogg School of
Management at Northwestern University and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
AW: The Coca-Cola Company has field offices across this country and the world. Are
you able to be as successful in promoting supplier diversity in those areas or is it more in major
cities, such as Atlanta?
Booker: The supplier diversity program operates throughout the company and is
U.S.-based. Through our corporate memberships with the National Minority Supplier Development
Council (NMSDC) and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), we are able to
promote supplier diversity in other countries.
Our most successful programs are in the U.S. and South Africa, where recent laws have
required supplier diversity. The business case for diversity also has established roots in both
countries. Both help to drive our supplier diversity efforts.
AW: What advice do you give to MWBEs who want to succeed, not only with Coca-Cola,
but also in the workplace in general?
Booker: I advise them to do the following:
• Become certified with a national or nationally affiliated organization n Know how to sell
themselves and their companies
• Research the corporations they wish to target and get to know them thoroughly
• Know current business trends and learn industry language
• Get involved and become visible in organizations that will be helpful to grow your
business.
AW: Looking ahead, what else do you foresee that the company can do to broaden and
increase its commitment to minority supplier diversity?
Booker: We have committed to continue to have a laser focus on supplier diversity.
As our chairman and CEO Mr. Isdell says, ‘Our most important day is tomorrow.’ Diversity efforts
are a continuous journey and not a set destination. We must continue to raise our expectations, to
deliver better results each day.
Johnnie B. Booker is global director, Supplier Diversity at The Coca-Cola Company. In this
role, she develops and implements the company’s supplier diversity program and initiatives to
manage its commitment to provide equal contracting opportunities for minority- and women-owned
businesses.
