Coca Cola 2007 Annual Report Download - page 12

Our competitive strengths include leading brands with a high level of consumer acceptance; a worldwide network
of bottlers and distributors of Company products; sophisticated marketing capabilities; and a talented group of
dedicated associates. Our competitive challenges include strong competition in all geographic regions and, in many
countries, a concentrated retail sector with powerful buyers able to freely choose among Company products, products
of competitive beverage suppliers and individual retailers’ own store-brand beverages.
Raw Materials
The principal raw materials used by our business are nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners. In the United States,
the principal nutritive sweetener is high fructose corn syrup, a form of sugar, which is available from numerous
domestic sources and is historically subject to fluctuations in its market price. The principal nutritive sweetener used by
our business outside the United States is sucrose, another form of sugar, which is also available from numerous sources
and is historically subject to fluctuations in its market price. Our Company generally has not experienced any
difficulties in obtaining its requirements for nutritive sweeteners. In the United States, we purchase high fructose corn
syrup to meet our and our bottlers’ requirements with the assistance of Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Sales & Services Company
LLC (“CCBSS”). CCBSS is a limited liability company that is owned by authorized Coca-Cola bottlers doing business
in the United States. Among other things, CCBSS provides procurement services to our Company for the purchase of
various goods and services in the United States, including high fructose corn syrup.
The principal non-nutritive sweeteners we use in our business are aspartame, acesulfame potassium, saccharin,
cyclamate and sucralose. Generally, these raw materials are readily available from numerous sources. However, our
Company purchases aspartame, an important non-nutritive sweetener that is used alone or in combination with other
important non-nutritive sweeteners such as saccharin or acesulfame potassium in our low-calorie sparkling beverage
products, primarily from The NutraSweet Company and Ajinomoto Co., Inc., which we consider to be our primary
sources for the supply of this product. We currently purchase acesulfame potassium from Nutrinova Nutrition
Specialties & Food Ingredients GmbH, which we consider to be our primary source for the supply of this product. Our
Company generally has not experienced any difficulties in obtaining its requirements for non-nutritive sweeteners.
Our Company sells a number of products sweetened with sucralose, a non-nutritive sweetener. We work closely
with Tate & Lyle, our sucralose supplier, to maintain continuity of supply. Although Tate & Lyle is our single source
for sucralose, we do not anticipate difficulties in obtaining our requirements for sucralose.
With regard to juice and juice-drink products, citrus fruit, particularly orange juice concentrate, is our principal
raw material. The citrus industry is subject to the variability of weather conditions. In particular, freezing weather or
hurricanes in central Florida may result in shortages and higher prices for orange juice concentrate throughout the
industry. Due to our ability to also source orange juice concentrate from the Southern Hemisphere (particularly from
Brazil), we normally have an adequate supply of orange juice concentrate that meets our Company’s standards.
Patents, Copyrights, Trade Secrets and Trademarks
Our Company owns numerous patents, copyrights and trade secrets, as well as substantial know-how and
technology, which we collectively refer to in this report as “technology.” This technology generally relates to our
Company’s products and the processes for their production; the packages used for our products; the design and
operation of various processes and equipment used in our business; and certain quality assurance software. Some of the
technology is licensed to suppliers and other parties. Our sparkling beverage and other beverage formulae are among
the important trade secrets of our Company.
We own numerous trademarks that are very important to our business. Depending upon the jurisdiction,
trademarks are valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained. Pursuant to our
Bottler’s Agreements, we authorize our bottlers to use applicable Company trademarks in connection with their
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