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Rating: 
Summary: Misbranded
Review: Douglas Ivester may have been the top Number 2 in U.S. corporate history. Yet his disastrous tenure as CEO of Coke shows once again why the winners of the Best Supporting Actor don't necessarily all go on to be top stars. Some people who are invaluable in the second chair prove to lack what it takes to run the show.Roberto Goizueta who led Coke to unprecedented riches was the first executive of an established Fortune 500 company to become a billionaire. The handpicked successor of Robert W. Woodruff drove the price of Coke stock to new highs. Goizueta died unexpectedly in 1997 and Ivester assumed the reins of the Coca-Cola Company. The Real Thing is a book that is promoted as a history of an American institution. It is not. It is a tale told more from Ivester's perspective than any other. As such it gives too much credit to Ivester for the success of the Goizueta Era and too little blame for the rapid collapse during Ivester's tenure. On the whole, it is a disappointing and mislabeled business school case study.
Rating: 
Summary: A jumble of stories
Review: First of all, I have to recommend a far superior history of coke's first 100 years, Mark Pendergrast's "For God, Country and Coca-Cola..." Pendergrast's well researched (over researched?) book neatly and clearly tells the story of how the company started and ended up in the late 80s. In some ways Hays book is a sequel. At its best it tells the story of what happened to the giant syrup manufacturer after 1990. But the main problem with the book is Hays insistence on a non-linear style that works poorly when presenting history. She often starts a story and then stop--moving on to pick up another thread. Sometimes she comes back to finish the first thread, often she just mentions it in passing in another thread. The result is a convoluted, hard to follow story of Coke in the 1990s. Perhaps it is a refreshing change from the straight forward "and then this happened" approach, but it makes for difficult reading. Hays does a good job researching, she obviously spoke with many key people in Coke's world (or used other sources). Often though the book reads like a magazine article, long on colorful quotes and interesting asides, short on a central narrative drive. If you have read Pendergrast and want to get updated (through the turn of the century at least) then Hays will do the job. But if you know only vague details about Coke then you should start with For God, Country and Coca-Cola.
Rating:
Summary: Three Cheers for Coca-Cola, the Real Thing!
Review: From the Preface: "Coca-Cola began simply, as so many things do. Filled with sparkle and 'democratically' priced, it was as American as baseball, as accessible as jazz. It cost a nickel, which almost anyone could afford. Before long it was everywhere."
It is described as being the most ubiquitous (one of Eddy Roy's favorite words) sodas. It started out as 'the drink of the people' available at places all across the land for such a long time now.
In 1886, when it was formulated in an Atlanta, GA, drugstore, it was touted as a 'brain tonic' to ease headaches of a South enduring Reconstruction after our horrific Civil War which pitted brother against brother and splitting up families (kinda like the Democratic and Republican parties do in these modern times) in America.
It originally contained a small amount of cocaine (thus the brand name Coca-Cola), folks believed it did indeed cure what ailed them. Everyone drank Coke from Santa Claus, soldiers 'fighting the good fight' and other 'heroes' Americans would like to emulate, even presidents of the U.S. and rock stars.
Eddie Fisher wasn't exactly into 'rock music' -- the nearest he got to that was his version of 'Dungaree Doll,' but it was his t.v. show "Coke Time" which introduced me to my favorite drink. Here in Tennessee where Mountain Dew was formulated, and later Sun Drop, to compete with Mello Yello in the Coke family, you could 'take it or leave it.' After all, we already had Sasparilla for a 'pick-me-up."
My youngest son, Justin, used to bring an assortment of 'friends' home and would invariably ask what I like to drink. Being a teetotaler all my life, he got a kick out of their reactions when I admitted, "I always prefer Coke." He didn't wait for me to expound on the Eddie Fisher (who was my favorite singer before Michael Feinstein) connection.
By then, Coca-Cola was available in almost every corner on earth. For a long time, CC stood for free enterprise and runaway success in a 'curvaceous image.' Now, I can understand why my then-favorite Eddie Fisher was so promiscuous. Read his BEEN THERE DONE THAT. After all, he had to live up to the standard for which he was the 'star.'
Abroad, CC was considered a 'bottle of optimism,' the liquid substitute for liberty. If only things could be so simple. It was Marilyn Monroe and the Statue of Liberty in a single package, tantalizing and familiar all at once, 'the world's best-known brand of soft drink.'
When CC was bottled and no longer available only at soda fountains, it wasn't as 'special' or considered 'essential for one's ailments,' actually wasn't good for health as first thought. The bottlers became a power unto themselves by the 1920s, the closest thing to an equal the company could ever know.
Resentment began to penetrate the headquarters in Atlanta with a fire yet to be contained. A lapse in judgment in the past caused a revolution within this huge empire. They managed to re-invent the bottling business to their advantage, and yet the in-house bickering and quests for revenge almost brought our beloved Coca-Cola formula as a thing of the past and the corporation to its knees.
I was hoping for a photo section of the Coca-Cola boy posters we now see in some movies. The picture on the front cover is more modern but acceptable as it evokes feelings you had back then.
Using a journalist's investigative skills, Constance Hays' research and in-depth reporting for the 'New York Times', where she covered the food and beverage industry for three years, and she has been since 1986 (CC's 100th anniversary). This book leaves little to the imagination as it is a history of this product and its impact on the society it deceived. It went from a drink with no nutritional value into a remedy for whatever ails you, a refreshment for the body and spirit, to the world's best-known 'brand name.'
Fooling around with formulas almost put an end to our favorite drink as the 'New Coke' lacked the kick of the original. Thus it was transformed back into 'original formula' (without the cocaine). I've yet to taste the Vanilla Coke which was introduced at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, TN. (have no desire for such a combination). I do remember drinking a Cherry Coke as a teenager but only as a novelty. Today we have caffeine free -- what's the purpose of that? -- and Diet Coke. I've observed overweight people of all persuasions order Super Size meals and then insist on Diet Coke. How dumb can you be?! As if that drink will counteract against all the fat in the fries and burger. I can only shake my head. Being 5'1" and 97 lbs., I can enjoy the original CC I've always preferred, since all those Eddie Fisher t.v. promotions, and I never order Super Size anything.
This book is full of nostalgia for the past when things were simple and life was good, free of strife. Today, instead of producing a drink people love, the company is torn into factions interested in 'share prices' and 'stock market' listings. It is now a corporate entity with ever-changing and diverse executives, no longer solely American -- trying to restore lost prestige and restore the 'luster stolen by time and circumstance.'
After all, they still have the original formula. If only they could persuade Eddie Fisher, whose life has been as troubled and tumuluous as theirs, to come out of retirement and be the CC guy again! There is a town in Peru below the Machu Picchu Inca ruins along the Andes Mountain range which is accessible only by railroad; along both sides of the tracks, Coca Cola is available -- at the pizza shop and the Deposito office which has a large Coca Cola sign hanging aabove the tin roof. This photo in my local newspaper was taken by a Knoxville lawyer who took a group of hikers on the Inca Trail this past summer. It is far from civilization, and yet Coca Cola is there. Amazing!
She makes reference to an earlier history SECRET FORMULA written by Frederick Allen as a resource, providing important information as well as fascinating detail. Let's hope THE REAL THING continues to be 'the real thing' and not turned into an oriental tea. In a takeover of the Gillette company by Warren Buffet, I learned accidentally that he owns Coca-Cola. Now, I see why no one is reading this book. He also bought the cheap manufacturing housing owned by Jim Clayton. Soon, that man will own the whole country, production wise. Who gets it when he dies, I wonder.
Rating: 
Summary: Coca-Cola Unexpected Summer
Review: I received this book in an unexpected summer package that arrived courtesy of coke-gps, a business that deals with the coca-cola gps contest. I decided to read it and find out what coke cell phone products and gps receivers were doing to the us market. Coca-Cola Unexpected Summer Sweepsteaks and other marketing campaigns have a stronghold on the market right now and the fact that they now have their hands on GPS receivers and Coke Can Cell phones is somewhat scary. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Coke GPS and Coke Cell phones.
Rating:
Summary: Coca-Cola Unexpected Summer
Review: I received this book in an unexpected summer package that arrived courtesy of coke-gps, a business that deals with the coca-cola gps contest. I decided to read it and find out what coke cell phone products and gps receivers were doing to the us market. Coca-Cola Unexpected Summer Sweepsteaks and other marketing campaigns have a stronghold on the market right now and the fact that they now have their hands on GPS receivers and Coke Can Cell phones is somewhat scary. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Coke GPS and Coke Cell phones.
Rating:
Summary: A Rigorous Analysis of Real Crises
Review: Many of those who are already familiar with the long and colorful history of the Coca-Cola Company may share my own curiosity about the problems it has struggled with in recent years. What happened? A question of greater interest to me, what caused all the problems after a century of increasingly greater sales and profits? In this volume, Hays provides a brief but sufficient review of the company's history through 1980 before focussing the bulk of her attention on Robert C. Goizueta's 17 years as CEO until his unexpected death in 1997, and then on M. Douglas Ivester who succeeded Goizueta for only two years until being forced out. In certain respects, Hays resembles a cultural anthropologist as she rigorously analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the two CEOs as they struggled (with mixed success) to sustain the Coca-Cola Company's market dominance, both domestically and internationally. As she presents her material, I was convinced that many of the problems they faced and some of which they inherited are similar to those which Louis V. Gerstner encountered when he became CEO of IBM. Specifically, a highly political corporate culture, well-entrenched resistance to change, estrangement from customers, and contempt for early-warning signs of imminent deterioration of both prestige and profits. To her credit, Hays demonstrates meticulous care and commendable circumspection when explaining that several of the problems which the Coca-Cola Company encountered during the past two decades were by no means unique as its globalization initiatives proceeded, given internal upheavals in emerging markets and currency devaluations over which it had little (if any) control. It was also among the corporate victims of anti-Americanism which, if anything, has become even more virulent during the last 12-18 months. Nonetheless, one of her central themes is that the Coca-Cola Company was as relentlessly committed to a defective "formula" for growth worldwide as it was protective of its super-secret formula for syrup. Meanwhile, the company weakened long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with many of its independent bottlers. Some of the most engrossing material in her book examines a number of executive-suite dramas (and melodramas) which suggest, to me at least, an inability and/or unwillingness among senior managers to affirm in their conduct certain values with which the company had once been so closely identified, notably in areas such as corporate good citizenship and strategic partnerships based on trust. Recent developments suggest that current CEO Douglas N. Daft and his senior management team continue to struggle with many of the aforementioned problems and, through their determined efforts, the Coca-Cola Company is beginning to solve them. Hays observes that "They knew the formula. They had done it before. They would just have to do it again." Hopefully they will succeed, guided and informed by lessons learned during recent years...lessons which are specified or implied in this riveting account by Hays of "truth and power" in a company which, for more than a century, has been synonymous with so many of the "best and brightest" achievements in the history of American free enterprise.
Rating:
Summary: Outdated on arrival
Review: New York Times reporter Constance Hays is an excellent business journalist, but her book is already so dated that it is no more than a mundane history book. Unfortunately, it pretends to be a contemporary analysis of The Coca Cola Company's management practices. And, in this regard it just fails. The book spends a long time on the origin of this all American company. It also develops well the very successful 16 year tenure of Roberto Goizeta from 1981 until his surprising death in 1997. It does a good job of covering the miserable and short tenure of Douglas Ivester from 1997 to 1999. He made so many mistakes within such a short time, that he was forced out before he could do any more damage. Unfortunately, Hays hardly covers the valiant efforts of Daft, CEO from 1999 until February 2004 to turnaround the company. Thus, her criticism of Coke's management leadership is already two CEOs and nearly four years behind as the book just hits the stores. For this explicit reason, I would pass it up. Instead, I recommend a similar but far superior book written by another top notch NY Times journalist: The End of Detroit: How the Big Three lost their grip on the American Car Market written by Micheline Maynard. Maynard's analysis is far sharper, current, and relevant than is Hays' in The Real Thing.
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