Ties that bind:
Coca-Cola

Since 1994, when the Emory School of Business was renamed in honor of Roberto C. Goizueta, then chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, the relationship between Goizueta and Coca-Cola has been carefully nurtured into one of the school’s most important assets.

Nearly 150 Goizueta alums work for Coca-Cola, and the company maintains a strong recruiting presence on campus, hiring students for summer internships as well graduates for permanent positions every year.

One of the newest and most important shared initiatives is diversity. “Coca-Cola has taken on a lead role in partnering with us to promote diversity in the corporate ranks,” says Julia Morgan, Goizueta’s director of corporate marketing.

Coca-Cola is a primary sponsor of “Inside Goizueta,” an annual event designed to attract minority students interested in an MBA. Goizueta and Coca-Cola are also active members of the Consortium for Graduate Study, a national organization that recruits minority students to elite business schools. The company also has committed to funding a new scholarship for a minority MBA student beginning in the 2002–2003 school year.

There are a number of other scholarships available to MBA students that have direct or indirect ties to Coca-Cola, including the Coca-Cola Latin American Fellowships and the Goizueta Scholars.

For years, the company has helped the business school recruit the top tier of MBA students from around the country by holding a reception at company headquarters that includes a tour of Robert Woodruff’s private office and, prior to his death, a private meeting with Roberto Goizueta. “I never saw any student who wasn’t impressed,“ says Julie Barefoot, assistant dean in admissions and student services.

Recently, Coca-Cola signed on as the initial sponsor of Knowledge@Emory, an online business journal that highlights Goizueta and Emory faculty expertise and research.

Additionally, Coca-Cola executives routinely serve as student mentors, appear on educational panels, and speak on campus, as did CEO Douglas Daft last fall.

David Spear ’97 EvMBA, head of the Alumni Association Board and director of global development for Coca Cola’s 7-11 global account team, notes that the company encourages high-potential managers who want to attend Goizueta’s Executive MBA Program. “Since the renaming of the business school there is a very strong bond. It’s a fabulous relationship to have and cherish,” Spear says.

This kind of support has taken a new form: Coca-Cola has contracted with Goizueta to deliver an Executive Development Program for senior managers. Targeted initially at division presidents and their direct reports, the first iteration was delivered in March for forty-two Coca-Cola managers, and the next will be offered in November.

Goizueta has partnered with The Wharton School to deliver the program. According to Ed Leonard, senior associate dean for Academic Programs and the new program’s faculty director, each school will deliver half of the content at Goizueta.

The relationship between Coca-Cola and Goizueta isn’t just one of lofty business or academic initiatives. The depth and quality of the bond can sometimes best be seen in the details.

For instance, when the new Goizueta building opened in 1997, students returned the favor by voting to name the student lounge the KO Café after the company’s stock symbol. And at the graduation ceremony in May each year, Coca-Cola provides free beverages, while Mrs. Olga C. De Goizueta shakes the hand of each graduate—continuing a tradition began by her late husband.—David Black