Customer Reviews

I'd Like the World to Buy a Coke: The Life and Leadership of Roberto Goizueta

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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Robert Goizueta was on of the most influencial business men of his time. He changed the entire formula of Coke as a product and as a company. The numerous accounts of Goizueta's plans to take coke totally global shown a new light on the world of coke. It was facinating to learn about the behind-the-scenes action that took place to make Coke in to a Brand Name Monster. I would recommend this book to anyone who was interested in finding out how Coke became the most recognizable name in almost all the world and the life story of Robert Goizueta. I don't think, however, it is a good book if you are looking for an enlightening economical outlook.

Maria Kozak
per.4
3/22/02
Economcs
Mr. Jimenez

I LIke To Buy The World A Coke, David Greising
John Wiley &Sons, Inc., 1997, 304 pages

David Greising- is the Atlanta bureau cheif of Business Week magazine. He is also an author of: "Brokers", "Bagmen& Moles: Fraund and Corruption in the Chicago Futures Market".

The main idea of this book is to show the reader a life history of a Roberto Goizueta

The book, "I Like World To Buy A Coke" by David Greising gives us very detailed information on Coke Compnany history. Robert Goizueta, CEO of the Coca-Cola was a Cuban imigrant. Thanks to his ambitious character he was able to start a new better life in United States of America. He menaged to live through all the obstacles of an immigrant and become most succesful CEO. Thanks to his possition and strength he changed Coca-Cola into the most profitable corrporation. Who knew that Coca-Cola was loosing its market for Pepsi? If you want to learn more about Coca-Cola you've got to read this book!

"Some of the materials were repeated" (A reader from Malysia).
"This is unauthorized bibliography and the author makes some assumptions and leaps of faith that are not substantiated sufficiently" (A reader from North Carolina).

The book is about a man who would have liked the world to buy a coke. David's journalistic narrative makes the story extremely readable. It is interesting how he brings out minutiae of the cradle-to-grave of Goizueta's life-journey with Coke. Sprinkled with some management talk and significance of Goizueta's penchant for Economic Value Added, the book makes for an interesting read.

As I was reading the book, the IT executive was trying to ask if there are lessons for technologists in the book.
* Without a formal management and operational background, Goizueta transformed himself from a technologist - who loved solving problems like rust on soda bottle tops - to a business leaders who had coke run in his vein.
* A leader with a genuine love for his product, with enough foresight to know when he screwed up and rolled back New Coke (though he personally loved it)

This is a good business biography. The author has an eye for the interesting detail - such as the fact that the future chairman of Coca-Cola and the future Yankee-hating Communist leader Fidel Castro went to the same elite Cuban private school. He also has a good understanding of the business issues that Roberto Goizueta addressed during his remarkably successful career. This is not a hagiography or an "authorized" biography. In fact, author David Griesing reports that Goizueta opposed the book project and directed his friends and the public relations department of Coca-Cola not to cooperate. Remarkably, in the face of that opposition, the author not only persevered but also produced a book that seems scrupulously objective. If it is not a paen, neither is it a hatchet job. It's the real thing, and we find it well worth reading and recommending.

I highly recommend this book to all students especially those who are thinking in majoring in business, and or have just emigrated from a country and need motivation. Roberto Goizueta was a young man who emigrated from Cuba. Despite his hardship in his country and living in the United States he was able to overcome all of his obstacles and become one of the most powerful man in the Coca-Cola Company. He was able to use his tragedies and make the Coca-Cola Company one of the most successful companies in the United States. Roberto was known as the Big Man in the business world. Goizueta's successful tips are revealed in this book, in order to find out you must read this outstanding book.

The author does a credible job researching facts and figures surrounding the entry and the eventual reign of Goizueta in the Coca-Cola empire. The book succeeds in being able to provide the reader with an initial glimpse of how Goizueta operated and the transformation of Coke from a an above-average company to one of the greatest corporations in the world. The only setback is the admitted non-cooperation of Goizueta himself in the creation of this book.

Fascinating account of how things are done in a foreign (i.e., big) business environment. As with any traveling, there is much to learn.

Roberto Goizueta was the manager in Cuba when Castro took over and nationalized all private businesses. (That little fact is rarely mentioned in all the praises to the "worker's paradise".) It so happened that he memorized the entire range of equipment and capacity and was able to recite this back when it came time to compute how much Castro had looted.
This is an insider's story of the corporate world, the tensions and alliances, the rewards and penalties for both hard work and luck, the demonstration of the idea that if you work hard enough you can make it. Goizuela's rise occurred amid an upheaval in the soft drink industry. There was the disastrous "New Coke", the challenge by Pepsi, the much-heralded secret formula, the introduction of juices and water....all are featured in detail.

A great book about a great man - reading about his funeral had me grinning and whistling along.

Regretably not a very good biography and lacking insight into the business strategies that Goizueta used to build Coke. You are left with a sense that it is more novel than biography. Unfortunate for such a titan of business. Don't buy with hope of finding business insight or what really drove Goizueta. This is an unauthorized biography and the author makes some assumptions and leaps of faith that are not substantiated sufficiently.

I'd Like The World To Buy a Coke is the story of how Coca-Cola became one of the world's leading brands. The story follows Goizueta's life on the way to success of becoming one of the best CEOs in the world.
Personally I learned a lot from that book, it clearly showed Goizueta's way to success, and how he managed to pull Coke company to the top. I also learned some of the famous quotes that he used while he was a CEO like, "It's better to be the head of the mouse then the tail of the lion," or "The fish only gets hooked when he opens his mouth."