What are the benefits and drawbacks to being independent now?
I’ve not found the drawbacks yet. But the benefits are not competing for resources. You’d have different business units under the company the size of Cadbury Schweppes that were competing for capital, for expansion, things like that. Today … we’ve set our capital expenditures at 5 percent of our net sales so our team knows we’ve got that amount of money. We get the money, we make the decision quickly. I think on decision-making – nothing against our old parents – but when you’re in London it takes longer. If you need a decision to act on something, you’ve got to put it together, send it to London, and there’s a long wait for it to come back. Here we can do it in a 15-minute meeting in the morning. Carbonated soft drink sales have been declining as consumers cut their spending and switch to juices and teas. What does this mean for your business? We looked at it and said why are people leaving carbonated soft drinks? [They see other drinks as] better for you, health and wellness, funct
