For one, a world business leader – like Coca Cola – has always been on the forefront of leading the way for other companies in giving back and helping those in less fortunate situations. This goes beyond that. Coca Cola is taking a proactive measure, despite declining sales, and making a statement by helping the people of the Philippines, who were recently afflicted by a crippling typhoon.

AUM Partners LLC applauds the efforts of Coca Cola.

Even while Coke sales are declining, the soft drink giant is still putting its advertising on hold to focus on a more important cause.

Coca-Cola announced last week that the company is suspending its brand advertising in the Philippines so that it can donate its entire ad budget to typhoon relief efforts. The company has so far donated more than $2.5 million in cash and in-kind contributions.

“We wish to express our heartfelt solidarity to all Filipinos in these difficult times,”Carlos Salazar Lomelín, Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola FEMSA, the bottling company of the Philippines, said in a press release. “It is in times like these when the Philippines sets an example of resilience and good spirit, and where our values of supporting ourselves as a team come at its best.”

Entire article available here.

Six months ago, the new Mercedes-Benz logistics center was merely a twinkle in the carmaker’s eye. Now, the $70 million, giant warehouse covers more than 900,000 square feet and has been up and running for a little over a week in Vance, Alabama.

The logistics center is expected to receive an average of 3 million automotive parts a day. These parts will be unloaded, shelved, sorted, and prepped for delivery to the various assembly lines in the country.  It is connected to the Mercedes No. 2 production plant by a 650-ft long tunnel, allowing for an ease in communication.

Like any new parents, the carmaker can’t believe how quickly the time between groundbreaking and the center’s opening passed. Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has even stated that the quickness of the logistics center building “shows the ingenuity and hardworking people we have here in Alabama who could do this so quickly.”

Entire article available here.

Enjoy !

It was a roller-coaster ride for small-business owners this year.

In Washington, during a year defined more by what didn’t get accomplished than what did, there were still high points for entrepreneurs. Many applauded as regulators removed some of the barriers to raising capital and approved another near-record volume of government-backed loans. However, they also watched as lawmakers pumped the brakes on bills to overhaul the tax code and immigration system and, at one point, brought the federal government to a halt.

And, of course, more than anything else, employers clamored to decipher and comply with the monumental new health-care law, which has been welcomed by some business owners and wholeheartedly reviled by many others.

Entire article available here.