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THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2004
STRICTLY BUSINESS
Coca-Cola Co. general counsel resigns
ATLANTA
Patrick
■ Coca-Cola
Co.’s gener
al counsel,
D e V a 1
Patrick, has
resigned,
marking
another
high-level
manage
ment
change for
the world’s
largest soft drink maker as it
faces U.S. probes into its
business practices.
Coke Chairman and Chief
Executive Douglas Daft
announced the departure in
a company memo on Sunday,
saying the 47-year-old
Patrick had steered the legal
team “through significant
challenges and obstacles”
since arriving in 2001.
A Coca-Cola spokesman
declined to comment on why
Patrick was leaving.
But Credit Suisse First
Boston analyst Andrew
Conway said in a note: ‘We
believe that the company’s
board of directors did not
fiilly endorse Mr. Patrick’s
legal strategies and
approach regarding the
wrongful-termination law
suit filed against the compa
ny by Matthew Whitley.”
John Sicher, editor and
publisher of Beverage
Digest, said that “Coke has
had a complicated and not
very happy experience on
the legal front in the last few
years, and this change prob
ably makes sense.”
The U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission and
the Justice Department
began investigating Coca-
Cola after Whitley last year
accused the company of
inflating earnings and rig
ging a marketing test for its
Frozen Coke product a few
years ago. Coca-Cola admit
ted workers tried to rig the
test and apologized.
Patrick’s exit comes as
Coca-Cola looks for a succes
sor to Daft, who is retiring at
the end of the year.
Company spokesman Ben
Deutsch declined to com
ment on the CEO search.
Sicher said Coca-Cola
could name Daft’s successor
as soon as May or Jime.
The Wall Street Journal,
citing people familiar with
the matter, reported last
week that outsiders under
consideration for Coke’s top
job included Procter &
Gamble Co. Yice Chairman
R. Kerry Clark, Mattel Inc.
Chief Executive Robert
Eckert, Kellogg Co. CEO
Carlos Gutierrez and
Gillette Co. CEO James
Kilts.
Coke has previously said
Steve Heyer, its president
and chief operating office,
was an internal candidate.
Gutierrez earlier this
month dismissed talk about
his being couited as “specu
lation.” Gillette, Procter &
Gamble and Mattel declined
to comment on Monday on
whether their executives
were approached by Coke.
Coke said in the memo
that Patrick would be avail
able through the end of the
year for a transition but did
not say when his resignation
would be effective.
The company also said
GeofFKelly, a 34-year compa
ny employee and chief
deputy counsel, would serve
as interim general counsel.
TECHNOLOGY SURVEY
A study commissioned by Microsoft found that the American economy can get a boost of up to $200 biiiion if more women- and
minority-owned firms increased their computer usage.
Women, minority enterprises
would benefit from computers
By Herbert L. White
herb. white@theLiuirtonepost.com
The U.S. economy could grow
by $200 billion from increased
computer use by minority- and
women-owned businesses, a
survey shows.
Researchers at the Urban
Institute conducted the study
of more than 1,100 smaU-busi-
ness owners, 75 percent of
them women or minorities, in
Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami,
New York, Washington, D.C.
and Seattle, Wash. The find
ings showed that harnessing
technology could close the gap
for minorities and women, who
are less likely to own business
es and generate lower sales
than*white men.
“This research is one more
step in our effort to ensme that
small busineses everywhere
have a chance to succeed,”
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates
said. “There are many chal
lenges on the road to success.
Tfechnology should not be one
of them. In fact, technology
should be a great equalizer.
enabling these companies to
level the playing field and com
pete like never before.”
The survey found those that
make extensive use of comput
ers and other information tech
nology are significantly more
successful. On average, those
firms had substantial increas
es in productivity and prof
itability over those that didn’t
utilize computers.
Computer-finked companies
also tended to employ more
workers. The Urban Institute,
which conducted the study for
Microsoft, found that small
firms could increase produc
tion by adding computers as a
work tool.
“The findings from this study
should be encouraging for aU
entrepreneurs contemplating
whether investing in technolo
gy will help their business,”
said Harriet Michel, president
of the National Minority
Supplier Development
Council. “The findings are also
a wake-up call for policymak
ers, that supporting the tech-
See SURVEYy7C
SMELLS LIKE ENERGY?
Pig manure can become crude oil source
By Jim Paul
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
URBANA, m. - A University
of Illinois research team is
working on turning pig
manure into a form of crude oil
that could be refined to heat
homes or generate electricity.
Years of research and fine-
tuning are ahead before the
idea could be commercially
viable, but results so far indi
cate there might be big bene
fits for farmers and consumers,
lead researcher Yanhui Zhang
said.
“This is making more sense
in terms of alternative energy
or renewable energy and
strategically for reducing our
dependency on foreign oil,”
said Zhang, an associate pro
fessor of agricultural and bio
logical engineering. ‘Definitely,
there is potential in the long
term.”
The thermochemical conver
sion process uses intense heat
and pressure to break down
the molecular structure of
manure into oil. It’s much Like
the natural process that turns
organic matter into oil over
centuries, but in the laboratory
the process can take as little as
a half-hour.
A similar process is being
used at a plant in Carthage,
Mo., where tons of turkey
entrails, feathers, fat and
grease from a nearby
Butterball turkey plant are
converted into a light crude oil,
said Julie DeYoung, a spokes
woman for Omaha, Neb.-based
Conagra Foods, which oper
ates the plant in a joint ven
ture with Changing World
Tfechnologies of Long Island,
N.Y.
Converting maniire is sure to
catch the attention of swine
producers. Safe containment of
livestock waste is costly for
farmers, especially at large
confinement operations where
thousands of tons of manure
are produced each year. Also,
odors produced by swine farms
have made them a nuisance to
neighbors. North Carolina is
one of the top pork-producing
states.
“If this ultimately becomes
one of the silver bullets to help
the industry. I’m absolutely in
favor • of it,” said Jim
Kaitschuk, executive director
of the Illinois Pork Producers
Association.
Zhang and his research team
have found that converting
manure into crude oil is possi
ble in small batches, but much
more research is needed to
develop a continuously operat
ing reaction chamber that
could handle large amounts of
manure. That is key to making
the process practicable and eco
nomically viable.
Zhang predicted that one day
a reactor the size of a home fur
nace could process the manure
generated by 2,000 hogs at a
cost of about $10 per barrel.
Big oil refineries are unlikely
to purchase crude oil made
from converted manure, Zhang
said, because they aren’t set up
to refine it. But the oil could be
used to fuel smaller electric or
heating plants, or to make plas
tics, ink or asphalt, he said.
“Crude oil is our first raw
material,” he said. “If we can
make it value-added, suddenly
the whole economic picture
becomes brighter.”
On the Net:
Zhang’s site:
www.age. uiuc. edu/faculty/yhz/ind
ex.htm
Agencies
merge to help
homeowners
By Herbert L. White
herb, white® thecharlonepost. com
A nonprofit organization that helps educate
potential homeowners will merge with an
advocacy group for the low-income and home
less.
Ujamma and Community Link announced
the merger last month. When it becomes offi
cial on July 1, the new Community Link
expects to help more people locate affordable
housing as renters and homeowners.
“This merger helps complete our continuum
of care for our customers,” said Barbara
Bernhardt, chair of the board. “Community
Link up to this point, has helped families
obtain save and affordable rental housing;
now we can extend our services and help them
become homeowners.”
Ujamma - Swahili for cooperative economics
- was formed in 1995 to provide homeowner-
ship education and counseling. Ujamma helps
clients with the credit process, pre-ownership
education, loan pre-approval, contracts and
closings. Both organizations served specific
clientele, with Ujamma working with new
homeowners while Community Link helping
the homeless. Merging combines the demo
graphic groups served while reducing costs.
The new organization will have 29 employees,
with no one displaced from either side.
Ujamma, now headquartered at 500 E.
Morehead St., will move to Community Link’s
offices at 601 E. Fifth St.
“Not only will we better serve our existing
customers who are seeking education and
counseling on homeownership, we will also get
to provide services to those who simply need a
place to live,” said Henry Pharr, Community
Link’s president of the board. “Further, our
donors will have the satisfaction of knowing
that their support helped people attain stable
housing.”
Said Community Link president Floyd
Davis: “We expect to save. After we deal with
the transition cost, we will save about $60,000
per year. And we’ll be able to reinvest those
dollars to enhance our services.”
Community Link, a United Way agency, was
founded 75 years ago and serves clients in
Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Union counties. It
serves more than 3,000 people annually.
On the Net:
Community Link
www.communitylink-nc.org
So
Dot-com IPOs get
ready for sequel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Being a dot-com is back in fash
ion.
After two years that saw many companies
change names to drop the tarnished suffix from
their corporate monikers, a niunber of companies
seem to no longer feel there’s a stigma. In the last
several weeks, several companies with “.com” at
the end of their names have filed to go public,
including salesforce.com Inc., Shopping.com Ltd.
and Advertising.com Inc.
Is it the makings of a new Internet bubble?
Not quite, analysts say. Rather, it reflects the
sohd performance of already public Internet
stocks over the past 12 months. Yahoo! Inc., for
instance, has seen its stock more than double
See DOT-COM/7C
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