system as a whole. Markets where we effectively implemented a segmented brand, package, price and channel strategy as a system have seen strong results. 

At the same time that we are focused on revenue growth, we are also focused on working with our bottling partners to reduce system costs and improve system efficiencies. Together with our bottling partners, we have created a supply chain management company in Japan and supported the creation of a bottler-owned supply chain organization in North America. By pooling the resources of bottling partners, we have reduced the costs to manufacture our products. This type of supply chain initiative is being replicated in China and Africa and a number of other markets. We recognize that our ability to respond to customers' needs as a system provides a significant opportunity for future growth. Therefore, we are committed to improving our route to market and our response to customers. For example, in Mexico, we created a joint sales company for noncarbonated beverages. This sales company is focused on the efficient sale and distribution of noncarbonated beverages to customers that span multiple bottler territories. 

Executing with Excellence Globally 

Our business demands excellence in execution. Our business is not overly complicated, but we operate in a dynamic, fast-paced environment of global markets and competitive economies. Excellent execution requires discipline, concrete objectives, routines, reporting, follow-up, asking hard questions and the desire to take risks. We must efficiently transfer the knowledge and insights we have gained from successes and failures from one market to other markets around the world. The nonalcoholic beverages segment of the commercial beverages industry provides opportunities for growth, but it will take a relentless focus on execution to capitalize on those opportunities. 

We have identified several specific areas that provide opportunities for growth. We believe significant growth potential exists in diet and light products, and we intend to make investments to accelerate the growth of such products. We also believe that the immediate-consumption channel offers significant growth potential, and we plan to expand our offerings in this channel. We must ensure that our family of brands is selectively and profitably expanded to address consumers' changing preferences. In every market, we must focus on the financial health of the entire Coca-Cola system. We must look for new opportunities with each customer and allocate resources to maximize the impact of these opportunities. We believe we can capture this growth by focusing on our core brands to maximize the potential of each brand and through additional innovation. 

Reestablishing Our Marketing Leadership 

In 2005, we created our new Marketing, Strategy and Innovation group. We created this distinct group to ensure that these three functional areas are fully aligned and integrated. Carbonated soft drinks remain a fundamental and profitable part of our family of brands, and we believe we should invest in marketing our family of brands more aggressively than we have in the past few years. In addition, we need