PepsiCo’s goal is to “Perform with a purpose”. The three pillars of their purpose are: Customers (human sustainability), Environment and Employee (Talent Sustainability). The third pillar is evidence of the fact that diversity and inclusiveness practices are part of PepsiCo’s strategy. PepsiCo operates in four business units: PepsiCo Americas Foods, PepsiCo Americas Beverages, PepsiCo Europe and PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and Africa. Today PepsiCo operates in over 200 countries. It manufactures around 18 branches of beverages and snack foods including Pepsi-Cola, Frito lay, Tropicana, Quaker and Gatorade. Operating in over 200 countries it employs close to 300, 000 people. PepsiCo is ranked among Times top 50 employers for seven consecutive years till 2014. It also featured in 2015 Calvert’s Diversity ranking for S&P 100 companies. It topped the list with 95 points. Calvert’s diversity assessment is done on the basis of publicly available diversity practice information. PepsiCo’s diversity roots are as old as 1940. They first hired African-American in US as Sales person. In 1962 1962 Harvey C. Russell became the first African-American Vice President of any major U.S. corporation. The company through its various studies found out that women made most of the purchasing decisions. Then they decided to put women into key decision making positions to understand the consumers better. But their workforce was way behind the demanding numbers. This led them to think on increasing women presence in traditionally accepting non-women domains like sales and promotions and IT & strategy. By 2014 approximately 30% of PepsiCo’s executives were women. According to their 2014 Annual report they continue to include women in their workforce. 10 years ago PepsiCo in Saudi Arabia had only one woman employee. By 2016 they had trained 140 female employees for their snacks division in Riyadh.
Why is PepsiCo so keen on diversity inclusion? The industry itself demands such diversity. Food is different for different ethnic groups, gender and age-groups. Even it’s different for different Hispanic and non-Hispanic, health conscious people versus taste conscious community. So, they have to diversify in terms of product, market segment as well as involving employees from different communities. “Diversity goes beyond race and gender,” said PepsiCo’s Chief Global Diversity and Inclusion Officer Ronald C. Parker. Food and beverage industry need constant innovation in their recipes. Innovation demands different minds. Hence, diversity practice and inclusion is in-built in food and beverage industry. According to Datamonitor 2010 top 10 trends in Food and Beverage industry, “Authentic farm-friendly organic and natural” is the fifth priority trend. If there has to be farm-friendly organic food then companies have to diversify in terms of their choice of supplier as well. Local food-supply chains are sustainable as they support mixed and organic farming. That’s the reason large firms reach out to local food suppliers through various supplier diversity programs. PepsiCo spends approximately. $1.3 billion on minority and women owned business.
PepsiCo’s biggest ever competitor is CocaCola. Both these companies are very active in their corporate social responsibility programs. Both of them are using multi-point CSR activities. Both the companies pay all attention to diversification. However, PepsiCo has an advantage over CocaCola on diversity and inclusion program that has won many awards for the company. Indra Nooyi, who herself symbolizes minority group is making lot of difference in bringing workforce diversity through various employee programs like “Speak up”. To manage workforce diversity at PepsiCo in fact the senior executives take personal responsibility. The direct reports of CEOs take responsibility of specific groups. This kind of senior leadership commitment distinguishes PepsiCo from its competitors.
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