Every business must rely on a clear strategic plan that is capable of guiding its activities and the decisions of the management. The current paper explores the strategic plan of PepsiCo, as well as the aspects that shape the goals of the company and its objectives. PepsiCo is a company with a mission and purpose, which can be defined as the desire to generate value for consumers by offering quality food and beverages. Essentially, the company positions itself as “the global leader in convenient foods and beverages” (PepsiCo, 2022, para 2). The aforementioned purpose of PepsiCo influences its strategic decision-making and indicates its aspiration to dominate markets across the globe.
According to the marketing analysis, PepsiCo possesses numerous brands that provide it with a competitive advantage in the market. Specifically, brands such as Pepsi, Aquafina, Tropicana, and Gatorade all have considerable shares in their respective segments. Based on the research conducted, several proposals were identified which could assist PepsiCo in improving its operations. For instance, the company needs to consider increasing demand for healthy products. Due to the fact that many products produced and sold by PepsiCo cannot be considered healthy, the company failed to get a larger share of the market. At the same time, the company possesses the expertise and resources to develop and begin manufacturing products that promote wellness. Essentially, the company needs to focus on research and development to introduce healthy products for consumers. Additionally, apart from developing new products, the company has to consider entering emerging markets, which potentially can yield extra profits. Thus, a combination of the two aforementioned initiatives may help PepsiCo to expand its market presence on a global scale.
At the same time, PepsiCo already has several strategic objectives which it seeks to attain in the near future. Specifically, it has three measurable objectives, namely, focusing on digitalization, monetization of the ecosystem, and optimization of the business. For instance, PepsiCo plans on digitalizing and monetizing its dictation routes to the market by upgrading technology in its numerous facilities. The company will employ business-to-business fintech and software, including solutions such as PerfectDraft (Gios, 2021). Finally, the company seeks to ensure the optimization of its business operations. PepsiCo plans on enhancing its approach to resource allocation and utilization by increasing investments in markets such as Nigeria and upscaling the beer category in China (Doerr & Page, 2018). The expansion of its beer production is also one of the key objectives of PepsiCo in the coming years. An analysis of the financial statement of the company reveals that PepsiCo will remain profitable even in the case of scaling up its beer operations.
Another important element of PepsiCo’s continuous success in the market is its approach to organizational structure. Specifically, the company’s structure is based on a geographical framework in order to facilitate the process of addressing challenges arising in local markets (Gaspary et al., 2020). Such a structure meets the company’s global expansion and leadership strategy. The company espouses market divisions, functional corporate groups, and a global hierarchy. For instance, the market division manifests itself in numerous local branches of PepsiCo in Europe and America. Thus, by using the aforementioned structure, the company manages to successfully address the needs of the regional markets and be aware of the local demand. At the same time, certain brands of the company, such as Frito-Lay, still have only one division, which limits the ability of the business to respond to local markets’ challenges.
PepsiCo has clear objectives for the upcoming years, and in order to achieve them, it needs to rely on an auditing plan. Such a plan will help the company to create smaller tasks and targets for each objective to facilitate their attainment. Additionally, the auditing plan needs to include a reward system and schedule, which will ensure that the employees stay motivated and is able to finish their tasks on time. The plan will also assist the company in analyzing the current progress based on different indicators and components. Moreover, PepsiCo needs to regularly gather customer feedback in order to ensure that the products it sells are in line with the needs of customers. At the same time, the demands of employees and investors should also be taken into consideration. Finally, the company has to address factors of collaborative competitiveness and shared management policies and monitor how they are followed by the employees.
PepsiCo also requires a contingency plan, which will help it to resolve possible challenges that will emerge in the coming years. Negative situations are always possible, and contingency measures can reduce their impact or prevent them (Reis, 2019). The first step in the contingency plan is identifying in advance all of the possible failures and dangers that the company may encounter in the future. The second step involves choosing which risks are more important and arranging them according to their priority. The third step implies gaining sufficient resources which will be used in the case of failure or danger. The fourth step involves addressing every single source of risk by creating instructions on how to overcome it. Finally, the company must provide all employees with the information on the contingency plan and revisit it whenever a need arises.
References
Doerr, J. E., & Page, L. (2018). Measure what matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation rock the world with OKRs. Portfolio/Penguin.
Gaspary, E., Moura, G. L., & Wegner, D. (2020). How does the organizational structure influence a work environment for innovation? International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 24 (2-3), 132-153.
Gios, L. (2021). Resilience and strategy execution in public organizations. Springer Gabler.
PepsiCo. (2022). Mission and Vision. PepsiCo, Inc. Official Website. Web.
Reis, K. (2019). Five things the government can do to encourage local food contingency plans. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 62(13), 2295-2312. Web.