Pepsico is Winning in 21st Century Business

PRLog (Press Release) - Dec. 29, 2010 - “I believe Pepsico is serious about creating a Pepsi of the future that is far better for us than Pepsi of the past,” states Will Marre, CEO of Realeadership Alliance and author of Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner (Capital Books).  Marre has included Pepsico among such companies as Clifbar and Seventh Generation in a special blog series entitled Giving is Winning in which Marre is bringing attention to companies that include corporate social responsibility into their core business strategy.    

Marre’s list of Giving is Winning companies comes from research he is conducting with Clemson University and the University of California San Diego called 21 Companies for the 21st Century (http://www.willmarre.com/wm/21-companies-leadership-resea...).  The research is examining what successful companies are doing in today’s challenging environment that average companies are not and has led him to develop an engaging leadership development series, “Apple to Zappos.”  

Pepsico, contends Marre, is a great example of how focusing on the greater good can lead to success, namely Pepsi’s dedication to converting their products into healthier foods.  Marre states, “I am very skeptical of companies whose core product is harmful to people if used in ways their marketing messages promote; however, Pepsi is a great example of a company working hard to turn their business around.”  

For example, Pepsico was the first global company to remove transfats from chips and developed baked chips as a substitute for fried ones.  They have also nearly doubled their “good-for-you” product portfolio over the last five years and are drastically improving the health of nearly all of their products such as adding whole grains while naturally reducing saturated fat and salt in snacks and foods.  Currently they have an estimated $10 billion portfolio of nutritious products.

According to Marre, Pepsico also knows how to give big. Perhaps their most inspiring giving initiative is the Pepsi Refresh Project which has awarded more than $20 million in grants to social entrepreneurs with good ideas that positively impact communities.  Marre states, “It’s a powerful combination of social media, consumer engagement and social business action that is good for the Pepsi brand as well as for people.”  

Visit http://www.willmarre.com/blog to follow Marre’s Winning is Giving blog and get a special series based on his research findings, “Apple to Zappos: What Today’s Successful Leaders Are Doing That the Rest of Us Aren’t.”

# # #

About Will Marre:

Will Marre is CEO of Realeadership Alliance and founder of Thought Rocket, a new online leadership development platform providing up-to-the-minute leadership research on what successful organizations are doing to thrive in the 21st century. Will Marre is also the cofounder of the Covey Leadership Center where he brought the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to millions of executives and managers worldwide. He also heads the advisory board of the Human Performance Institute (a Johnson & Johnson company) and is an Emmy award-winning writer of a public television learning documentary. For more information please visit http://www.willmarre.com