Pepsico Case

1. Discuss how PepsiCo uses its talent to sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

PepsiCo understands that its competitive advantage lies in its human capital. It is globally recognized for its ability to generate leaders that have achieved success internally and externally. "Talent sustainability is about having the right people, in the right place, at the right time, doing the right job, the right way", (Rob Silzer, Ben E. Dowell, p618, 2010).

PepsiCo's talent sustainability consists of four planks that are representative of the previous quote; it encompasses the full professional life span of an employee at the company. Talent acquisition is about attracting the right talent and getting them acclimated to the company. Building a pipeline of talent is the talent management and development plank of PepsiCo's sustainability framework. A leaning organization is an, "...organization characterized by a capability to adapt to changes in environment", and "organizational learning is certain types of learning activities or processes that may occur at any one of several levels in an organization", (SHRM, Human Development, p.3-194, 2009). PepsiCo University provides for both its intent to be a learning organization and offer organizational learning. In order to be a well round organization the last plank of the sustainable framework is PepsiCo's inclusive culture that ultimately makes it a stronger organization.

2. Discuss three key elements of PepsiCo's career growth model.

Leadership capabilities are one of the key elements of PepsiCo's career growth model which are tiered depending on the level of management. Because PepsiCo is so well known for the creation of leaders it only seems logical that they have a detail plan for progressive responsibility and ownership of task and projects. Not only does the company keep a watchful eye over its leadership team, it acknowledges those who make their projects and jobs successful. "The beverage and snack giant announced, that it has created the "Chairman's Circle of Champions" to reward the company's top operations associates around the world. The new award program focuses on backend employees for their strong performance in areas such as safety, job performance, service and people skills", (Alex Palmer, 2009, p29). It seems as though all employees receive a form of a 360 degree evaluation.

Knowing the business cold comes as a prerequisite for moving up the corporate ladder at PepsiCo. One must be able to articulate in their networking and demonstrate in their performance their depth of knowledge of the company's broad range of products and various divisions. For example, an up and coming leader should know that, "As part of a $1 billion investment effort, PepsiCo opened its first overseas "green" plant in China last month [June 2009] in the western city of Chongqing. The state-of-the-art beverage facility reinforces PepsiCo's ongoing strategy to expand in emerging markets and broaden its portfolio", (Beverage World, 2009, p10).

In order to be given the opportunity to advance it is important to demonstrate your current skill and aptitude. Critical experiences show that the employee has put the knowledge learned to use in