A Case Study of PepsiCo, Inc about the Timing and Strategic Management

From within the ranks of the consumer product marketing giants, PepsiCo, Inc has emerged as this generations innovator and new product leader. Pepsi has accumulated a wide variety of consumer product successes despite recent slips and tumbles experienced by other industry powerhouses such as Philips, Proctor & Gamble and Coca-Cola. Besides having the nations best selling soft drink, Pepsi has helped Taco Bell and Pizza Hut became two of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the country. The backbone of this confidence is a fast-moving, risk-oriented management with an exquisite sense of timing. While Pepsi employs analytical research and test marketing tools similar to those of its rivals, it also realizes the importance of instinct or intuition as decision making asset .Because of the rapidly changing demands of the regional, national and even international markets, a degree of intuition is essential to flexibility in keeping a step ahead of the competition. Executives of Pepsi value their instincts so much that they have risked millions by being the first out with a 100% NutraSweet formula, even before a test market could be performed for fear that Coca-Cola would be tipped off. Pepsis top management allows its managers to operate with a great deal of autonomy and encourages quick actions in return for expected performance. When opportunities arise, usually the difference between success and failure is not that of failing to recognize the opportunity but instead that of not correctly and quickly acting upon the opportunity before the competition does. Questions (1) Does a point exist where even the best intuition or good hunch wont be enough to go on when determining investment allocations? (2) Whether the risk and comfort level o each individual management team differs and the factors affecting the risk and comfortable level.