Company ... PepsiCo
Performance with Purpose

10 years ago, I said PepsiCo had to be about more than making money. Here's what's in store for the next 10.

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

10 years ago, I said PepsiCo had to be about more than making money. Here's what's in store for the next 10.

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Ten years ago, as my colleagues and I were thinking about the future of our company, we saw some major changes on the horizon.

People were increasingly looking for healthier foods. Environmental issues like water scarcity and climate change were threatening ecosystems, livelihoods, and economies around the world. And the competition for the next generation of talent was becoming more intense than ever.

We had a choice to make. Continue with business as usual. Or fundamentally transform our business, turning obstacles into opportunities. We chose the latter approach, and it has propelled our company forward ever since.

We call our approach Performance with Purpose. It’s transforming the way we do business so we can deliver strong long-term financial returns in a way that is sensitive to the needs of the world around us, while galvanizing our entire company to embrace a deeper sense of meaning in our work.

From the start, we knew this wouldn’t be easy. We knew it wouldn’t happen overnight. We knew it would take a willingness to overcome the doubts of those who said it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done.

But we also knew something else. We knew that being a good global citizen wasn’t just the right thing to do – it was the right thing to do for our business.

A decade into our journey, we’re making important progress. We’re cutting added sugar, salt and saturated fat levels in many of our products, while expanding our lineup of nutritious foods and beverages. Some people are surprised to learn that our beloved Pepsi-Cola trademark accounted for just 12% of our 2015 revenue, while our nutrition brands, low calorie beverages and healthier snacks accounted for roughly 45% during the same period.

At the same time, we’re significantly improving our water and our energy efficiency, reducing our packaging materials and our waste, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices around the world – all of which not only helps protect our planet, but has also saved PepsiCo more than $600 million over the past five years.

And we have done all of this while delivering strong financial performance. Over the past ten years, we have nearly doubled our net revenue and delivered total shareholder return of 142% – outperforming the S&P 500. Simply put, we aren’t just changing the way we spend money. We’re changing the way we make it.

And yet, for all our progress, we still have work to do. The challenges facing our world have only grown more urgent – from obesity and under-nutrition, to resource scarcity and climate change, to injustice and inequality of all kinds.

That’s why today we’re recommitting ourselves to Performance with Purpose and upgrading our goals for the next ten years – what we’re calling Performance with Purpose 2025.

When it comes to our Products, we’re continuing to transform the range of foods and beverages we offer and increasing people’s access to more nutritious options.

When it comes to our Planet, we’re broadening the scope of the impact we seek to have so we can limit our environmental footprint – from a product’s source to its disposal. Having grown up in the water-distressed south of India, watching my parents wake up before dawn to collect water in pots and pans, I know firsthand how important it is for companies to operate sustainably.

And when it comes to our People, we’re making sure all our associates – regardless of what they look like, where they come from, or who they love – have an opportunity to fulfill their potential at PepsiCo, and we’re doing our part to lift up communities around the world.

You can find a more detailed list of our new goals, along with additional information about the progress we’ve made over the past 10 years by clicking here.

Our new goals represent the fundamental belief that the success of any business is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around us. Ten years into our Performance with Purpose journey, it has become even clearer to me that this is the only way to run a successful global corporation in the 21st Century.

My hope is that over the next decade, more companies around the world will adopt this approach. And that together, we can usher in a new way of doing business, where we advance the interests of companies and society together, and where corporations are focused on making not just a profit, but a difference in the world.