CEOs Like Pepsi's Indra Nooyi Nudge Consumers to Make Sustainable Choices

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo chairman and CEO, doesn't like obese Americans, nay obese consumers anywhere, burdening the public health system. She, therefore, began a nutrition movement within her company, and her consumers, for she knew the $65 billion food and beverage giant couldn't continue the way it always did. Her thinking was long term.

Writing for her recent corporate citizenship report, Nooyi says: "...sustainability of our business depends on investing in a healthier future for our consumers..." And yet, Wall Street is snapping at her heels, questioning her business model, and inducing her to raise aerated drinks to its early glory in the pantheon of PepsiCo's products. Why is a sustainability champion trying to move consumers towards better, healthier choices being pilloried thus?

John Elkington, co-founder of the London-based think-tank and consultancy SustainAbility, with a deep insight into consumption dynamics, thinks Nooyi may be slightly ahead of her times.

"It doesn't mean she is wrong," he says, adding that this is the only way for food companies like PepsiCo to go if they don't want to turn into pariahs like tobacco companies.

"Maybe the present structures or business platforms of the company are not ideally suited for the purpose," explains Elkington. PepsiCo officials are tight-lipped about the intense pressure that is coming to bear on their chairman in recent months. Vivek Bharati, executive director of PepsiCo India, is philosophic and speaks in the same vein as Elkington. "A company can be ahead of its consumers, with its consumers, or behind its consumers," he explains.

To read the full article in The Economic Times, please click here.