Introduction
In the worldwide beverage sector, PepsiCo is a top producer and retailer of non-alcoholic beverages. The significant reasons for PepsiCo’s achievement are practical marketing tactics and product diversification. PepsiCo must constantly reassess its marketing methods and product range due to the intense rivalry in the international and US beverage industries. In the markets where it competes, PepsiCo directly manufactures and distributes its selection of beverages. Teenagers, adults, athletes, and celebrities are among the client groups PepsiCo serves. A large selection of meals and drinks make up the company’s value offer. Technology, social, core competencies, and economic and political pressures are the industry’s key propellants. The company’s strong brand recognition and large market share are its significant advantages (Ethisphere). Its primary flaw is its failure to take the lead in the market for carbonated beverages. The company can pursue both pricing and promotional tactics to increase its profitability.
One of the most popular and convincing solutions to normative ethics in philosophical history is utilitarianism. Despite being a worldwide corporation, PepsiCo acts in an unethical manner. The corporation could benefit from it in the short term, but over time, it might damage its reputation and incur more extensive costs. According to utilitarianism, moral decisions are assessed based on how they affect each stakeholder (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). A handful of the employees were interviewed, and it emerged that they were making low pay while working in hazardous situations without the requisite complete safety gear. This research was written to explore and consider whether or not PepsiCo is an ethical company and informative enough for the reader to be able to draw their conclusions based on the research and ethics proposed.
Literature Review
The management of the environment, human health, and safety is covered in great detail by PepsiCo. The goal of the policy is to make sure that the firm effectively responds to its immediate commercial environment. The process has four crucial components: resource utilization, business connectivity, and organizational culture. For example, the corporate plan on ownership culture highlights the necessity of creating and maintaining a proactive culture by promoting environmental responsibility, ensuring the safety and health of employees, and managing the total ecological element at the organizational level (PepsiCo). To encourage active involvement and help these programs accomplish their reasonable objectives, the corporation consults, engages, and develops its employees.
Stakeholder participation is a crucial component of the environmental management framework. To reduce the impact of its daily operation on wellness, the environment, and security, PepsiCo works in conjunction with its business partners, including subcontractors, distributors, and authorized bottlers, as well as the neighboring communities and consumers (PepsiCo). Along with trade groups and non-governmental institutions, PepsiCo also collaborates with a distinct array of stakeholders to find more comprehensive, efficient, and long-lasting remedies to the conflicts and difficulties that the assets face in the areas of safety, health, and the surroundings.
Global business ethics that promote positive interactions between organizations and people should be followed by transnational corporations like PepsiCo. All actions and conduct inside the company’s boundaries should maintain the cultural system of values and generally recognized social norms for conducting business. The business owes specific ethical obligations to workers and all other participants in the public sphere. PepsiCo is, therefore, required to act in a way that goes outside of its self-interest of profiting via oppression and violates the rights of others.
The other issue is that PepsiCo advertises one of its freshly manufactured beverage goods in developing nations without providing exact details. Although the firm has not defined it, alcohol makes up a sizable portion of the beverage. At the same time, it promotes the beverage as suitable for all generations, including kids. In addition, glass is priced more expensively in poorer nations. International business ethics state that it is improper to sell alcoholic beverages to those who are underage, particularly teens. An excellent illustration of intentionally harming the populace is the unethical advertising of alcoholic drinks as non-alcoholic in the developing world.
Methodology
Strong leadership is necessary for the approach to the organization to be successful in light of global ethical norms. In essence, mature leadership would help to reconcile stakeholder behaviors and organizational processes with the mission and fundamental values of the company. The degree to which ethical leadership is accepted would determine the amount of effectiveness attained. The management must implement standards of behavior that promote the idea that everyone should be treated respectfully to improve the company’s ethics (PepsiCo). Since leaders are the ones who make strategic decisions, they need education in leadership and business ethics. Every global corporation, including PepsiCo, is committed to upholding employee rights. The company’s desperate attempt to maximize returns may be the root of the price issue. Such moves may always be stopped with good management and leadership abilities. The easiest way to deal with violations of this type is to increase the fines meted out to the chiefs of the different agencies concerned.
PepsiCo further works to prevent cruel behaviors from seeping into its corporate human resource operations by treating its consumers in morally proper ways. Because it is a major global corporation with operations on practically every continent, the beverage and food corporation undoubtedly works with a sizable number of consumers who may prove too challenging to handle or manage successfully (PepsiCo). As part of the company process to ensure that the firm’s clients are happy morally, the company has produced worldwide rules of behavior that typically specify the primary purpose of conducting the company properly.
To ensure that the business meets and maintains its goals throughout time, employees are required to uphold these standards of conduct and embrace the guiding principles. The code stipulates that all employees must treat one another with the utmost respect in the workplace, perform honestly and consistently in the markets, and assure ethics in all business-related operations. Additionally, and maybe more significantly, employees must carry out their specific jobs in more responsible ways to successfully meet the aspirations of the investors (PepsiCo). To increase the effectiveness of the corporate code of conduct, the firm revises its number of predefined more frequently to take into account evolving legal requirements that may have an impact on its business operations.
Implications
PepsiCo Company has to think about adhering to stringent and important corporate governance norms. The business should be transparent about the different laws and guidelines governing the chemical makeup of its beverages. The manufacturing and quality control procedures could be easily monitored thanks to the set norms and regulations. Complete control over external concerns can occasionally be challenging since it is challenging to enforce and guarantee the appropriate behavior of the numerous managers functioning across multiple geographical zones. All of a company’s beverage goods should be subject to strict labeling regulations.
The code of ethics protecting the integrity of the system should be clear when it comes to hiring and marketing techniques. Most of the regulations forbid unethical behavior toward all parties involved and outline the many firm duties using solid management skills (Loughran, McDonald, and Otteson). All PepsiCo marketing would be obliged to design concise, clear, and detailed communications for every one of the company’s products. Since most developing nations would not believe PepsiCo is giving their citizens a lousy deal, such transparent information would improve worldwide selling procedures.
Within the operational systems of the organization, a clear description of the rules of behavior is crucial. To make sure the message gets to every participant, different lines of communication would be used. The laws of business behavior were always discussed extensively by managers with all other staff members and the organization. Both appropriate and undesirable actions would be carefully examined and presented to business workers and other parties during such sessions. To make sure the established code of practice is followed, control measures are in place. Since a commitment to the company’s rules usually has disastrous effects, clear indications of incidents have constantly been found from the start, and appropriate remedial steps have been performed following the company’s board arrangement.
Conclusion
As a method of gaining more acceptance, PepsiCo, a prominent worldwide producer of a variety of goods, including meals and beverages, has included various ethical principles in its business strategy. Its ethical methods assist the local areas, personnel, as well as its consumers. To guide the behavior of its staff, a code of conduct has been established. This code of ethics was created to guarantee that employees serve clients in the most ethically righteous ways possible. On the other hand, the company also adheres to a complex strategy that ensures that its employees are treated in the most morally upstanding manner. This increases their drive and might help them achieve greater earnings and revenues. However, the business should take into account the harm that its packing does to the ecosystem. Its food items make up a sizable portion of junk food, endangering the health of many of its customers.
As one of the worldwide corporations, PepsiCo will do business without compromising its operating values. Because the watchdog community is often quite diligent in revealing such practices, companies should be extra cautious concerning industrial legislation. PepsiCo commits to upholding ethics as its guiding concept above everything else, protecting all other decisions. This would aid in improving the company’s reputation, enabling PepsiCo to keep up with the competition more effectively. Given all of this, the leadership team is pleading with all workers to maintain their composure since any ethical violations will be dealt with, and the appropriate legal steps will be taken to make things right. Foreign coaches will be chosen carefully, taking into account all the specifics, such a value consistent. The business will follow the Aristotelian rule, which holds that everyone is equal and should be treated equally unless there are exceptional circumstances unrelated to their conditions.
Works Cited
Ethisphere. “2022 World’s Most Ethical Companies.” World’s Most Ethical Companies, Ethisphere. Web.
Loughran, Tim, Bill McDonald, and James R. Otteson. “How Have Corporate Codes of Ethics Responded to an Era of Increased Scrutiny?.” Journal of Business Ethics, 2022, pp. 1-16. Web.
PepsiCo. “Global Anti-Bribery Compliance Policy.” PepsiCo, 2021. Web.
PepsiCo. “Ethics and Integrity.” PepsiCo, 2022. Web.
PepsiCo. “Global Code of Conduct.” PepsiCo, PepsiCo, 2022. Web.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “The History of Utilitarianism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2014. Web.