Reading assignment overview and educational application

¶ … business structures are so highly complex and competitive that the old paradigm -- improving efficiency and the bottom line, is no longer all it takes to be successful. Instead, continued reinvention of both the company's product line and industry capabilities is not only necessary, but will help decide which companies succeed and which fail. In reviewing five recent "Letters to Shareholders" from Starbucks, Radio Shack, PepsiCo, Amazon and Vivendi, it is clear that each company is very mindful of the strategic differences between innovation and long-term growth. All agree that the true test of any organization's success in strategic planning is to use innovation to tactically get the product or service to market. When one combines this with the paradigm of globalization, the trends in the marketplace, whether Amazon's sourcing and retail technological transformations, or PepsiCo's market growth, the emerging trends in sales, marketing, and customer expectations require that each lean into the future, "with radical and transformational innovations that create value…. And the pace of innovation is even accelerating" (Bezos,

Delivering top-level service while promoting growth for shareholders can be a tricky proposition year after year. A theme that emerges from both PepsiCo and Starbucks is that of continued innovation and efficiency in an increasingly complex and competitive "global" marketplace. Indra Nooyi, CEO for PepsiCo, remarks, "We are increasingly global. More than 45% of our revenue comes from outside the United States, with approximately 30% coming from emerging and developing markets, where we have tremendous growth opportunities" (Nooyi, 2011). Starbucks amplifies this idea of the truly global business and celebrates that a successful enterprise will continue to "evolve into a truly dynamic global organization, offering a portfolio of products to serve customers" (Schultz, 2012).

Additionally, organizations now understand that the international business community is becoming more and more complex as a result of globalism. In turn, this complexity is driven by an increasing understanding of sustainability, going "green," and bringing ethical and moral philosophy into the business community. Besides increasing coffee outlets globally, Starbucks must count on corporate social responsibility as a key maxim of their production and marketing efforts. The company's "Global Responsibility strategy and commitments…. And the communities [they] do business with, as well as [their] focus of being an employer of choice, are also key compliments to [their] business strategies" (Schultz). PepsiCo echoes this in understanding that the market is now all people on earth, every country, every demographic. Pepsi confirms this commitment to CSR noting, "At PepsiCo, our actions -- the actions of all our associates -- are governed by our Worldwide Code of Conduct. This Code is clearly aligned with our stated values -- a commitment to sustained growth, through empowered people, operating with responsibility" (Nooyi).