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The Next Big Idea
From an HR challenge to the launch of a new product: the PepsiCo adventure. The first global innovation game launched at PepsiCo took the employer brand from good to great.
Executive Summary
When talent management meets innovation
In 2019, PepsiCo launched the “Next Big Idea Challenge“, an open
innovation challenge powered by Agorize. The goal: to bring
together all of the group’s employees around a large-scale project and to promote team cohesion around the world. The challenge was also a way to highlight and detect Talent inside of the company.
The Next Big Idea Challenge was a real success since it not only strengthened PepsiCo’s employer brand but also enabled the group to launch a new product on the market in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis!
All employees, whoever they are, were able to propose innovative and disruptive ideas.
A go to market reduced by 15 months
Instead of the usual 24 months to launch a product, a new product was released in unprecedented speed: 9 months!
Sachin Jain
Global Talent Management Director @ PepsiCo
How did the challenge work?
Working in teams of 2-5 people, employees could either decide to be:
Entrepreneur
by submitting a disruptive idea and getting heard.
Expert
by using their specialist skills and expertise to elevate their team’s idea to the next level.
Investor
by virtually investing cash to find the brightest innovation. The wisest investor also won a seat (and vote!) in the Grand Final.
Timeline
How to drive cultural transformation while taking the entire organization along
1.
IDEA GENERATION
2.
FIRST INVESTMENT ROUND
3.
SECOND INVESTMENT ROUND
4.
JURY SELECTION &
FINALISTS
PREPARATION
5.
GRAND FINAL
The submitted ideas should respond to one of the following themes:
TAKE SUSTAINABILITY TO THE NEXT LEVEL
by identifying impactful, sustainable solutions for our products and planet.
EVOLVE THE PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
by developing new products or enhancing existing brands that truly put the consumer at the center.
TRANSFORM THE WAY OF WORKING
by improving current business models, processes and how PepsiCo operates.
3 teams were finally selected among 1117 candidates to pitch their ideas to senior leaders as part of the Grand Finale in New York
When Talent Management meets Innovation
Watch the replay of Agorize X Pepsico webinar and get insightful tips and feedbacks from Sachin Jain, Pepsico’s Global Talent Management Director, on how to successfully combine a Talent Management & Innovation strategy!
From an HR driven challenge to an effective disruptive Innovation
Thanks to the open innovation challenge initially carried out to unite its teams around the world, PepsiCo was able to launch a promising new product in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis.
This operation was a success: it reduced costs and risks and enhanced the employer brand while bringing teams together around a challenge.
No one knows your business better than your people!
Intrapreneurship as a lever for growth and team cohesion
The Next Big Idea Challenge was part of PepsiCo’s HR and Innovation strategy. Each employee was able to reveal his or her entrepreneurial spirit through a global, cross-business challenge.
The resilience of individuals is what structures an organization’s ability to overcome a crisis and get back to work during and after a crisis. Through this open innovation initiative, Agorize and PepsiCo proved that it was possible to bring together all the employees of a global group, and to create frugal innovation while limiting risks in the aftermath of a major global crisis.
Conclusion
Intrapreneurship serving a global strategy
Open Innovation through intrapreneurship allowed PepsiCo to become 3 things:
The company as a talent detector
- Need to recruit and identify high-potential Talent
- Need to stimulate and retain Talent
- Bringing together talents around common values, challenges and cultures
The company as a catalyst
- The company is seen as a place to live and learn constantly
- Recognition and autonomy quest
- More than work: the employee is looking for meaning
The company as a disrupter of its own business model
- Constant need to develop new viable projects at lower costs
- Race for innovation to stay competitive
- Employees are the ones who know your company best
Intrapreneurship is a powerful tool that brings together:
Employee engagement
- Lifelong learning
- Common culture
- Growing autonomy
Operational efficiency
- Better knowledge of the company and its market
- Pro-activity and spirit of innovation
Participative management
- Common Goal
- Trust and transparency
- Employee commitment
Overcoming the unexpected with the help of your employees
Download a complementary copy and learn how Employee Driven Innovation (EDI) within an organisation helps overcome and regain function during and after a crisis.
Promote team cohesion around a large-scale project with an open innovation challenge
Agorize comes from “Agora” and “Rise” and empowers companies and people from all over the world through Open innovation Challenges.
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