PepsiCo announces unique initiative for management students

Ahmedabad, Jan 18: PepsiCo today announced its unique initiative ''Taste the Success- Become Indra's Advisors'' challenge for management students in India. All full-time MBA students in these B-schools are eligible to participate in the contest. The management students will have to form a team of maximum three members and prepare a business strategy after reading the case proposed by PepsiCo. They will then have to register and upload it onto the website www.pepsicotastethesuccess.com.

Under the challenge, PepsiCo India has invited business strategies for unlocking the latent demand for beverages in India from the leading management schools, including the five Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Indore), Management Development Institute (MDI), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS).

These strategies will be adjudged by a distinguished jury comprising esteemed industry leaders and academicians along with PepsiCo officials. The winners will get an opportunity to present and discuss their case study with PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi in New York. If the business strategy is found feasible, students may get an opportunity to engage as advisors with PepsiCo to operationalise their ideas.

The first runner up will get a cash award of INR 1,00,000, while the second runner up will get a cash award of INR 50,000. The top six teams will get a chance to appear for a pre-placement interview (PPI). PepsiCo India sources said, ''It is extremely exciting for us to introduce this initiative for the most talented brains in India.

While it provides the management students a chance to challenge themselves with a real-time situation, it provides PepsiCo an opportunity to engage with some of the finest brains to arrive at an innovative solution.''

UNI