ndia has made sweeping changes in its senior leadership structure, part of the beverage and snacks maker's push to become more aggressive in the market as it battles Coca-Cola in soft drinks and ITC and Parle in foods. The new hierarchy clubs beverages and foods into an integrated entity, with functions of marketing, operations, HR, finance, legal, corporate affairs and R&D being brought together under common heads. Three chief operating officers heading foods, company-owned bottling and franchisee bottling, respectively, will report directly to D Shivakumar, who took over as chairman and CEO in December last year. "The structure makes the organisation more responsive, quicker on decision making and more competitive," Shivakumar told ET.
Internally, the structure is changing from a business unit based organisation to an integrated 'power of one' function - a strategy led by global chairman Indra Nooyi. Key global markets such as Russia and China follow this model.
Besides taking on competition, the company is battling growth slowing across foods and beverages, fluctuating weather conditions that make market behaviour unpredictable and consumers turning to healthier foods and drinks. The parent firm announced last year that it would invest 33,000 crore in India by 2020 as it looks to the country to pick up the slack as sales slow elsewhere.
