There’s no doubt about it; every company, both small and large, is going to face a crisis at some point. This could be everything from not keeping up with the times to an outside party challenging their reputation. Although each thing will need its own solution, it is often the case that having a positive company culture is what keeps the company afloat for a long enough time for management to fix the problem. This is exactly what soda giant PepsiCo had to deal with in 1993.
Man “Allegedly” Finds Syringe Needle
In 1993, a man in Washington State claimed that he was almost injured when drinking his diet Pepsi soda. The man said that when he looked within the can, he was appalled to see a syringe needle floating within the can. This, of course, was a huge story for the media, and they had no problem running with it. However, that exposure created a series of copycats coming out claiming that they themselves had found odd objects within their Pepsi can too. Things such as a broken sewing needle, wooden screw, and even a bullet were claimed to have been found by customers.
PepsiCo Denies Claims
Of course, PepsiCo vehemently denied all claims being made about objects being founds within their products. They would tout their high-quality standards as the reason why the claims could not be true. However, most people are not often going to believe a multi-billion dollar company. Although it helped that they denied the claims, it would not be enough to turn around public opinion.
PepsiCo Employees Come to the Rescue
Offended by the claims and filled with pride for PepsiCo, employees quickly began releasing videos of their workplace. The videos showed the areas where they worked as well as how clean and secured the areas were. The claims from customers were quickly disproven, and the reputation of PepsiCo was saved.
Company Cultures Saves PepsiCo.
As you can see from the information above, it was, in the end, a positive company culture that saved the company. However, this only occurred because PepsiCo decided that their company culture was something they needed to focus on. When they decided to be transparent and provide employees with an environment where they were respected, they created possibly the best problem-solving army for their company.
Cultivating your company culture by taking the right steps early on can make future challenges that much easier to handle. Business owners would be wise to take a page from the Pepsi culture as a means of creating their very own.