What PepsiCo Knew First - and What Coke Had to Learn
Walter S. Mack, the astute president of the underdog PepsiCo in the 1940s knew what to do to increase revenue: cast a wider recruiting net. So Mack hired a team of black marketers to pursue black consumers. PepsiCo already was popular among black soda drinkers because it came in a larger bottle for the standard price, 5 cents. But the full revenue potential of what was then called "the Negro market" was largely ignored. How PepsiCo's new black marketers fit into the company's corporate culture, and whether they would be promoted above what was then a separate and narrow specialty, was the real Pepsi challenge. PepsiCo went on to become a national diversity leader and was No. 18 on The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list. Its rival, Coca-Cola, came later to the came but also has become a national diversity leader, coming in at No. 3 on the 2006 Top 50 list. To read about Coca-Cola's rise from its $192.5 million racial-discrimination suit to becoming a diversity champion, check out the January/February issue of DiversityInc magazine, available shortly.
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Rev. Al Sharpton Planning Second Presidential Run
"I don't hear any reason not to," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, 52, when asked why he was considering running for president again. "If we're talking about the urban agenda, can you tell me anybody else in the field who's representing that right now? We clearly have a reason to run, and whether we do it or not we'll see over the next couple of months." Of course, that comment appeared to undermine Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as a candidate, who would represent the interests of low-income people, many of whom are black. Sharpton said he's heard little substantive discussion of issues from Obama that might influence his decision about running. Read more.
Deloitte: No. 1 in Percent of Women Partners for Big Four
For the 10th consecutive year, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP tops the Big Four accounting firms in percentage of women partners, principals and directors, according to Public Accounting Report's 2006 Survey of Women in Public Accounting. Deloitte is one of DiversityInc's 2006 25 Noteworthy Companies. The survey revealed that Deloitte's percentage of women partners, principals and directors is currently 19.3 percent, surpassing that of KPMG, also one of the 25 Noteworthy Companies, (16.8 percent), PricewaterhouseCoopers (15.8 percent and No. 6 on The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list) and Ernst & Young (13.5 percent and No. 24 on the Top 50). Deloitte has held this lead every year since the inception of the survey in 1997, according to Jonathan Hamilton, editor, Public Accounting Report. Read more.
Major League Soccer Gets First Black, Chinese-American Owners
San Francisco businessmen Victor MacFarlane and Brian Davis became the first black owners and Will Chang became the first Asian-American owner of a Major League Soccer team when the three bought the DC United, a Washington, D.C.'s MLS team. The group said it plans to add three more members: Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks, Black Entertainment Television talk-show host Carlos Watson, and California real-estate developer Allen Warren. In MLS, the teams are all owned by the league but operated individually. Read more.
$206 million: Cost of Racial Discrimination
A racial discrimination lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Transportation is drawing to an end after more than 21 years of legal battles that cost the state more than $200 million and created dramatic advances for black employees. The litigation has gone on so long that six different governors have been involved with it, and the original plaintiff, Johnny Reynolds, died two years ago without seeing a resolution. Reynolds sued Alabama's Department of Transportation in May 1985. His lawsuit contended discrimination in the highway agency's hiring and promotion of blacks. Eventually, some white employees joined in, saying they were also discriminated against because they weren't promoted during the drawn-out litigation. Read more.
Immigrants Re-Arrested 6 Times
Immigrants arrested for being in the United States illegally may have been charged up to six more times, for more serious crimes, after they were released by local authorities, new Justice Department data indicates. Additionally, a separate report also issued Monday concludes that the number of undocumented immigrants deported after being declared a felon is on the rise. The data suggest "the rate at which released criminal aliens are re-arrested is extremely high," the audit noted. Read more.
Latino Voters Helped Democrats Take House
While nearly seven in 10 Latino voters supported Democrats in the congressional elections, according to exit polls, Latino leaders caution that they should not be taken for granted. Republican candidates in several key states did well among Latinos, suggesting that Latinos could be important swing voters in the 2008 presidential election. President Bush captured about 40 percent of the Latino vote in 2004, the most ever for a GOP presidential candidate. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., carried 41 percent of the Arizona Latino vote in his re-election victory. In Nevada, Republican Jim Gibbons won the governor's race with 37 percent of the Latino vote. Pew Hispanic Center research says national GOP candidates can expect to receive between 30 percent and 45 percent of the Latino vote. Read more
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