????執掌百事公司（Pepsi）的盧英德正面臨著嚴峻的領導力考驗。公司制定了今后數年的宏觀戰略方案后，形勢已經有所緩解，但依然嚴峻。這種情況在商界是家常便飯，但沒有哪個首席執行官會喜歡這種考驗。對百事公司的雇員、股東以及盧英德本人來說，未來數月內她的表現如何顯得至關重要。

????百事公司股票的差勁表現是盧英德最明顯的問題。百事股價在去年5-9月間下跌了15%，引發了一些投資者的恐慌。更重要的是，自從盧英德五年半之前開始擔任首席執行官，百事公司的股價就一直不見起色。怒火中燒的投資者指出，可口可樂公司（Coca-Cola）這幾年的股價卻上漲了大約四成。

????如果這種對比就此打住，倒也不是太嚴重的問題。但對這兩家公司進行簡單對比并不太公平。盧英德剛接手百事時，可口可樂的股票已持續數年下跌。因為時任可口可樂首席執行官的傳奇性人物羅伯托?古茲維塔去世后，可口可樂就陷入了管理不善的境地，并持續七年之久，因此其股價有較大的上升空間。而百事公司一直以來管理良好，股價也穩中有升。盧英德接手百事之時正處于經濟擴張最高點，公司股價充分反映市值，甚至有可能被高估。人們進行這樣的比較，不能不說盧英德運氣欠佳。

????但她現在確實面臨更深層次的問題。她在任期內已經多次未能達到曾經承諾的盈利目標，投資者認為這是無法饒恕的過失。尤其是公司的旗艦產品——飲料類產品在北美這一全球最大飲料市場慘遭潰敗。去年汽水行業重新洗牌，作為長期以來排在可口可樂之后的千年老二，百事甚至將碳酸飲料亞軍的位置也拱手讓給了健怡可樂（Diet Coke）。

????汽水行業座次的變化對投資者震動頗大，因為投資其他行業都不如投資名牌軟飲料更有吸引力。這一行業對資本要求低，而利潤率相當可觀。如果在這方面出了狀況，那么百事無疑發生了根本性的變化，同時也將喪失對投資者的吸引力。

????Indra Nooyi is in a leadership crucible. It isn't quite as hot as it was, now that the company she runs, PepsiCo, has laid out a broad strategic plan for the next couple of years. But it's still an extremely demanding test, the kind that no CEO enjoys but that most CEOs confront. For Pepsi's employees and shareholders, and for Nooyi personally, a great deal is riding on how she leads over the next several months.

????Nooyi's most obvious problem is Pepsi's stock. Last year between May and September it dropped 15%, which panicked some investors. More fundamentally, the stock has gone nowhere since Nooyi became CEO about five and a half years ago. During that same period, angry investors point out, Coca-Cola stock is up about 40%.

????If that comparison were as far as the complaining went, it wouldn't be much of a problem. The comparison is unfair. Back when Nooyi got the job, Coke (KO) stock had been falling for years, the result of seven years of poor management after the death of legendary CEO Roberto Goizueta; the stock had plenty of room to move up. But Pepsi (PEP) stock had been rising steadily through years of continued strong management; Nooyi took over near the height of the economic expansion, and the stock was fully valued, perhaps overvalued. The unflattering comparison with Coke is bad luck for Nooyi, nothing more.

????But she faces a deeper problem. During her tenure Pepsi has often failed to hit her stated profit targets, which investors consider an unforgivable sin. Specifically, the company is getting beaten up in its flagship product category, drinks, in the world's largest market, North America. The soda pop planets shifted in their orbits last year when Pepsi-Cola was displaced as America's eternal No. 2 carbonated soft drink (after Coca-Cola); the new No. 2 is Diet Coke.

????That reordering is especially distressing to investors because there is scarcely a more beautiful business in the world than producing branded soft drink concentrate. Capital requirements are low, and profit margins are stratospheric. If Pepsi was now making a mess of that franchise, then it was becoming a fundamentally different and much less attractive company.