Frito Lay Is Munching On The Competition

From a conference room in a Dallas high rise, executives at a Frito-Lay Inc. division point outside to a rival's cheeky assault: a billboard touting Eagle Snacks Inc.'s new tortilla chip. Score one for Eagle? Forget it. Frito's sales team struck back by winning most of the snack franchise at the independently operated deli in Eagle's new Dallas headquarters.

Now that's what Roger A. Enrico likes to call "taking back the streets." Since arriving at Frito in January, 1991, Enrico has put the PepsiCo Inc. unit back in the fast lane by grabbing market share, shrinking a bloated bureaucracy, and boosting profit margins. "The organization has accomplished far more in this period than I ever thought possible," says Enrico, who won his reputation as a scrappy manager and savvy marketer while president and CEO of PepsiCo Worldwide Beverages.