Frito-Lay and RTA

One of our nation’s founding fathers, James Madison, said, “Knowledge will forever

govern ignorance; and people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the

power which knowledge gives.” (Lewis). Information surrounds us in every part of our lives but

in order for a company to harness or “arm” ourselves with this information, it needs to be

consolidated into a dynamic system that is readily available. This paper will review the

knowledge management efforts of Frito-Lay and the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) to show

the value of managing corporate knowledge.

Both Frito-Lay and RTA seemed to work from the same understanding that the

intellectual assets within the corporation were unique sources, critical functions and potential

bottlenecks that could affect the flow of knowledge to the point of use. They understood that

management of corporate knowledge protected these intellectual assets from decay and enhanced

decision making opportunities. (KM Forum). Frito-Lay wanted to capture the best practices

within the company and provide employees with corporate information. (Shein, 2001). RTA

wanted to support less experienced staff with effective information. (Robertson, 2001) The

management of corporate knowledge would help them address these goals and help them reach

for the “golden ticket” of success.

Frito-Lay and RTA faced similar dilemmas within their corporation. There was no

centralized area where corporate knowledge could be consolidated and made available to their

employees. Frito-Lay had knowledge trapped in files scattered around the company in different

systems and geographically separated sales staff that could not easily access that needed

information. (Shein, 2001). RTA on the other hand, had their information tied into current
manuals and call centers. RTA had to review the information available and restructure or rewrite

it, to bring it up to date and make it easy to read. (Robertson, 2001). Both Frito-Lay and RTA

needed some way to consolidate their information and make it readily available to their staff and

users.

Knowledge management systems were developed virtually from scratch to centralize

corporate knowledge from staff and existing manuals. Frito-Lay had a system developed meet

three goals: to streamline knowledge, exploit customer-specific data and foster team

collaboration. This would be accomplished through the development of an intranet portal that

would consolidate the wealth of knowledge of experts and make it available to staff in the field.

(Shein, 2001). RTA needed a system that would meet their goals of: improved service and

information to customers, bridge new employee knowledge gap of policies and procedures,

reduce training costs, reduce average call handling time, and reduce escalation to the team

leaders and help desk. This was accomplished through a proven XML-based publishing system

that was customized to meet RTA’s specific requirements. (Robertson, 2001).

Both knowledge management systems were effective in meeting the goals of the

respective companies. Frito-Lay experienced a doubled growth rate of their customers business.

Sales teams were enthusiastic about the system because it decreased the travel requirement and

increased esprit-de-corps and relationship building. The portal has also boosted employee

retention rates thus decreasing the cost of training new employees. All of these benefits from the

system have a direct effect upon the bottom line and continued successful operations. The RTA

project was also received enthusiastically by the end users and managers. However, the project

requires continued information capture, review and publishing throughout daily operations. This
is true for Frito-Lay as well, if the information capture does not continue then it will become

stale and users will lose confidence and stop using the systems.

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and people who mean to be their own

governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” (Lewis). To realize

success people must invest in or arm themselves with the information around them. Frito-Lay

and RTA realized the value of consolidating their corporate knowledge in a way that extended

benefits to the bottom line. People and corporations must treat knowledge and information like

the salty treats sold by Frito-Lay: “betcha you can't eat just one.” (Wikipedia).
 References

KM Forum. (n.d.). KM Forum Archives -- The Early Days: What is Knowledge Management. Retrieved
August 18, 2007 from www.km-form.org/what_is.htm.

Lewis, J. (n.d.). Knowledge Quotes From Wisdom Quotes: Quotations to inspire and challenge. Retrieved
August 18, 2007 from www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_knowledge.html.

Robertson, J. (2001). Knowledge management project for Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA). Retrieved
August 18, 2007 from www.steptwo.com.au/papers/rta/index.html.

Shein, E. (2001). Case Study: Frito-Lay Sales Force Sells More Through Information Collaboration.
Retrived August 18, 2007 from
www.cio.com/article/30167/Case_Study_Frito_Lay_Sales_Force_Sells_More_Through_Informa
tion_Collaboration.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Lay's. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lay's.