It is well known that Shuanghui, Yurun, and Jinluo together occupy nearly 90% of China's meat product market. From the overall landscape, the leader Shuanghui has lofty ambitions, eyeing both domestic and international markets, steadily consolidating its domestic position while exploring overseas bases. The second, Yurun, has recently faced capital chain issues, but its share in low-temperature products remains at the forefront; once the capital chain is resolved, Yurun will claim a significant share of the low-temperature market. As for the third, Jinluo, given my years in the FMCG industry, especially in condiments, and my interactions with Jinluo's distributors and sales staff, I have gained a general understanding of its market operations and personnel management. Hence, this article focuses on analyzing this 'low-key' brand.

Is 2015 Jinluo's Ben Ming Nian (Year of Misfortune)?

'Compare and taste, Jinluo ham sausage' – when this slogan echoed in the old revolutionary base of Yimeng, no one expected it to spread like 'a single spark starting a prairie fire.' The early 'pioneers of the revolutionary base' traveled far and wide, braving all seasons, with passion, conquering cities and territories across the country with overwhelming force. At its peak, annual sales of cooked products alone reached nearly 9 billion yuan. But now, Jinluo's performance in many aspects is puzzling and unsatisfactory.

First, regarding products: this year seems to be Jinluo's Ben Ming Nian, with various misfortunes. Early in the year, a quarantine incident at its subsidiary Dezhou plant was exposed on CCTV. Then, its suspected subsidiary Xinglong plant was found to have produced pork hindquarters containing the banned substance Cimaterol, which was again exposed, casting doubt on its slogan 'Everything for Human Health.' Following that, the World Health Organization declared ham carcinogenic, casting a 'dazzling' veil over the entire meat product industry. Additionally, media reports of numerous consumer complaints have somewhat diminished consumers' favorable impression. Food safety has become a highly sensitive topic, and the strictest 'Food Safety Law' has been introduced. If Jinluo does not control product quality and improve some consumers' biases at this critical juncture, its future ambition to 'rise from third to first' will be extremely difficult.

Second, in terms of market: the northern region is Jinluo's main battlefield, but areas like the three northeastern provinces, North China, and Northwest are being partially eroded by rival Shuanghui. Its home base, Shandong, is also fraught with internal strife: challenged by Delisi and Longda within, and attacked by Shuanghui and Yurun from outside. The market pressure is immense; a slight lapse could lead to losing ground.

In the southern region, Shuanghui holds over 60% of the market share. In most consumers' minds, ham sausage is Shuanghui, and Shuanghui is ham sausage. In recent years, Jinluo has been declining in the southern market, like a player with a fever who refuses medication, left miles behind by the steady Shuanghui. The legacy of 'Jinluo's golden generation' – product structure and channels – is still being passed down by successors who rely on past achievements. As consumer concepts upgrade and the economic downturn persists, many salespeople and managers find the road ahead increasingly difficult. The pressure of performance and the urgency to reverse the situation quickly have led to significant internal friction within the company.

Winning Hearts Is the Prerequisite to Compete with Shuanghui

After discussing the market, the next topic is inevitably about people, because markets are made by people, and 'people' hold an unshakable core position in market operations. According to insiders, Jinluo's management has begun implementing a 'position competition system,' with mid-to-senior leaders rotating positions. Jinluo's leadership seems to have sensed that the company is in a state of crisis. The position competition system sounds like a good internal reform measure. Coupled with the early-year re-division of national sales regions and flat organizational management, the aim is to reform the top-down management system to layout the national market, optimize the sales team, and implement refined market operations. From an overall strategic perspective, capable individuals competing for core positions and the mediocre being eliminated can improve management efficiency and reduce unnecessary errors and disruptions in product strategy and market operations caused by decision-making mistakes.

Additionally, while flat management of national sales regions can reduce 'information distortion' caused by inadequate transmission of company sales policies, I suggest that Jinluo's management also pay attention to the resulting issues and promptly introduce corresponding measures. For example, flat management may reduce the power of local regions to formulate policies, thereby weakening region-specific sales policies and strengthening 'centralized' sales directives. This leads to a 'one-size-fits-all' sales policy implementation across the country, which, due to varying local market conditions, forces distributors and sales teams nationwide to respond to 'unified commands,' delaying or weakening region-specific market operations, and leaving them exhausted in pursuit of various targets.

In the FMCG industry, it is normal for sales personnel to be replaced by new and old. However, when experienced salespeople leave and 'rookies' come in, although they fill personnel gaps, they need time to adapt, learn, and integrate in terms of market operations and distributor coordination. During this period, the cost of training an employee far exceeds the new employee's own development; the company also bears the pain of market growth in the areas where the new employees are stationed, as well as 'experience-based' mistakes during market operations, increasing 'integration' costs. Moreover, the long promotion cycle for new employees with ideas and talent causes the fresh blood to quickly drain away. I once met two excellent former employees who had left. They said that at Jinluo, there is no true sense of belonging; it is just a job. It is regrettable that Jinluo loses such talent. Jinluo has many employees across the country, and I cannot meet them all. I raise this point to draw Jinluo's attention: if a company mistreats its employees, employees will mistreat customers, and customers will mistreat the company. This cycle ultimately harms the company itself the most.

Jinluo still needs time to improve the overall quality of its sales team (including business experience, education, and personal qualities), execution, and cohesion. But building such a team requires the decision-makers to balance interests and losses, including a healthy promotion mechanism, appropriate rewards and penalties, elite construction of middle management, and a corporate culture with humanistic care.

As one of the top 100 private enterprises in China, Jinluo's development achievements are remarkable. But on the current and future development path, this corporate giant should lower its tough stance and face the opportunities and challenges ahead with a more open and healthy posture. It should be known that the biggest competitor is not Shuanghui or Yurun, but itself. (End)

Source: Consumer Daily Exposure

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