---
title: "Short-Term Performance Overwhelms Long-Term Value, Draining Many FMCG Companies"
description: "Have you ever experienced such torment? You propose a brilliant plan with solid data and clear logic, everyone nods in agreement, but once execution begins, you hit obstacles everywhere. Colleagues in the company silently resist, exhausting you more than outright failure. From a sales rep to a sales VP, and now running a consulting firm for channel marketing for seven years, I share insights on why many difficult but correct things fail to succeed. My view: many 'difficult but correct' things fail not because the thing itself is wrong, but because at least one of five elements—people, organization, resources, time, or incentives—doesn't hold up to the end."
author: "高级研究员 海游"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2026-05-25"
categories: "Capital, Earnings & M&A, Management & Methods"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/K_KVlS9XCJ8YIjuxl5kJUA"
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attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/short-term-performance-overwhelms-long-term-value-draining-many-fmcg-com-a537f575/"
citation: "高级研究员 海游. “Short-Term Performance Overwhelms Long-Term Value, Draining Many FMCG Companies.” New Distribution, 2026-05-25. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/short-term-performance-overwhelms-long-term-value-draining-many-fmcg-com-a537f575/"
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---

# Short-Term Performance Overwhelms Long-Term Value, Draining Many FMCG Companies

> Have you ever experienced such torment? You propose a brilliant plan with solid data and clear logic, everyone nods in agreement, but once execution begins, you hit obstacles everywhere. Colleagues in the company silently resist, exhausting you more than outright failure. From a sales rep to a sales VP, and now running a consulting firm for channel marketing for seven years, I share insights on why many difficult but correct things fail to succeed. My view: many 'difficult but correct' things fail not because the thing itself is wrong, but because at least one of five elements—people, organization, resources, time, or incentives—doesn't hold up to the end.

Have you ever experienced such torment? You propose a brilliant plan with solid data and clear logic, everyone nods in agreement, but once execution begins, you hit obstacles everywhere. Colleagues in the company silently resist, exhausting you more than outright failure.
From a sales rep to a sales VP, and now running a consulting firm for channel marketing for seven years, I share insights on why many difficult but correct things fail to succeed.
First, my view: **Many 'difficult but correct' things fail not because the thing itself is wrong, but because at least one of five elements—people, organization, resources, time, or incentives—doesn't hold up to the end.**
These six characters need to be unpacked. First, '**difficult**' because 'difficult' consumes resources. I often encounter issues: is there enough support system midway? Does the relevant leader provide sufficient support, including but not limited to attention, time, and resource investment?
Second, '**correct**' because 'correct' means delayed returns, often seeing results too late. The best time to plant a tree is today, but you can't expect fruit to sell tomorrow.
Finally, '**thing**' because success depends on people. Assumptions about human nature are too idealistic (cognitive systems, habitual thinking, personal discipline, team execution, boss patience, etc.).

Failure Cause Analysis
1. Long-term value vs. short-term results
I often have the same conversation with corporate executives: I must deliver this quarter's results, or you won't see me next quarter. Simply put, I can't plan for the future if I can't get through the current hurdle.
So speculative and robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul things happen. **For example, to hit performance targets, they overdraw market credibility, aggressively recruit distributors, trap them with fees, force stock loading, and after two years, get promoted and leave. Such marketing 'rogues' are not uncommon.**
This brings the first hurdle to success: correctness is long-term, but assessment is short-term. Correctness usually corresponds to 'long-term value,' but organizations typically pay only for 'short-term results.'
Real cases:
1. You focus on key markets and value outlets, refine terminals, assess distribution and sell-through (correct). Short-term channel inventory declines, but distributor shipments don't increase. The leader asks: Why didn't you hit this month's target?
2. You cut low-margin products to improve market profit space, preparing for further investment (correct), but the quarterly report's 'revenue growth' looks bad.
Result: Many are stopped midway or compromise. Teams that truly accomplish 'difficult but correct' things often have a consensus allowing phased declines. How long is this 'phased' period? It needs thorough justification.

2. Error tolerance and execution chain
Why is something difficult? Because it means overturning existing habits, consuming time and resources, coordinating organizations, many execution steps, many process systems, many rules, etc. Any link failing affects overall progress. If one step isn't done well, leaders see 'no improvement.'
Real case: Operators are responsible for sales and profit. In today's extreme competition, market growth relies on expense investment, which comes from product profits.
A certain market has a product structure problem, with overall profit margins below average. But sales growth depends on increased expenses. The only way is to upgrade the product structure distributors sell.
Transition from low-to-mid price series to mid-to-high price series; otherwise, the outcome is predictable: **low product profits limit expense investment, restricting growth, further compressing sales and profits, starting a vicious cycle.**
This process of upgrading distributor product structure for profit is a 'difficult but correct' thing. It requires manufacturer expense constraints (manufacturer expense model), marketing team buy-in (boiling frog; market shrinkage is inevitable),
distributors' clear understanding (going from selling more to selling at higher prices is a must),
changes in sales actions (Pareto principle, focus on value outlets, concentrate resources to secure baseline volume, promote development),
and consumer guidance actions for product switching, etc.
The execution chain is long, error tolerance is low, and any mistake can lead to abandonment. **Many 'difficult but correct' things die from execution decay, not strategy errors.**

3. Counter-intuitive and counter-habitual
People are self-interested, prefer simple actions. Spreading market expenses thinly is 'easier' than focusing; it avoids disputes with distributors and outlet customers.
They prefer immediate feedback; loading stock is 'faster' than sell-through. Loading is one thing; sell-through involves many.
They prefer security; competing with competitors on expenses and price wars feels 'safer' than differentiation. Resource-driven growth is more appealing than capability-driven growth.
So reflexive rebuttals appear:
1. You say focus, they feel like 'abandoning the market';
2. You say control expenses, they feel like 'not giving bullets';
3. You say change distributors, they feel like 'asking for trouble.'
Frontline marketers often form 'cognitive closure' early, able to execute but not think, separating theory from practice. Most people's instinctive reaction to 'correct' is not agreement but resistance.

4. Insufficient understanding of 'difficult'
Common project script: At start, full confidence: 'As long as the direction is right, we're not afraid of a long road.' Mid-execution, encountering resistance: leader doubts, team fatigue, competitor counterattacks, realizing no one truly understands why you're 'making waves.' Finally, self-doubt creeps in, and they gradually compromise back to old ways.
Real case: Promotional pricing is a short-term, fast-acting growth tool, but it often damages the price system. Once the price system collapses, the market moves closer to death. Many companies issue 'price limits,' forbidding products below a certain price, with penalties. So first, they cancel promotions and stick to original prices, but sales plummet after a few days.
Second, they bundle promotional items; prices hold, sales recover, but execution is troublesome, requiring significant time.
Third, they change tactics: previously 3 for 9.9 yuan, now 4 for 9.9 yuan (this step is self-deception; consumers can calculate; you're just making them buy one more at a discount).
Fourth, they compromise back to old ways, thinking a month or two of effort isn't worth it, not realizing: price cuts are like a landslide, price increases are like silk extraction. Many 'difficult but correct' things are not defeated by competitors but dragged down by the perception of 'difficult' and mid-course doubts.

5. 'Correctness' must be linked to interests
The most fatal: the thing is correct for the company long-term, but for the execution layer, it's tiring, annoying, risky, with unclear rewards.
For example, many companies treat the 'annual budget' as a sword of Damocles, the standard for measuring all marketing. Those who fall short are laggards; those who meet are advanced. This is unscientific. Market conditions differ, and the definition of excellence should differ.
In weak markets, how many excellent distributors have we developed? How many value outlets? What's the increase in high-value product sales share? These are important indicators of positive market development, and each should have timely incentives.
If 'correct' things don't align interests, they rely on consciousness, which isn't sustainable.

Successful Experience Sharing
1. Stage long-term results: I advocate accomplishing 1-2 things in a month, a small collection in 3 months, using phased small wins to earn trust and time (first create a model, then replicate).
For example, the current project is to pilot growth in sales and profit in weak regions.
First month core work: adjust the manufacturer expense model and focus on value outlets in key markets; macro-solve operational responsibilities and rights; micro-first increase outlet sales through expenses, using the Pareto principle to stabilize the base.
Second month core work: optimize product structure and organizational performance, aiming to improve gross profit and salary structure to activate distributor organizations.
Third month core work: build foundational work, linking outlets, displays, visits, and sell-through.

2. Simplify correct things: Don't pursue perfection; pursue executability. First train business skills, then pilot practice.
For example, to increase sales in value outlets, first train customer managers on implementation methods, then use forms to track progress, simplifying complex tasks, turning fill-in-the-blanks into multiple-choice.

3. Systematize difficult things: Rely not on heroes but on processes, standards, and checks. Fill daily reports on time, hold regular online reviews, and follow up on results.

4. Redesign incentives: Those who do difficult but correct things get more (money, promotion, resources), not the opposite.

5. Manage expectations in advance: Leaders, teams, and customers all know: the first three months' data may not look good. This is the hardest part. The lower the level, the shorter the required return cycle. Cognitive consensus is key.

Final Thoughts
Success in difficult but correct things requires overcoming multiple obstacles: capability, interests, resources, risk, and willpower. Only by systematically addressing these can we increase the likelihood of success. It's the result of a group of people, one thing, and one heart.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 高级研究员 海游
- Published: 2026-05-25
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/short-term-performance-overwhelms-long-term-value-draining-many-fmcg-com-a537f575/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/K_KVlS9XCJ8YIjuxl5kJUA

## Copyright and AI use

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