I have seen many companies wanting to grow… but doing so while destroying value at the same time.
Last year, I worked with a Latin American Fast Food chain.
Multiple brands, corporate-owned and franchised locations, and a Private Equity firm as a shareholder.
We were brought in to identify levers to improve EBITDA.
What we found wasn't new.But it was critical:
- Inconsistent policies between corporate-owned and franchised locations
- Purchasing based on relationships, with high dependency
- Costs inflated by operational inefficiencies
- Commercial agreements lacking control and auditing processes
And most importantly:They already knew it.
We organised it, quantified it, and proposed a concrete plan:
- Redesign of the procurement model
- A structured supplier selection process
- Onboarding an international-level 4PL logistics provider
It was a structural change.
The CEO listened to us, hesitated… and didn't make a decision.
18 months later, nothing had changed.Except for the EBITDA, which kept falling.
Many companies don't fail due to a lack of diagnosis.They fail because of something more uncomfortable:
Fear of making decisions that actually change the business.
Because those decisions:
- Break relationships.
- Generate internal friction.
- Require execution with leadership.
- And expose the person making the decision.
That is where a board has to act and stop being just a formality.A good board is not there to validate what already exists.
- It is there to ensure that difficult decisions are made, and executed.
This is what a board should look at from Day 1:
- Where value is being destroyed
- What decisions are being avoided
- Whether there is a real focus on value creation, not just on growth
Not deciding is also a decision.And often, it is the most expensive one.
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