Transforming an FMCG Business Through Strategic Performance Management

A leading FMCG manufacturer with 120 employees and an annual turnover of €27 million had been operating with an average EBIT of €1.35 million for three consecutive years. Despite healthy sales, profitability remained stagnant, and management lacked clear visibility into the drivers affecting performance across production, sales, distribution, and supply chain.

Challenge

The company relied heavily on experience-based decision-making. Although the business performed reasonably well, it suffered from:

  • Limited visibility of cost and value drivers
  • Inconsistent management routines
  • Lack of alignment between strategic goals and team-level actions
  • Fragmented communication between departments
  • Overdependency on a few key individuals

As a result, the company’s growth plateaued and profitability remained below its potential.

Intervention: Strategic Performance Management Model

A full Strategic Performance Management (SPM) framework was designed and implemented, focusing on:

  • Cascading strategic goals → business objectives → KPIs → OKRs
  • Weekly 20–30 minute performance sprints to review progress and remove obstacles
  • Monthly accountability and KPI reporting meetings
  • A unified dashboard integrating operational and financial data
  • Clear alignment between teams, processes, and business priorities

The new model provided management with real-time data visibility, enabling them to identify the key driving processes that directly influenced margin, efficiency, and customer service.

Results (10 Months After Implementation)

The impact was immediate and substantial:

  • Turnover increased by €2 million
  • EBIT more than doubled, from €1.35M → €3.4M
  • Decision-making became data-driven, not assumption-driven
  • Managers acted proactively based on targeted OKRs
  • A new culture of ownership, clarity, and accountability emerged
Outcome

The SPM model became the backbone of the company’s management system.

For the first time, teams at all levels clearly understood:

  • What to focus on
  • Why it mattered
  • How their weekly actions directly influenced the company’s results
The business achieved its highest-ever profitability—not because it worked harder, but because it worked in alignment, with a system that connected strategy, people, and execution.
See here the ConnectDots Methodology