Summary of Key Points
This article focuses on the issue of "internal strife" within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, pointing out that the seemingly busy behavior of many employees is not genuine "competitive drive" (positive competition), but rather meaningless "internal consumption" (pretending to work hard and wasting resources). Examples of internal strife include fake pretense, staged overtime, and unnecessary interference in other departments' tasks. The root causes lie in the preferences of leaders and the artificially created barriers to promotion. True competitiveness, as demonstrated by Ma, the regional manager of East China, involves making tangible efforts to improve performance. In contrast, internal strife only causes suffering for employees and reduces company efficiency.
1. Don’t Confuse “Competitive Drive” with “Internal Strife”
Many people mistakenly equate the two terms, but they are fundamentally different:
- Competitive Drive: This is about putting in genuine effort. For example, if a task is expected to be completed in three days, you finish it in two days with high quality; or if you’re assigned 20 refrigerators to sell, you manage to sell more than 30. This means creating more value with fewer resources—true skill.
- Internal Strife: This is about pretending to work hard. For example, you delay a task that can be completed in three days until three and a half days; you work extra hours (e.g., until 8 p.m.) but still don’t meet targets or sell enough products. This is a waste of time and energy with no real benefit.
In simple terms, competitive drive is about getting the job done well, while internal strife is about pretending to be working.
2. Common Examples of Internal Strife in the FMCG Industry
The article cites several typical examples of employees engaging in futile activities:
1. Fake Pretense: Initially, photos taken for show (e.g., visiting customers) were meant to lead to actual action, but now they’ve become mere pretenses—photos are edited, and customers are just friends hired for the sake of it.
2. Staged Overtime: Employees pretend to be busy while actually using their time on unrelated activities (e.g., playing with phones). They leave work half an hour to an hour later than their bosses to appear diligent. Once the boss leaves, they continue working until everyone else has gone.
3. Unnecessary Interference: For instance, a leader from the beverage team complains that increasing beverage sales by 10% is useless when the team’s main responsibility is selling beverages. They can’t help with dairy products or distribute them, so worrying about dairy sales is a waste of time and demoralizes the team.
4. Excessive PPTs: Employees create elaborate reports using fancy layouts and rhetorical techniques, but bosses are only interested in sales figures; such superficial efforts are worthless.
3. Who Causes the Culture of Internal Strife?
Internal strife isn’t spontaneous; it stems from leaders’ preferences and actions:
- Leaders often reward those who put on a show of effort (e.g., an employee gets promoted for working overtime on weekends). Seeing this, others start to work extra hours and pretend to be busy, turning occasional overtime into a routine.
- Leaders use internal strife as a barrier to promotion. With low entry barriers and many experienced employees seeking promotions and raises, they set unrealistic standards (e.g., asking employees to reflect on their contributions) or threaten layoffs (as seen in the Wangwang case). Essentially, those already in power don’t want others to advance.
4. What True Competitive Drive Looks Like
The article uses Ma’s example to illustrate what true competitive drive looks like:
Ma was transferred from a weaker region to East China and, within two years, not only became familiar with local customers but also knew the small business owners in the villages. He led his team to improve performance from among the bottom three in the region to among the top three this year. He said he did it because of life pressures (many children, a full-time wife), and he felt compelled to work hard.
This kind of competitive drive is practical: engaging with the market, solving real problems, and achieving tangible results, rather than just putting on a show for leaders.
5. The Consequences of Internal Strife
For frontline employees, it’s frustrating and inefficient. They earn a modest salary while having to perform meaningless tasks that take a lot of mental energy. For companies, internal strife wastes time and resources, and talented individuals are overlooked, leading to declining overall efficiency.
In essence, internal strife is a form of deception that harms everyone involved.
This article exposes the illusion of hard work in the FMCG industry—much of the so-called effort is self-deception. Only by actually getting things done can employees and companies be truly responsible for their success.