Companies have to make decisions ever faster

The reconfiguration of consumption forced many companies to move faster than they were used to. The emerging stability still comes with an unpleasant presence that forces us to review processes and making decisions that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.

In this scenario, Gabriela Benac, owner of Lácteos Luz Azul, described an obligatory turnaround. “We are encouraged to take a different step and reach the good consumer directly.l. First with its own premises and then with a major expansion through franchises,” he said. The Azul-born brand multiplied its presence during the pandemic with 40 openings in just a year and a half.

That impulse recently collided with a harsher reality. “Small trade remained practically unprofitable.”. Sales of consumer goods fell terribly and inflation failed to keep up this year,” he explained.

With closures beginning to multiply, The company decided to take over the premises and operate it directly. “We can’t afford to close. We had to eliminate middlemen because the value chain doesn’t work,” Benac said.

Professionalization is the key

The movement opened up another internal discussion: professionalization. “You have to train this businessman to become an entrepreneur. Today you can no longer sweep everything under the carpet.” Before we raised prices and it worked; that doesn’t exist anymore” he remarked. And he left a final reading: “In the short term it is tragic, but in the long term it is the Argentina we need“.

The diagnosis also points to a structural change in petrochemicals. Dolores Brizuela, Dow’s president for Argentina and the southern region, described a global market with oversupply and lower demand than before the pandemic. “China has dramatically increased its installed capacity and is putting strong pressure on the entire industry,” he commented.

Nevertheless, he highlighted a local difference: “Vaca Muerta puts us in a more protected position. But we still have to think about how we organize ourselves and what we do differently.” For the manager, the challenge is cultural: “The world to come looks nothing like the one we live in. We need efficiency“.

The macro analysis was prepared by Mariana Camino, CEO of ABECEB. “Argentina is in a “momentum” of opening, but costs still do not allow us to export sufficiently” he noted. In his opinion, the economic model has entered a firmer phase after the last general election. “This strengthens the direction.” In 2026 and 2027 we could be in another phase, with an Argentina integrated into the world.”

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