Consumer Route-to-Market Recovery Authority — National Portfolio

The mandate

The largest regional distributor entered insolvency after accumulating unsupported trade claims, cutting product availability across eleven states and exposing weak knowledge of secondary sales. The commercial-operations vice-president resigned during the recovery, while direct key accounts, traditional trade and pharmacy channels now compete for constrained stock and the board lacks one executive authorised to reset the network.

The interim must start within three weeks and will hold national route-to-market authority for twelve months, working three days from Mexico City and travelling weekly to affected markets. A permanent commercial-operations search launches once replacement distributor territories have operated for sixteen weeks; an extension of no more than three months is possible only if the successor’s appointment is delayed by regulatory clearance.

Handover requires ninety-seven percent weighted outlet service across the priority portfolio, distributor claims ageing below thirty days, profitable coverage economics for every retained territory, complete secondary-sales visibility for ninety percent of throughput and two demand cycles within agreed bias. The incoming leader must run a national business review and accept the territory, contract, talent and control registers without unresolved ownership.

The interim may terminate or appoint temporary distributors within approved commercial terms, reallocate inventory, suspend unsupported promotions, redesign field territories and authorise recovery spend up to MX$70 million. Permanent exclusivity, exits from a major channel, headcount changes above fifty roles and contracts beyond two years need the general manager and regional board; the interim may not change product claims or regulated pricing.

Brand strategy, product innovation and the regional manufacturing footprint are excluded. This assignment will expose their route consequences but will not commission new formulations, replace the enterprise planning platform or renegotiate union agreements outside field-sales deployment.

Why this seat is open

Distributor failure turned a local credit event into a national availability crisis because channel evidence and decision rights were fragmented. The incumbent’s departure removed the only executive with cross-functional operating context. The business needs a temporary authority who can make reversible network decisions now while creating a cleaner seat for permanent recruitment.

What you will own

• Establish a verified outlet-and-flow baseline by reconciling shipments, distributor stock, secondary sales, claims, service failures and credit exposure territory by territory.
• Decide which failed-distributor territories move to existing partners, temporary operators, direct service or controlled transition warehouses, with explicit economics and exit triggers.
• Reallocate scarce stock through a documented channel priority that protects regulated health demand, strategic accounts and profitable availability rather than sales influence.
• Renegotiate recovery scorecards with distributors covering working capital, service, data quality, claims evidence, sub-distributor control and consequences for repeated breach.
• Redesign field coverage using outlet potential, visit productivity, assortment and order economics, then test the model in two contrasting states before national release.
• Chair a weekly route council that resolves forecast, credit, promotion and inventory conflicts through recorded decisions and owner-dated actions.
• Transfer the national route blueprint, partner portfolio, control ledger, capability assessment and outstanding commercial cases through a successor-led demand cycle.

Candidate qualifications

• Held country or regional route-to-market authority for a scaled consumer, over-the-counter health, personal-care or beverage portfolio in Latin America.
• Personally replaced a failed or undercapitalised distributor network without accepting prolonged product unavailability as the price of control.
• Can evidence territory economics built from secondary sales, outlet productivity, logistics cost, working capital and trade investment rather than shipment revenue alone.
• Negotiated distributor claims, data rights, service obligations and transition arrangements in markets with fragmented traditional trade.
• Directed allocation through a constrained-supply period while balancing regulated, modern, pharmacy and independent channels.
• Completed an interim commercial recovery and inducted a permanent successor using live operating reviews rather than presentation-only handover.

Non-negotiables

• Available within three weeks for exclusive service and able to sustain weekly travel outside Mexico City.
• Fluent professional Spanish and board-level English, with direct operating exposure to Mexican distribution.
• Free of active ownership, credit exposure or paid relationships involving any distributor likely to enter the territory review.
• Prepared to terminate volume-producing partners when evidence shows control, solvency or service risk cannot be corrected.

1. 49 words maximum. Confirm your earliest Mexico City start and any distributor or employer restriction affecting exclusive service.
2. 49 words maximum. Describe a territory you reassigned after distributor failure, including the evidence and first service result.
3. 49 words maximum. Which secondary-sales controls did you require before trusting a fragmented traditional-trade forecast?