The Backdrop
A Global CPG Enterprise managing over 200 brands entered a decisive leadership transition. A new CEO inherited a flatlined stock price and a 10-year plan targeting $8.4B in incremental revenue by 2028. FulcrumQ was engaged to answer the question the plan had not asked: was the existing organizational architecture built to execute at that scale, or was the structure itself the barrier to value?
The Challenge
- Determine whether the Client’s org architecture could execute an $8.4B growth agenda or was structurally blocking its delivery
- Redesign four operating models across marketing, International Growth Segment, Emerging Markets, and RGM to concentrate authority where the value agenda required
- Identify and action $1.6B+ in structural execution risk before a single transformation decision was locked
The Approach
FulcrumQ structured the engagement as an Org Design diagnostic anchored to the Client’s value agenda. The work began by decomposing $8.4B across five value hotspots. Within each, critical Jobs to Be Done were defined to identify which roles carried the greatest structural delivery weight. This produced 57 enterprise-critical roles, rank-ordered by value contribution.
The Click Score was applied to each role, combining work challenge, role design, and talent match into a probability-of-delivery forecast. This separated structural design failures from talent gaps, calibrating every architectural recommendation by value impact rather than organizational convention.
FulcrumQ then examined four areas most consequential to plan execution: the marketing organization, the International Growth Segment, the Emerging Markets center of expertise, and Revenue Growth Management. For each, the diagnostic mapped authority distribution, reporting alignment, and the structural gap against strategic demand. Scope: 123 Jobs to Be Done across 5 international areas and 20 business entities.
Role Architecture Redesign: Marketing
The prior model dispersed 800 segment FTEs across too many brands, diluting P&L accountability and suppressing innovation speed. Marketing was restructured to a brand management-led architecture with dedicated teams for the top 20 brands: segment FTEs reduced 37% (800 to 505) and 295 FTEs redeployed to concentrated brand investment.
Operating Model Redesign
The existing structure could not simultaneously execute five strategic imperatives, from turbocharging emerging market growth to 20-25% to scaling globally across new categories. A redesigned operating model and four new critical roles were created to anchor accountability across each imperative within the $3.25B hotspot.
Authority Architecture: Emerging Markets
Structural ambiguity between global, regional, and local teams was the primary execution constraint across LATAM and Asia-Pacific markets. A new center of expertise operating model clarified decision rights at each level, enabling discontinuous distribution expansion and directly unblocking delivery at the $2.75B hotspot.
Structural Authority Redesign: RGM
The existing RGM function lacked the authority to drive $600M+ EBITDA at the regional level. A redesigned operating model aligned to an empowered Business Unit vision created two new roles: Head of Transformation and Global Network Design Lead, anchoring accountability within the $3B Fuel for Growth hotspot.
The Results
Four operating models redesigned before a single transformation decision was made. Eight critical vacancies ($500M at risk) and 18 structural role failures ($1.1B) were identified and actioned. Marketing was restructured with 295 FTEs redeployed to the top 20 brands. Decision rights were clarified across 5 international areas and 20 entities. 123 Jobs to Be Done were connected to annual operating plans, linking structural authority directly to execution accountability.
“Strategic plans do not fail at the strategy layer. They fail at the structural layer: the wrong authority in the wrong architecture, carrying more value than its design was ever built to bear.”
