It has recently come to my attention the phrase “think long term benefit”. I’ve heard it lots of times throughout my life but I have never put a lot thought to its meanings and implications. But now, through some great anecdotes of my father I have been able to understand its implications in a personal scale and in a company scale. When you think of long term benefit, you are investing/sacrificing something in your current moment that will give you an even greater reward in the future. This might sound very easy to do, but the problem is that we tend to act based on our current emotions to have instant satisfaction, therefore we almost always (even unconsciously) think of short term benefit. It's just like leaving a homework for later just so you could play right now. But you have already heard of procrastination and there is nothing new about it, therefore I would like to share two great examples of long term thinking in a company scale, where there are much more people in play than just yourself. Both examples will be of Tottus hypermarket because I used my father as a primary source. The first scenario took place about 9 months ago during the Copa America soccer championship. The Copa America is the biggest soccer championship in South America that started back in 1916 and takes place every four years. Soccer is the number one sport in South America, therefore this championship is HUGE for latinos. What does Tottus have to do with this? Well, right before the championship started, Tottus made an offer. The offer said that if you buy a television in Tottus within a specific date and Peru wins the championship, then the TV you bought is completely free. Sounds like a great offer right? Well, people didn't take it that way. Instead of thinking that Tottus wanted the best for its clients, people took it offensively. Like in every bet, there is a bigger reward if the probability of an event happening is lower. For example, Tottus was not going to bet for Argentina to win the championship because there is a much higher probability that Argentina wins. In other words, people inferred that Tottus thought that Peru’s team was so bad that there was no chance for it to win the championship. There was A LOT of hate towards Tottus and it’s image suddenly started to break. After Chile won the tournament, people started to say that is was all “part of their evil plan” and social media pages of anti Tottus started to emerge. So, the company could either continue its way with the money they made with the sold TV’s (short term benefit) or it could fix its almost broken image (long term benefit). Tottus decided to fix its reputation by giving back the money to the people who bought TV’s even though Peru didn’t win. It was about 1 million soles worth of TV’s. The image that shared this big news got more than 50 thousand likes and made the company’s reputation better than ever. The second scenario took place last week when a violent 10 day long protest in Pucallpa created a mini inflation in the city. Things were so dangerous that small markets couldn't supply themselves with more food and the demand for such basic needs were kept the same, therefore the price of food became very high. There is a Tottus store in Pucallpa going through the same problems as all the other markets, but they have tackled the problem differently. Instead of rising the price for most products, they decided to freeze the prices. Nothing goes higher, nothing goes lower. But now there is another problem. How are they going to keep up the supply if the supply was already low? For the first time ever Tottus is sending their products by airplane to Pucallpa to quickly supply the store with fresh food. It is now the only store in Pucallpa to offer fresh food at the same price as before; all so that people could still access their basic needs. Of course Tottus is losing lots of money doing this, but it is a long term investment. As a funny side note I just realized I sound like I am getting paid to promote my dad's company, but please believe me I’m not. I just thought these scenarios were worth sharing because I’m sure that the takeaway is clear and self explanatory. Remember to think long term benefit, but try not to get too caught up with the future; after all it is the current moment the thing we should enjoy the most.
2 Comments
Bon
3/21/2016 06:47:16 am
Nico, you hit the nail right on this head with this one. Humans often look for short term gratification rather than the longterm one. They've even done an experiment for children to show this called the Marshmallow test. It all goes back to Good to Great with the flywheel metaphor. It takes a lot of time turn that wheel, but once you do you reap the benefits.
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Dharma
3/21/2016 03:32:28 pm
Nico, you really dove deep into a great message here. We always go for what we think will benefit us in the moment, when most times, what happens in the long run could affect us even more. I think you did a great job of showing this though your post, but maybe try adding a more personal example for one. Also, in the first sentence, you say "It has recently come to my attention the phrase “think long term benefit”." But try writing it "The phrase 'think long term benefit' has recently come to my attention." It flows more.
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