You have heard this sentence at every results meeting since 2023: the market changed

You have heard this sentence at every results meeting since 2023: the market changed.

The market does not break companies. It reveals who never decided where they make money.

I served 18 states from a single distribution center, in Indaiatuba. It was the most criticized decision in my operation: longer lead times, worse freight, distant customers complaining about delivery time. I accepted that cost for years.

Then the price of solar modules fell and inventory lost a third of its value in three months.

Whoever had a center in each region did not have the same inventory spread out. They had more inventory. Where inventory sleeps is a Business Strategy decision, and it charges you in margin long before it charges you in service.

Nobody called that a bet. They called it being close to the customer.

Capillarity is not a distribution strategy. It is a price position bought and signed without anyone reading the contract.

The bill does not show up in the operation. It shows up in cash, three months later, when the product bought to stay close to the customer is worth less than the debt that financed it, and the only sale able to turn it is the one that destroys the year's margin.

The market did not break those companies. It liquidated a position they had kept open for years. Yours only closes when you decide to close it.