The Price Advantage

A comprehensive look at creating pricing strategies that work in both good economic times and bad

Written by three preeminent pricing experts at McKinsey & Company, the Second Edition of The Price Advantage is a practical pricing guide for the executive or pricing practitioner who wants to identify, capture, and sustain substantial pricing gains in their business.

Pricing is by far the most powerful profit lever that managers can influence. Yet few companies approach pricing in a way that fully capitalizes on its value. This Second Edition, a major revision and extension of the first book, shows you what it takes to achieve the price advantage in today's competitive and complex business environments. Based on in-depth, first-hand experience with thousands of companies, this book provides managers with a pragmatic guide through the maze of pricing issues. It reinforces why pricing excellence is more critical than ever today and then explains state-of-the-art approaches to analyzing and improving your own pricing strategy and execution.

• Explores the fundamental role of pricing infrastructure in achieving the price advantage
• Includes new topics such as software and information products pricing, lifecycle pricing, custom-configured products pricing, pricing of high-count product lines, pricing in distributed sales environments, "razor/razor blades" pricing, and tiered products and services pricing
• Revisits the full range of classic McKinsey pricing tools, including the pocket price waterfall and value maps

Engaging and informative, the Second Edition of The Price Advantage will put this essential discipline in perspective.

WALTER L. BAKER is a partner in the Atlanta office of the international consulting firm of McKinsey & Company. Since joining McKinsey in 1998, he has worked with clients across multiple industries in the areas of pricing, sales, marketing, and strategy. With particular focus on the technology and industrial sectors, he has authored articles on pricing in CMO magazine, the McKinsey Quarterly, and the Harvard Business Review.

MICHAEL V. MARN is a partner in the Cleveland office of McKinsey & Company. He joined McKinsey in 1977 and has developed some of the most widely used analytic approaches for identifying and capturing opportunities in pricing. He has written articles on pricing that have appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Harvard Business Review.

CRAIG C. ZAWADA is a partner in the Calgary office of McKinsey & Company. Since joining McKinsey in 1997, he has worked with companies across multiple industries, helping them to identify and capture improvements in pricing. He is widely published in the area of pricing strategy, with articles appearing in the Harvard Business Review, Mergers & Acquisitions, and the McKinsey Quarterly.