Game Changer

PART IIIChanging Your Pricing Game

In Part II, we described each of the games of the Hex in detail, and explained how companies can succeed at their chosen game. Business environments evolve rapidly, though, and the pace of change is accelerating. Companies need to constantly reassess what game they are in, and whether a move to a different game is desirable or necessary.

Despite the strong pull and push of market forces, companies often have the power to choose the pricing game they want to play. We frequently observe that leaders underestimate their agency to control the fate of their firms, defaulting to the established models in their industries. Players who execute bold moves to change the game often reap outsized benefits.

Part III describes the motivations, actions, and consequences when one or more players decide to use their pricing agency for truly game‐changing moves across the Hex.

We begin with the story of how the launch of innovation empowered a company to move from the Cost Game to the Value Game. Chapter 15 shows how progressive digitalization prompted one company to move to the Choice Game with an “as‐a‐Service” offering. Chapter 16 explains how Covid‐19 provided the burning platform for a CPG player to embrace AI to optimize its promotions, moving it closer to the Dynamic Game. Chapter 17 explains how some companies disrupt their distribution channels to ...