Game Changer

PART IVShaping Society Through Pricing Decisions

Whether they are business leaders or consumers, people are more accustomed to thinking about pricing in narrow terms: uniform prices, costs and value, and the power of the free market. They are less used to thinking about prices as a range of possibilities to accomplish a bigger objective.

In Part III we explored a wider range of strategic options that can benefit both businesses and their customers. Moving toward the right and bottom part of the Hex – toward the Value, Choice, or Custom Game – can open new opportunities to create and share value.

Now in Part IV we push those boundaries even further by exploring how strategic pricing can have a positive impact on many pressing social issues. These include how to make health care and education more accessible and how to accelerate efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. We also cover deceptively simple questions such as, What is a fair price? or What is a fair way to share value between buyer and seller?

Few people think of strategic pricing as part of the solution to any of these problems. But each of the major issues we discuss in Part IV have core challenges that match up very well with one or more of the seven pricing games. Exploring these options can lead to solutions that can benefit society without diminishing or threatening the interests of buyers and sellers ...