Tailored processes and tools enable pragmatic commercial decisions

Even with the best enterprise systems, both large and small businesses have a need for tailored processes that consider a company’s unique culture, language and market.  With the proper, pragmatic design, these tailored processes and tools bridge the gap, fostering more effective communication amongst different functions and faster adoption rates throughout the organization.

The following example illustrates a customized tool developed to optimize the products in a client’s development pipeline across multiple business units.

The Challenge

A category-leading healthcare company needed to improve decision making regarding the focus and level of investment for a range of product categories. The process must be aligned with business strategy and provide a basis for choices across business units. In order to ensure their decisions were fact-based and objective a range of quantitative and qualitative measures were incorporated into the design.

The Approach

• Market Edge worked with the client to understand current business development and R&D processes to identify opportunities for improved alignment and investing criteria 
• A customized Product Portfolio Assessment Tool was designed to enable business leaders to assess the entire portfolio across business units and lifecycle stages 
• The Tool was developed and piloted with a cross-functional team of subject matter experts in their respective markets and competitive environment
• Builds from the pilot test were incorporated into a communications plan and training as the Tool was launched across the entire organization

The Outcome

Following the launch and initial use through an annual business cycle, the Tool delivered the following business benefits

• Identified the most attractive market segments and products to drive growth over the planning horizon
• Balanced resources and focus across stages of the pipeline and reallocated to the most attractive areas
• Aligned commercial and R&D teams to deliver the product portfolio with respect to the priority projects and associated timelines

Market Edge turns proven, leading-edge business thought into pragmatic processes and tools. Our intuitive user-interface and consistent outputs enable users to focus on communicating the implications and recommendations associated with their analysis.

October Demo Tool – Price Change Analysis

Front line sales and marketing managers need to understand the impact of price changes, both up and down. 

Often, the challenge involves the impact of a price decrease, or discount, and the incremental volume that is required to support that discount. In the case where a discount may be warranted, there are both strategic and tactical concerns. In the strategic area, decision-makers should understand the importance of the target customer, the associated product strategy and likely competitive response.

From a tactical perspective, it is critical to define the financial implications of the discount and incremental sales required to breakeven. In its most simple terms, assuming limited impact to fixed and variable costs, the information required includes: 

• Current volume
• Current price
• Product margin
• Projected discount

A decision-maker can then model the breakeven point associated with a price decrease and utilize it with the strategic considerations noted above.

Breakeven points are only one piece of the pricing discussion, but are a critical component to understanding the impact of price changes and the associated decision making logic in B2B markets where price negotiations are common.

Download a demonstration version of the Price Change Analysis Tool here.

To discuss how Market Edge can help incorporate advanced tool features into your business model, contact us here.