Acknowledgments First of all, I thank my wife Cecilia for suggesting I write this book. Many thanks go to Peter Fuchs, Sandra Hoffmann, Dr. Gunnar Markert, and Dorothea Hayer, the project team at Simon-Kucher & Partners. Without them it would not have been possible to complete the manuscript so quickly. I also extend my gratitude to Maureen Cueppers, Jennifer Hoehr, Ingo Lier, and Frank Luby for their hard work in meeting the translation deadline. Suggestions and examples were submitted by the following partners from Simon-Kucher & Partners: Kai Bandilla, Frank Bilstein, Dr. Fabian Braun, Dr. Gunnar Clausen, Andrew Conrad, Peter Ehrhardt, Dr. Jan Engelke, Dr. Andreas von der Gathen, Dr. Philip Grothe, Stefan Herr, Dr. Klaus Hilleke, Dr. Markus Hofer, Matt Johnson, Jörg Krütten, Dieter Lauszus, Frank Luby, Dr. Andrea Maessen, Dr. Rainer Meckes, Steve Rosen, Dr. Dirk Schmidt-Gallas, Dr. Gerald Schnell, Dr. Karl-Heinz Sebastian, Dr. Georg Tacke, Andre Weber, and Dr. Georg Wuebker. I am also indebted to the consultants Dr. Philipp Biermann, Richard Finke, Dr. Martin Gehring, Jason Gelbort, Josh Gold, Peter Harms, Olaf Hermes, Sebastian Hock, Guy Krug, Ben Micheel, Peter Schmich, Patrick J. Simon, David Vidal, and Jocelyn Whittenburg for their valuable contributions. My thanks go to Anita Mueller and Maureen Cueppers for their support with press relations. Many thanks are also due to Nicholas Philipson from Springer, New York, for his commitment and fine-tuning of the manuscript, and to Elizabeth Doyle-Aseritis for copyediting. Last but not least, I wish to thank the many entrepreneurs and managers all over the world who have spent time talking with me since the crisis began and provided invaluable insights. They have all taught me a great deal, and my intention with this book is to Acknowledgments 157
give back to them some of what I have learned. I hope that the tremendous speed of the work on this book has not led to an increase in errors. The responsibility for any remaining errors is mine alone. 158 Acknowledgments (158)
Index Acquisition 36, 38 40, 81, 147 148, 152 Advertising budget 51 Aftermarket 11, 113 114, 117, 121 All-finance approach 79 Automotive industry 5, 9, 16, 17, 37, 83, 146, 148 Avoiding mistakes 120 Barrier to buying 56 Barter trade 61 62 Budget for continuing education 38 Bundling 78, 93 96, 101, 114, 117 Buyer s market 29 Cash flow 21, 27, 29, 34 40, 55, 65, 83, 103 Catharsis 145 151 Changing customer needs 3, 22, 55 66 Chemicals 12, 62, 84, 85 Construction industry 17 Consultants 72, 126 128, 130 133, 135, 157 Consulting project 52, 131, 132 Consumer goods 9, 10, 20, 57, 72, 133, 149 Controlling 123, 129 130 Core business 36, 38, 40, 142 Core selling time 69 70 Cost cutting 2, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 39, 41 53, 68, 119, 131, 133, 139 Cost cutting measures 2, 35, 46, 52 Cost drivers 41 46, 52 Cost management 41 Cost parameter 44 48 Credit crunch 6 Creditworthiness 145 Cross-selling 78 80, 94, 102, 114, 122, 126 Customer survey 126, 127, 135 Customer visit 69, 70 Customers radar 98 99, 104 Deflation 140 141, 144 Deglobalization 142 144, 152 Deleveraging 145 146 Depression 17, 19, 137, 139, 140, 143, 152 Direct sales 69, 72 73, 81 Discount 11, 14 15, 59, 61, 74, 86, 91 93, 95 97, 99 101, 104, 122, 125, 130, 150 Discount in kind 92, 122 Discount jungle 99 101 Discount products 14 15 Diversification 36, 38 Equity 8, 50, 56, 144 146, 148, 152 Expert survey 126, 127, 135 Expropriation 17, 142 Fear 1, 17, 20, 22, 55, 103, 130, 134 Financial power 65, 76, 82, 147 Financial services 10 Financing 21, 22, 60, 61, 63 65, 119, 131, 148 Fixed price 110, 114 117 Flat rate 94, 116, 117 Flexible work-time account 47, 49 Focus group 127 Globalization 142 144 Government program 15 17 Government regulation 47, 141 142, 152 Group discussion 127 Index 159
Growth strategy 36 39 Guaranteed return 22, 55 Hard benefit 132 Health 10, 11, 48 Hidden champions 8, 47, 49, 50 Hysteresis 137 139, 146, 148, 151 Improving skills 36, 38 Inclusive services 101 104, 109 Industrial goods 10 11, 20, 21, 94 Industrial production 84 Inferior quality 51 Inflation 140 141, 144, 145, 152 In-house staff 69, 72, 75 76, 82, 130, 133 Initial investment 27, 34, 37, 39 Innovation 27, 36, 37, 39, 65, 114, 117, 150 Insolvency 62 Insourcing 49 Installed base 107, 110, 114, 116 Internal data 77, 125, 133 Irreversible decisions 128 130, 135 L form 137 Lawnmower method 50 Liquidity management 120, 138 Loss of expertise 50 Luxury goods 6, 14, 148, 151 Luxury goods market 148 Market segment 36, 37, 74, 76, 148, 152 Market share 8, 11, 20, 21, 31, 51, 63, 73, 85, 89, 103 gain 27, 37 loss 37 Media 13, 80, 122, 146 Mistake 8, 33, 42, 52, 71, 88, 102, 119 120, 122, 127, 135, 151 Monitoring 96, 99, 104, 115, 123, 129 130, 142 Multi-dimensional price system 94 Multi-person pricing 93, 96 New business model 36, 38, 39, 63 66 New customer segment 73 74 New economy 19, 151 New sense of modesty 150 Nice to haves, 5, 6, 8, 13, 20, 22, 52, 65 Non-linear pricing 93 96 Original market 113 114, 117, 121 Outsourcing 49 Poorer-quality products 51 Post merger integration 38 Postponables 5, 6, 8, 10 13, 16, 22 Post-war generation 152 Potential for price increases 98 Price bundling 93 96 concession 89, 92, 94 cut 16, 20, 31, 32, 39, 58, 60, 83, 84, 86 91, 97, 120 defense 31, 32, 97 differentiation 99, 104 elasticity 20, 22, 59, 88 91, 99 erosion 14, 96, 97 increase 20, 28, 30 32, 75, 83, 85, 89, 90, 98 99, 101, 103, 104, 122, 127, 128, 141 management 86 pressure 12, 29, 97, 98, 103 threshold 86, 90, 91, 104 war 73, 89, 103 104 Price-sales curve 86 91, 104 Pricing competence 97 Pricing policy 152 Pricing power 97 Profit 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 17, 22, 23, 27, 29 35, 37 40, 42 44, 52, 53, 58, 75, 77, 81 84, 86 90, 92 97, 99, 101, 103, 104, 107 109, 113, 114, 116, 117, 119, 121, 122, 131, 135, 142, 145 driver 2, 29 33, 35, 39, 40, 119 orientation 103 Protectionism 139, 143, 144, 146, 152 Quality perception 51 Rating 21, 59, 145 Rationalization 2 Receivables 36 Reduction of stocks Refusal to buy 20 Resignation 119 Restructuring of industries 147 160 Index
Route planning 70, 71 Safety 21 22, 48, 51, 110, 112, 115, 150 Sales effort 67 69, 81 Sales performance 67 70, 77, 78, 81, 130 Sales portfolio expansion 80 81 Sales reduction 33, 86 Sales-volume curve 67, 68 Scrapping bonus 16, 91 Segmentation 148 Seller s market 27, 107 Service 3, 5, 6, 9 12, 22, 27, 49, 58, 60 62, 64, 73, 79, 86, 94, 101 104, 107 117, 119, 127, 140, 143Services charge 102 contracts 58, 79, 107, 109 111, 114 flexibility 112 113 innovation 114, 117 offering 109 111, 117 Shortened worktime 47 Signaling 85, 103 Simultaneous engineering 123 Social tensions 22, 139 140, 142, 151 Special incentives 74 75 Streamlining 119, 146 Subprime bubble 3 Success-dependent payment 58 Systems provider 111 112 Tax increase 142 Telecommunications and IT 12 Telephone interview 133 Temporary employees 42 Theory of punctuated equilibrium 8 Time preference 21, 22 Top sellers 77, 78, 82 Tourism 12 13, 86, 98 Trial periods for machines 57, 65 U form 137 Ultra-low price segment 15, 148 150, 152 Unbundling 101, 102, 109 Unusual guarantee 109 V form 137 Value chain 6, 11, 96, 109 111, 116, 152 Value selling 77 Volume pressure 84 Volume reduction 83, 85, 87, 99 Worst-case scenarios 103, 144 145, 152 Index 161