New Book Launch: Beating Inflation – An Agile, Concrete and Effective Corporate Guide Offers Analyses and Solutions to Confront Rising Costs

Having not seen inflation this severe in the United States since the 1970s, and with expectations for current conditions to persist for years, pricing experts Prof. Dr. Hermann Simon and Adam Echter help managers overcome inflationary pressures

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A timely new book by a pair of experts from Simon-Kucher, the global leading pricing consultancy, is now available for purchase in the US to help managers assess the marketplace and take strategic action during an inflationary cycle in the economy.

After decades of relative price stability, inflation has returned and is likely to stay. Given the roughly 50-year gap since the last time the US economy has experienced inflation of this magnitude, and the fact that today's generation of managers has no experience with such conditions, the current inflation presents major risks for companies and consumers alike. Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global consultancy firm known for its pricing and strategy expertise, announces the latest book from two of its experts: Beating Inflation – An Agile, Concrete and Effective Corporate Guide.

This corporate guide to beating inflation is co-authored by Prof. Dr. Hermann Simon, co-founder of Simon-Kucher & Partners and Honorary Chairman, and Adam Echter, a Silicon Valley-based Partner with Simon-Kucher.

The book examines inflation from multiple perspectives and offers actions and strategies for companies to manage it. It is not a question of eliminating inflation for businesses and consumers, but of how to survive it with as little damage as possible. Companies need to look at all aspects of their business – from sales, finance, procurement and cost management to digitalization and innovation in equal measure. It also requires corporate cultural change, which if managed quickly and successfully, can improve the likelihood of defeating inflation and ensuring the survival of the company.

“Inflation not only affects pricing and prices, but all activities and functions of the company,” explained Simon, a world-renowned author and speaker, who is largely recognized as one of the world’s foremost pricing experts. “It starts with the CEO, who must induce a culture change, and extends to the management of finance, purchasing, supply chain, costs, production and human resources. Of course, the sales force is hit particularly hard as sales representatives must push larger and more frequent price increases through to customers. Inflation impacts a business as a whole, which is why Adam and I wrote this book to offer tangible and attainable solutions that can be enacted across all functions of the business.”

Echter, whose more than 20-year career has been focused on pricing and sales, added, “Inflation is back and here to stay, and while price plays a central role, it is naïve to simply pass on cost increases one-to-one to customers and believe you’ve addressed the challenge. For companies, this means that the world in which they do business has fundamentally changed and the challenges to overcome affect all corporate functions. Increased agility, a heightened focus on cash, and ensuring profitability on all transactions will be core strategies for navigating inflation. Sales forces will be critical to staying ahead of inflation and most will require upskilling. Digitalization will make this inflation period different from the last due to the dramatic effects of price transparency and technology’s ability to facilitate innovative pricing systems. If this change is managed quickly and successfully, the prospects of beating inflation and thus ensuring the survival of the company are good.”

The book Beating Inflation – An Agile, Concrete and Effective Corporate Guide will be published by Springer on December 4 and is available now for preorder on Amazon.

Simon-Kucher & Partners:

Simon-Kucher is a global consultancy firm with more than 2,000 employees in 27 countries. We’re focused on delivering measurable revenue and profit growth for our clients. We do this by optimizing their pricing, sales, and marketing strategies better and more sustainably than anyone else. With over 35 years of experience in a vast range of monetization topics, our experts work across all industries and for businesses both large and small. Our projects increase our clients’ profitability by an average of 100 to 500 basis points, and we are regarded as the world’s leading pricing advisor.