The Pricing Strategy Assessment^SM (PSA^SM)

EXTERNAL FACTORS are outside the direct control of the firm. These broad factors are:

1. The prices, product features, and past actions of the current and anticipated competition in each indication.
2. The economic and social value of the therapy itself and how that value varies across indications and treatment settings and among various market participants.
3. The decision-making criteria of prescribers, patients, and others who influence the decision.
4. The characteristics of the disease and patients treated by the medication.
5. The current and anticipated reimbursement environment.
6. The public policy environment.

INTERNAL FACTORS affect the pricing and competitive responses that are specific to the firm. The two specific areas we take into consideration in this regard are:

1. Company needs and goals, in terms of market position, revenue, and other issues.
2. Company abilities, including available budgets and willingness to support the product, marketing, and pricing initiatives.

The relative importance of each of these factors varies by product, and each is likely to be affected by one or more of the other factors. The effective management of any product is complicated and uncertain, but MME has found that the PSA evaluation helps the client to better understand the product and the market, to better compete in the market, and to profitably price its products.

Competitive Engagement Simulation® (CES^SM)

The Competitive Engagement Simulation was developed by MME as a more realistic and useful approach to dealing with competitive situations than the classic “war game,” which inevitably develops an atmosphere and attitude that is “win/lose,” treating every competitive situation as a zero-sum game. In a CES, participants learn to manage competitive situations to maximize profitability and to limit the potential damage from dysfunctional competitive activities.
Another important outcome of a CES is that participants come to better understand their customers, their competitors, and their own capabilities in the marketplace. Depending on market dynamics, many competitive challenges can be managed as positive-sum games, or “win/win” situations. Even when competitive situations become zero-sum, however, a firm can take steps to prevent many of the damaging aspects, such as price wars and dysfunctional activities aimed at protecting market share.

The objective of a CES is to enable the firm to be a better, and more profitable, competitor. It is based on one of the key teachings of Sun Tsu who, in his book The Art of Strategy (also called The Art of War) writes: “If you know the opponent and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt” (Sun Tzu, The Art of Strategy, 10:31). By helping the firm better understand its opponent, as well as itself, a CES equips the marketing and sales teams with the ability to anticipate, understand, and counter competitive moves and to create an environment that is more likely to promote success.

Unlike traditional “war game” exercises, where teams are asked to assume the role of competitors, the CES focuses on understanding the true capabilities and likely actions of competitors, as well as customers, and develop detailed plans and contingencies, not just attack plans. An important benefit of a CES is that participants gain a much better understanding of the ways in which their markets operate. By better understanding their own strengths, weaknesses, and patterns, as well as those of their competitors; the motives, abilities, and patterns of their customers; and the interaction of important forces in the market, CES participants begin to acquire what we call Total Marketspace Awareness^SM.

Expert Guidance Panel

To exploit fully the opportunities in the market, a company must explore and evaluate every option available to it and ensure that each initiative it envisions is fully vetted. No single firm contains the resources and experience to explore and exploit these opportunities. Similarly, no single consulting group, regardless of size or reputation, can do so. Establishing an expert guidance panel allows a company access to the most diverse, comprehensive, and rigorous thought processes for the generation and evaluation of strategic opportunities and tactical paths for its product, providing it with a strategic advantage unavailable to the competition and ensuring that it captures the full value of its product.

MME has experience helping clients by forming and managing panels of outside experts to assist in the development of optimal strategic marketing plans for their products. The goal of these panels is to provide a continuous source of innovative ideas and guidance based on diverse experiences and objective evaluation of plans and initiatives that will enhance the market’s recognition of the product’s value. The typical objectives for one of these panels are to:

1. Ensure that strategies are consistent with market and internal realities
2. Develop and elucidate challenges to strategies
3. Identify critical success factors
4. Ensure that strategies are supported by appropriate tactics
5. Ensure that tactics are consistent with strategy.

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