Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • June 2012
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

Pricing to Create Shared Value

By: Marco Bertini and John T. Gourville
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Many companies are in competition with their customers to extract as much value as possible from every transaction. Pricing is their weapon of choice, and consumers fight back by rooting out and disseminating pricing policies that seem unfair. The problem is that companies generally think of value as a pie that is rightfully theirs. But value is not fixed, and it neither originates with nor belongs solely to the firm. Without a willing customer, there is no value. Instead of using pricing in a way that turns customers into adversaries, companies can use it to enlarge the pie. That means viewing customers as partners in value creation—a collaboration that increases customers' engagement and taps their insights about the value they seek and how firms could deliver it. The result can be new revenue, increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, positive word of mouth, and cost savings. The multiyear process to price the 8 million tickets to the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games suggests five principles for using pricing to create shared value: focus on relationships, not on transactions, by using pricing to communicate that you value customers as people; set prices proactively to discourage detrimental behavior and to encourage behavior that is beneficial to both your firm and your customers; allow prices to change in response to shifting customer needs; promote transparency by providing the rationale for your pricing; and make sure that prices and the processes by which they are set meet consumers' expectations about what is fair.

Keywords

Pricing; Marketing Strategy; Price; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Relationship Management; Value Creation; Fairness

Citation

Bertini, Marco, and John T. Gourville. "Pricing to Create Shared Value." Harvard Business Review 90, no. 6 (June 2012): 96–104.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Authors

Marco Bertini

Marketing
→More Publications

John T. Gourville

Marketing
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2022
    • Journal of Marketing

    Carbon Footprinting and Pricing under Climate Concerns

    By: Marco Bertini, Stefan Buehler, Daniel Halbheer and Don Lehmann
    • October 2021 (Revised January 2022)
    • Faculty Research

    Project Maji: Pricing Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

    By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Esel Çekin
    • September–October 2017
    • Harvard Business Review

    When It's Time to Expand Beyond the Base

    By: Marco Bertini and Nader Tavassoli
More from the Authors
  • Carbon Footprinting and Pricing under Climate Concerns By: Marco Bertini, Stefan Buehler, Daniel Halbheer and Don Lehmann
  • Project Maji: Pricing Water in Sub-Saharan Africa By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Esel Çekin
  • When It's Time to Expand Beyond the Base By: Marco Bertini and Nader Tavassoli
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College