Chicken Or The Egg? Balancing Cost Takeout And Pricing Management Techniques To Protect Profits From Inflation

What comes first - driving cost savings or actively managing pricing? Ideally, the two profit improvement techniques are executed in perfect harmony creating a synchronized growth engine resistant to market fluctuations. In reality, priorities are always competing and CFOs and their teams have to start somewhere.

Consider the chicken: The trusty old cost overhaul playbook presents less execution risk and what you see with your direct (and indirect) expense scenario modeling is more likely to be what you get. Of the two levers, it's the one you can more directly predict and control. So yes, it's a more obvious and less heroic tactic but perhaps a prerequisite to executing a competitive pricing strategy.