Market and Competition in Pricing Strategy

Jean-Manuel Izaret, a Senior Partner and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group's San Francisco office, has established himself as a leading authority in global pricing strategies since joining BCG in 1997. With extensive experience across the firm's Paris and Madrid offices, he currently heads BCG's global Pricing Practice, where he champions pricing optimization as a critical yet underutilized lever for corporate profitability. His impressive portfolio includes transformative pricing projects for major technology companies, wireless service providers, and software leaders, implementing innovative strategies that span product line-up optimization, digital media valuation, and competitive pricing models. Armed with a Ph.D. in Marketing and master's degrees in both Engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris and Economics from the Paris Political Science Institute, Izaret brings a unique combination of academic expertise and practical experience to help clients develop sustainable competitive advantages through sophisticated pricing strategies, enhanced execution processes, and optimized organizational structures.

Thomas Kohler, an Expert Principal at Boston Consulting Group's Boston office, brings over two decades of international consulting expertise spanning Germany, the USA, and Australia since joining BCG in 2002. As a core member of the Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice, he has established himself as a leading authority in B2B pricing strategies and go-to-market solutions, culminating in his co-founding of BCG's inaugural pricing enablement center in Atlanta. His professional journey includes valuable experience at BMW Munich, where he specialized in design strategy and market research, complementing his academic credentials of a PhD in Consumer Behavior and a Master's in Industrial Engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Kohler's extensive portfolio encompasses developing sophisticated pricing strategies and implementing comprehensive pricing business systems for numerous corporate clients, making him a pivotal figure in BCG's global pricing practice.

Ronald T. Wilcox is the NewMarket Corporation Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean for Degree Programs at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. He has been a faculty member since 2001, teaching required courses in Marketing for MBA and Executive MBA programs, as well as an elective course on Pricing Strategy. His research primarily focuses on the marketing of financial services and its intersection with public policy, with his work published in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, and Marketing Science. Wilcox's insights have also been featured in prominent media outlets including the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.Professor Wilcox holds an A.B. from Xavier University and both an M.S. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. He has previously served as an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University and worked as an economist for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His book, Whatever Happened to Thrift? Why Americans Don’t Save and What to Do About It, published by Yale University Press, received recognition as one of the Top Five Business Books of 2008 by Kiplinger. At Darden, he also teaches courses such as "Cost and Economics in Pricing Strategy" and "Customer Value in Pricing Strategy," where he equips students with essential skills in pricing and marketing analytics.