Summary: INFLATION AND PROFITABILITY: Georg Tacke has joined us to talk more about the largely unrecognized impact of inflation on profitability and cash flow and provides some practical advice on better managing pricing in an era of inflation. Georg explains pricing’s increasingly critical role in the global economy, especially in light of current challenges such as struggling markets, inflation and the resulting price instability. “Inflation is already here, it will continue to grow, and it will erode profits,” Dr. Tacke says. “The major question is how managers can make their company inflation-safe to secure margins. The challenge is simply to get prices up once costs are rising. It sounds easy, but in practice it’s not. Many companies are insufficiently prepared for the task.” After many years of price stability, companies have forgotten how to deal with the challenges of inflation, Dr. Tacke explains. As a result, inflation will become a significant risk for almost every industry and is an acid test for every company's price performance. Top managers have to react quickly and make their firms "inflation-safe” and strategies have to be developed to cover rising costs and to offset the effects of money devaluation. Georg is the CEO of Simon Kucher & Partners – a global management consultancy based in Bonn, Germany with over 500 professionals and more than 20 offices worldwide. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: A pdf transcript of this episode is available (or will be made available shortly) for download at robertgbarnwell.com. In addition, listeners are invited to explore the many executive briefings, whitepapers, case studies and other information and tools available (no registration required) at robertgbarnwell.com. CONSULTING SERVICES: On a limited basis and subject to availability, professor Barnwell is pleased to work with the senior leadership of companies undergoing significant strategic or enterprise-wide change. Clients are typically multi-national corporations or the large subsidiaries of such companies with revenues in excess of $250.0 million. If you would like to learn more about Professor Barnwell and his services, please visit robertgbarnwell.com or email Robert directly at Robert@robertgbarnwell.com.
