ABSTRACT
The Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) process is undertaken primarily to grow inorganically or to achieve investment returns. A rigorous assessment of a target company's pricing capabilities and the associated improvement opportunities can substantially sharpen the enterprise valuation and the subsequent value capture from M&A. "Price realization" is the measurement of a settled price compared to the initial target price for each particular pricing event. Pricing improvement opportunities for an owned-business will become customer-, market- and offering-specific, while those for an acquisition target after due diligence are usually concrete. Articulated pricing strategy that is inconsistent from a strategic plan to the opinion of a senior leader to the printed collateral of business is another sure sign of limited Strategic Clarity. Companies that are judged to have a high degree of Strategic Clarity in their pricing will not have any substantive improvement opportunities in this area, and there will be no impact from this assessment component on their valuation.
