How Price Elasticity Won a Price War🔥
- George Boretos
- Aug 28
- 1 min read
An inspiring Pricing story from my MBA days that changed the way I look at business today
Back in 1993, I was attending the MBA program at Imperial College Business School.🤓
Our marketing professor shared a fascinating case study about a real oil industry price war:
👉 Companies kept slashing prices
👉 Everyone was losing, except end customers
Then came the twist! 😯 A Shell product manager compared price elasticities 📈. He saw the numbers favored Shell and convinced leadership to stop cutting prices.
The result?
✅ Competitors followed, and the price war ended.
✅ Shell kept market share, gained higher margins, and won the war.
Rumor had it the “mystery product manager” was our professor!
I never got to confirm this, but the story helped me understand the power of pricing - and when it works best:
✔️ The tool (price elasticity) made the strategy possible.
✔️ A bold person thinking outside the box saw the opportunity.
✔️ A company bold enough to commit made it all work.
Bottom line: Pricing is never just math. It’s strategy, courage, and execution!
Fast forward to today:
AI is giving us tools far more powerful than a simple elasticity study.
But the same truth applies:
➡️ Tools alone don’t win wars.
➡️ Bold leaders do.
➡️ Backed by the right tools and execution.
That’s the essence of AI-human collaboration: People willing to take smart risks, empowered by tech that changes the game. 💪
Interested in learning more about AI-Powered Price Optimization and Strategic Forecasting?
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