Your executive leadership team believes that your product can achieve higher market share. . The Sales Leader is pressuring you to reduce the price…

The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing product value, which requires balancing competing stakeholder goals and making data-driven decisions. To evaluate the proposed price drop, the Product Owner must analyze its potential impact from multiple perspectives. This includes understanding the competitive landscape (Competitor pricing), the financial implications against business goals (Company earnings targets), and whether price is a genuine barrier for potential customers (Unmet customer needs). Furthermore, the feasibility and impact on the go-to-market approach must be considered, making the Channel sales strategy a critical input. These four sources provide a holistic view to weigh the potential gain in market share against the risk to profitability.

B. Customer satisfaction: This is a lagging indicator and an outcome of overall product value. While a price drop might influence it, it is not a primary input for this strategic financial decision.

C. Market share: This is the stated goal or desired outcome of the proposed action, not a source of information to decide whether the action should be taken.

1. Schwaber

K.

& Sutherland

J. (2020). The Scrum Guide. Scrum.org. (p. 5). The guide states

"The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team." This accountability requires the PO to consider all factors

such as financial targets

market dynamics

and customer needs

when making strategic product decisions like pricing.

2. McGreal

D.

& Jocham

R. (2018). The Professional Product Owner: Leveraging Scrum as a Competitive Advantage. Addison-Wesley Professional. In Chapter 5

"Managing Value

" the authors discuss the Evidence-Based Management (EBM) framework

which highlights the need to consider Current Value

Unrealized Value

and Ability to Innovate. This decision requires analyzing Unrealized Value (unmet needs

competitor gaps) and Current Value (profitability

earnings targets) to make an informed choice.

3. Dolan

R. J.

& Gourville

J. T. (2014). Principles of Pricing. Harvard Business School Publishing. Module Note 9-506-021. This academic material emphasizes a "value-based" pricing strategy framework which rests on three pillars: understanding customer value (related to unmet needs)

the competitive environment (competitor pricing)

and costs/company objectives (earnings targets). It also discusses how pricing strategy must align with channel strategy.

4. MIT Sloan School of Management. (2011). 15.821 Listening to the Customer Course Notes. MIT OpenCourseWare. The course emphasizes that understanding deep customer needs is the foundation for product strategy. Before changing a price to attract customers

a Product Owner must first validate the hypothesis that price is the primary unmet need preventing adoption.