Hermann Simon (born 10 February 1947) is a German author and businessperson. He is

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

Simon-Kucher & Partners Simon-Kucher is a global strategy consulting firm with offices in 30+ countries countries with 46 offices and  a team of more than 2,000 experts. Founded in 1985, the firm focuses on strategic management, growth strategy, marketing, pricing, an ...

, a strategy and marketing consultancy. He is a

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

and

pricing Pricing is the Business process, process whereby a business sets and displays the price at which it will sell its products and services and may be part of the business's marketing plan. In setting prices, the business will take into account the ...

consultant. An ongoing online German-language survey voted him the second-most influential management thinker. Simon has authored numerous books and writes articles for international newspapers and business magazines. He is also known for coining the term Servicewüste.

Short biography

* 1947 Born in

Hasborn Hasborn is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Ge ...

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

, Germany * 1966 High School leaving A-levels certificate, Cusanus High School, Wittlich * 1967-1969 German Air Force, fighter bomber squadron 33, reserve officer * 1969-1973 Studies of economics and business administration in Cologne and Bonn * 1974-1979 Ph.D. and qualification as a university professor under Horst Albach in Bonn * 1979-1989 Professor at the University of Bielefeld * 1989-1995 Professor at the University of Mainz * 1983-2002 Various guest professorships and visiting researcher positions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1978/79), Vienna Institute for Advanced Studies (1979), Keio University in Tokyo (1983), Stanford University (1984), INSEAD in Fontainebleau (1980–1985), Harvard Business School (1988/89), London Business School (1991–2002) * 1985-1988 Director, USW The German Management Institute, Schloss Gracht/Cologne * 1985 Founded the company Simon - Kucher & Partners Strategy & Marketing Consultants * 1995-2009 CEO of Simon - Kucher & Partners Strategy & Marketing Consultants * Since 2009 Chairman of Simon - Kucher & Partners Strategy & Marketing Consultants

Career

Simon's career spans three professions in his work as a management consultant,

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

, and author. His books have been translated into 25 languages and are widely read among managers. An ongoing online survey votes him a most-influential management thinker, second only to

Peter Drucker Peter Ferdinand Drucker (; ; November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of modern management theory. H ...

. Simon was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2019.

Management consultant

He was CEO of

strategy and marketing consultants from 1995 until 2009. His consulting firm focuses on strategy, marketing, pricing and sales. ''

Bloomberg BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' described Simon-Kucher & Partners as a "world leader in giving advice to companies on how to price their products", and ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' wrote that "Simon-Kucher is the world's leading pricing consultancy".

Author

Simon's books are widely read among managers and have been translated into 25 languages. In March 2011, Simon and co-author

Martin Fassnacht Martin Fassnacht (born 1965, in Freiburg in Breisgau) is a German economist, professor and director of the Chair of Strategy and Marketing at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Managementin Düsseldorf. Early life and education Fassnacht was ...

were awarded the 2010 Georg-Bergler-Prize for ''Preismanagement''. Carrying with it a €20000 prize, this is the most highly endowed award for European marketing textbooks. In 2006, Simon published ''Manage for Profit, Not for Market Share'', which takes a critical look at the widespread focus on volume and market share and calls for a conscious shift of focus towards

profit Profit may refer to: Business and law * Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market * Profit (economics), normal profit and economic profit * Profit (real property), a nonpossessory inter ...

. Simon's most well-known publications include ''Think'' (2004), ''Power Pricing'' (1997), '' Hidden Champions'' (1996), ''Hidden Champions of the 21st Century'' (2009) and ''Preismanagement'' (3rd edition 2009). Additional publications include ''Das große Handbuch der Strategieinstrumente'' (2002), ''Das große Handbuch der Strategiekonzepte'' (2000) and ''Simon for Managers'' (2000). Simon has coined a number of phrases which are commonly used in management theory and practice, including "price management", " hidden champions", "Servicewüste" and "investor marketing". Since 1988, Simon has regularly authored a column for the German monthly ''Manager Magazin''. He is a member of the editorial boards of numerous business journals, including the ''International Journal of Research in Marketing'', ''

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

'', ''Recherche et Applications en Marketing, Décisions Marketing'', '' European Management Journal'' and several German journals.

Works

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * (published in 14 languages) * (published in 15 languages) *

Selected articles

* * * * * * * * *

Other

* * * * * *

References

External links

*
Simon-Kucher & Partners official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Hermann Living people 1947 births Academics of London Business School University of Cologne alumni University of Bonn alumni Academic staff of Bielefeld University Academic staff of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Harvard Business School faculty Stanford University faculty German non-fiction writers German business theorists German economists German male non-fiction writers