Summary
Avy Punwasee, Managing Partner at Revenue Management Labs, was recently featured in Forbes explaining why tariffs are less a procurement problem and more a test of a company’s pricing capability. The article covers who really absorbs tariff costs, why many companies lack the visibility to respond precisely, and how leading businesses are rebalancing value capture…
Avy Punwasee, Managing Partner at Revenue Management Labs, was recently featured in Forbes for his perspective on why tariffs are ultimately a pricing challenge, not just a sourcing one. In the article, Avy explains how tariff costs get distributed across customers, suppliers, and the company itself, and why so many organizations struggle to respond with precision. You can read the full feature on Forbes here.
The feature makes a simple but important point: absorbing a cost increase is not the hard part. Deciding how that cost gets translated into price is. Here is a closer look at what that means for businesses navigating tariffs today.
Tariffs Force a Pricing Decision, Not Just a Procurement One
Most leadership teams respond to tariffs the same way: renegotiate with suppliers, look for alternative sourcing, adjust logistics. Those steps help, but they sidestep the real question. Someone has to absorb the cost, whether that is the customer through higher prices, the supplier through renegotiated terms, or the company through thinner margins. Deciding how that burden gets split is a pricing decision, and for many organizations it exposes just how underdeveloped that capability really is.
Most Companies Lack Visibility Into Where They Are Exposed
When tariffs hit, companies suddenly need to answer questions they are not set up to answer: which products are most exposed, which customers are buying them, and where the business actually holds pricing power. With components sourced across multiple countries and production spread across regions, getting a clear, granular answer is rarely quick. Without that visibility, many default to broad, blanket price increases rather than targeted ones, which means some products end up overpriced relative to their real cost exposure while others stay underpriced.
Responding Strategically Means Rebalancing the Whole Offering, Not Just the Price Tag
Rather than pushing the entire cost increase into list price, the more resilient response spreads value capture across the broader commercial model. That can mean adjusting service contracts, software add-ons, distributor terms, or channel incentives. It can also mean shifting commercial focus toward the customers, products, and geographies where pricing power is strongest. The goal is not just to recover a cost. It is to use the disruption as a chance to rethink where and how the business captures value across everything it sells.
Leverage Our Expertise to Navigate Tariffs
As highlighted in the Forbes article, the companies that come out ahead are not necessarily the ones with the lowest costs or the most diversified supply chains. They are the ones with the pricing capability to translate cost pressure into disciplined, targeted decisions. Revenue Management Labs helps businesses build that capability, from assessing tariff exposure to redesigning pricing across the full commercial offering.
