Bowman's Strategy Clock
Bowman's Strategy Clock maps eight ways to compete on price and perceived value, so you can name the position you actually hold - and see which moves are open to you.
Eight positions ring the clock, from cheap-and-cheerful round to premium and the doomed zone.
Reach for this when…
- A competitor has just cut prices and you are deciding whether to follow.
- Your team cannot agree whether you are the premium option or the cheap one.
- You are entering a market and need to pick a slot you can defend.
How to run it
- Plot every serious rival by price and by perceived value - what customers believe they get, not what it costs you.
- Mark where you sit today. Honestly, not where you wish you were.
- Name the position you want. Positions 6 to 8 sit where price outruns perceived value - they only hold without real competition.
- Pick the one move that shifts you there, and the price and value change it needs.
A worked example
Situation. Sofia Almeida's boutique hotel group in Lisbon, Portugal, was being squeezed by a budget chain opening across the city.
Applied. On the clock it was sliding toward position 8, standard price for thinning value, the weakest slot on the board.
Result. She chose position 4, differentiation: held the room rate, leaned into local design and personal service. The regulars kept booking.
The catch
Perceived value is a judgement, and two honest people will plot the same firm differently. The clock is a snapshot, not a forecast - it says nothing about how fast a position erodes. It starts the argument well; it does not settle it.
If you cannot say your position out loud in one sentence, you do not have one yet.
Origin: Cliff Bowman and David Faulkner