Make margin visible where it is made. Most management reporting shows margin in aggregate — by business, perhaps by region. Value is created and destroyed at a much finer level: by product, customer, site, channel and transaction. Until leaders can see margin at that level, they are managing an average and missing the distribution.

Assign ownership to every pricing decision. Discounts, terms, exceptions and renewals are often granted by people who do not see their cumulative effect. Clear pricing authority, documented exception rules and visibility of the outcome change behaviour faster than any training programme.

Separate structural from tactical causes. Some erosion reflects genuine shifts in input costs or competitive pressure and requires a strategic response. Much of it reflects habit and inattention. Distinguishing the two prevents the common mistake of launching a strategic repricing to solve a discipline problem.

Build the review that holds the gains. Pricing discipline decays without a cadence: a monthly review of margin by segment, exceptions and their owners, and the small number of decisions that will move the number next month.

Margin, in other words, is not an outcome that happens to a business. It is the sum of decisions the business chooses to manage — or chooses not to.