The High Road: Premium Category, High RMS
When a brand leads the market in a premium category, we call it a high-road brand. High-road brands generally earn more than 20% ROS. The keys to success in this quadrant are innovation, innovation, and innovation. Consumers of high-road brands tend to be loyal and willing to pay premium prices. In return, they continually demand improvements and changes—in form, size, and function—that deliver real value.
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The Low Road: Value Category, High RMS
When a brand competes in a value category and has a high RMS, we call it a low-road brand. Most low-road brands do not realize significant profits as a result of their price premiums; they earn an average ROS of only 5% to 10%. That’s because many low-road price premiums reflect bloated cost structures, not differentiated or more valuable products. In this quadrant, then, the primary goal should be cutting costs and plowing back the savings into lower prices.
https://hbr.org/1997/05/your-brands-best-strategy


Is there an alternative to wage- and benefit-cutting in the face of the heightened competitive pressure created by globalization? In this paper we explore the possibility that even in a more globalized economy, there may be alternative paths to successful performance in the international economy--a “low road” that emphasizes cost-cutting, conflictual labor relations and a narrow set of social programs, and a “high road” that requires rapid productivity growth and innovation based on cooperative labor relations and generally stronger and more centralized labor unions, high quality production and higher wages, as well as greater state-supported social protection.3

3
The high road/low road terminology is borrowed from Gordon (1996), but the distinction is common in the industrial relations literature. Soskice (1990) distinguishes the strategies of “cost cutting” and “value added”, Visser (1996) contrasts the “quality scenario” and the “efficiency scenario”, and Harrison (1994) refers to the low road as the “low-level equilibrium trap.”
https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers...

High Road-Low Road, revisited: New life in value categories
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http://www.bain.com/Images/BB_high_road_low_road_revisited.p...

Le haut de gamme

Stylo Parket Sonnet noirA ne pas confondre avec le « luxe » qui viendra après. Le haut de gamme se caractérise par des prix supérieurs et par de la qualité. Pas forcément stratosphériques les prix, mais plus élevés que le « moyen de gamme » évidemment. Je dirai même qu’il doit être plus élevé. On juge aussi un produit à son prix.

Il s’appuie sur un avantage concurrentiel fort : une innovation significative, un degré d’exigence élevé dans le service, un produit plus solide, mieux fini, mieux pensé, plus sain… En clair il donne une bonne raison au consommateur de payer plus cher.

Le bas de gamme

Le stylo pompier... ça écrit !Le produit ou service bas de gamme c’est avant tout une qualité basse et un prix faible. C’est le truc d’appoint, pas construit pour durer, pas fait pour être performant mais là pour dépanner.

Vous savez, c’est le parapluie que vous achetez vite fait parce qu’un orage monstre éclate alors que vous allez à un rendez-vous important. Un pépin à 2,99 €, noir, fragile et qui vous fera la journée maximum.
http://www.yvesbonis.fr/2012/03/choisir-clairement-son-nivea...

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Note added at 3 days11 hrs (2016-04-19 09:01:08 GMT)
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http://www.bain.com/Images/EBF_Route_brands_best_strategy.pd...