Archives

unsplash default post photo-350px

Kenichi Ohmae and Pricing Strategy

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 7, 2014

In his classic 1982 text “The Mind of the Strategist”, Kenichi Ohmae fathered the 3 C’s model of corporate strategy. What can a veteran strategy book tell us about contemporary pricing strategy? Surprisingly, quite a lot.

More
unsplash default post photo-350px

The One That Got Away: Nokia and Blackberry Lose a Market

By James T. Berger January 7, 2014

On 1 January 2014, 12 states raised their minimum wages, making 21 states in total that have a minimum wage above the federal rate. What is the effect of this increase in minimum wage rates on pricing?

More
unsplash default post photo-350px

Minimum Wage Laws and Pricing: Are They Connected?

By Mary DeBoni January 7, 2014

On 1 January 2014, 12 states raised their minimum wages, making 21 states in total that have a minimum wage above the federal rate. What is the effect of this increase in minimum wage rates on pricing?

More
unsplash default post photo-350px

Customer Segmentation by Purchasing Process and Strategy Part One

By Pravin Vemuri and Anirban Sengupta January 7, 2014

“You cannot sell on value to everyone. We realized this hard fact of life after a draining annual negotiation with a major Chinese OEM (let’s name them Firm X). At the negotiation we were fighting for multiple lines of businesses.” So what can you do? A closer look at B2B price segmentation on buying behavior.

More

Top 6 – December 2013

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 27, 2013

Desperation to Euphoria in two letters: Aaaahhh, Aah. Ah. … Aha! Strategic success in business develops from differentiation. For some business activities,…

More
unsplash default post photo-350px

McDonald’s Story Shows Why Branding is Crucially Important in Product Development

By James T. Berger December 3, 2013

Ray Kroc was over 50 years old when he developed the McDonald’s fast-food concept and when he died, he was personally worth around a half-billion dollars. But his success might be traced to a crucial decision he made about branding.

More
unsplash default post photo-350px

Equifinality and Organizational Design for Improving Pricing Decisions

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 3, 2013

What decisions should the pricing function be making? Where should a corporation position the pricing function? How should the pricing function be structured? We have been asking this question for past two decades but still don’t have a definitive answer nor a standard template. Why? What is so odd about pricing decisions that makes organizational design choices regarding the pricing function difficult?

More
unsplash default post photo-350px

Product/Service Rationalization in Large Enterprises

By Kamesh Chelluri December 3, 2013

In “Marketing Malpractice”, Clayton Christensen noted that 90% of consumer products launched annually fail. While several factors can be attributed to the failures, the fundamental reason continues to be the inability to satisfy consumers’ needs profitably. In this article, we provide a comprehensive approach that would enable organizations to sustain profitable products and retire the unprofitable ones.

More

Top 6 – November 2013

By Tim J. Smith, PhD November 4, 2013

Tragedy to laughter in one word (read aloud with increasing speed): Yuck. Yuck yuck. …. Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck…

More
unsplash default post photo-350px

Pricing for Consumption Economics

By Tim J. Smith, PhD November 4, 2013

SaaS, DaaS, IaaS, and other “X-as-a-Service” business models are proven market disruptors in information technology industries. Executives at enterprise IT solution providers are creating, adapting, or adjusting to competitors’ XaaS business models. But successfully implementing an XaaS business model requires a new approach to both pricing and revenue capture for IT services. What is that new approach?

More