Posts by: Tim J. Smith, PhD

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Apple Takes a Beating — What Did You Expect?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 4, 2013

Apple has had a beating both in the market and the press lately. Despite record quarterly profit, they lost their number-one stock spot to Exxon Mobil. By some prognostications, Samsung is rising in the smartphone market, and Huawei is taking a stronger foothold on the price-sensitive emerging-market field, while Apple is stumbling. Well, for those who failed to sell Apple at above $700 prices and now see it below $450, what did you expect?

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Economic Price Optimization with Globally Linear Demand — Both Useful and Useless

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 4, 2013

Economic price optimization has a lot to tell us, but not necessarily the price which optimizes the firm’s profits. Economic price optimization relies on a defined demand curve. Unfortunately, defining the demand curve with sufficient precision and reliability for decision making can be done for only a subset of challenges. So if this method is not useful for pricing in many cases, what use is it?

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Top 6 – January 2013

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 7, 2013

“We’re looking to make progress quickly, either fail fast or succeed fast.” Daniel Hullah, Venture Capitalist Most businesses fail, but some succeed…

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What Are Firmographics?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 7, 2013

Firmographics are descriptive attributes of firms that can be used to aggregate individual firms into meaningful market segments. In an analogy, firmographics are to businesses and organizations what demographics are to people. Firmographics describe businesses, non-profits, and governmental entities.

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Top 6 – December 2012

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 3, 2012

Somewhere between blunt and precise lies communication. Go too far in either direction and you lose them. When sales people manage information…

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Lufthansa Systems Goes to Market with iPad In-flight Entertainment Systems: EVM Case Study

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 3, 2012

Thales SA and Panasonic Corp. have recently begun marketing Wi-Fi-enabled iPad in-flight entertainment systems alongside traditional wired and seatback entertainment systems. Does handing out iPads to passengers and going Wi-Fi make sense for other airlines or is this a frivolous luxury for the elite that commoners will never see? A modeling of the Exchange Value can determine.

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Top 6 – November 2012

By Tim J. Smith, PhD November 1, 2012

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all…

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Mark Hurd’s 5 Sales-Force Design Principles

By Tim J. Smith, PhD November 1, 2012

As Mark Hurd, co-president of Oracle re-emerges on the public stage, we see him once again focusing on the sales force.  Within Oracle’s sales force, he has changed job descriptions, reporting structures, compensation plans, staff size, and corporate routines in a stated effort to improve revenue and profits.  But what principles guide his sales-force design?  Is he a sales-force master architect or a tinkerer that will destroy Oracle’s revenue?

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Top 6 – October 2012

By Tim J. Smith, PhD October 3, 2012

Fine. Life sucks and then you die. Get over it. Be happy. Do your work. Any executive can blame a bad market…

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A Case Study on Sears versus Target and Divergent Responses – Blame the Market Environment or Command Your Performance

By Tim J. Smith, PhD October 3, 2012

Charting a winning corporate strategy is rarely an easy task, and 2012 has been particularly difficult for executive decision-making. Yet difficult times do not get executives off the hook for poor performance. A case in point: Sears is floundering while Target is advancing. What is driving the significant divergence in performance between these two competitors? Is a role reversal possible in the next 18 months?

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About The Author

timjsmith
Tim J. Smith, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Wiglaf Pricing, an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Economics at DePaul University, and the author of Pricing Done Right (Wiley 2016) and Pricing Strategy (Cengage 2012). At Wiglaf Pricing, Tim leads client engagements. Smith’s popular business book, Pricing Done Right: The Pricing Framework Proven Successful by the World’s Most Profitable Companies, was noted by Dennis Stone, CEO of Overhead Door Corp, as "Essential reading… While many books cover the concepts of pricing, Pricing Done Right goes the additional step of applying the concepts in the real world." Tim’s textbook, Pricing Strategy: Setting Price Levels, Managing Price Discounts, & Establishing Price Structures, has been described by independent reviewers as “the most comprehensive pricing strategy book” on the market. As well as serving as the Academic Advisor to the Professional Pricing Society’s Certified Pricing Professional program, Tim is a member of the American Marketing Association and American Physical Society. He holds a BS in Physics and Chemistry from Southern Methodist University, a BA in Mathematics from Southern Methodist University, a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Chicago, and an MBA with high honors in Strategy and Marketing from the University of Chicago GSB.