Posts by: Tim J. Smith, PhD

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Broadway for 2 at $700? Dynamic Pricing Keeps Expanding

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 7, 2011

$700 is the price a couple would pay for the best seats to see Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway this month.  With a runaway hit, producers have raised prices several times.  Orchestra seats that were priced at $155 are now priced at $175.  Premium seats that were priced at $250 are now priced in the range of $275 to $350, depending upon demand for specific performances.  Their decision to use dynamic pricing has placed Hugh Jackman’s essentially one-man-show in the top earner position on Broadway with roughly $1.5 million in ticket sales for the week ending November 20th, 2011.

With pricing success like this, one can suspect that more executives may benefit from considering the value of dynamic pricing.

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Top 6 – December 2011

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 7, 2011

To Marek Matějka, herec, dobrý muž, i camarad, I will miss our zábavný večer. 2 October 1974 – 25 November 2011 Not…

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Top 6 – November 2011

By Tim J. Smith, PhD November 3, 2011

“The only profit center is the customer” Peter Drucker Corporations are psychopaths? Pricing errors, specifically price communication errors, are deadly for career…

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Occupy Movement and the Existential Purpose of a Firm

By Tim J. Smith, PhD November 3, 2011

Why do firms exist? Why should society allow corporations to exist? What moral reason should we, as a society, allow firms to exist? At the most fundamental level, the Occupy movement is asking this question. Shouldn’t we be addressing this?

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Sales vs. Pricing and Strategic Accounts

By Tim J. Smith, PhD October 6, 2011

Salespeople abuse discounts. Pricing is the sales destruction department. Well, which group is right and must they keep fighting? In this article, we explore the role of price segmentation in strategic account selling.

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Top 6 – October 2011

By Tim J. Smith, PhD October 6, 2011

In America, we teach our kids how markets work at a very early age. It’s called Halloween. Pricing vs. Sales – “Can…

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Groupon – Show Me the Money.

By Tim J. Smith, PhD September 8, 2011

Groupon has shown the world a new way to do coupon promotions, but is it any better than traditional couponing? In this article, provide an academically proven and industry best-practice approach for evaluating coupon promotions, be it Groupon or any other type of couponing.

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Top 6 – September 2011

By Tim J. Smith, PhD September 8, 2011

“Find the problem that other people have ignored.” Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit Inc. August 18, 2001, WSJ. A good idea needs…

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Top 6 – August 2011

By Tim J. Smith, PhD August 11, 2011

Summer Heat Beats Play Ball! If only ticket sellers would! The boys of summer shop ‘til they drop Mother knows best! And…

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Developing Nations: Pure Price Buyers or Not?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD August 11, 2011

Last year, a Malaysian executive told me that she must compete on price because Malaysians only buy on price. This year, an Indian executive told me that he only sells commodities because that’s what his nation buys. On both occasions, I countered with a strong push to find ways of meeting their customer’s needs better to reduce downward price pressures associated with selling commodities.

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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.