Posts by: Tim J. Smith, PhD

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Winning in Russian Roulette Type Negotiations
Managing Pricing Opacity in Business Markets

By Tim J. Smith, PhD March 1, 2009

Templeton would go into the customer’s negotiating room with a metaphorical gun on the table. Customers would force him to place the gun against his head and ask him to drop prices or pull the trigger. Templeton didn’t know if the gun was loaded or not. For four years, Templeton managed this challenge, and the bullet never fired. Templeton’s method of managing this struggle over prices reveals a key to pricing in opaque business markets.

(True story account.)

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Top 6 – March 2009

By Tim J. Smith, PhD March 1, 2009

The Leprechauns are Coming … Spring FORWARD. “Short term gains can destroy long-term goals.  Evaluate the risks of price manipulation prior to…

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Pilgrim’s Pride: Failure to Communicate

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 1, 2009

Price signaling is always a touchy subject. Managed right, it can improve profits and avoid any negative legal or ethical implications. Managed poorly, it can either be a missed opportunity to correct poor pricing practices or create a legal nightmare. Fortunately, there are both business case studies and legal precedence to guide executives and chairpersons through this challenge. If we read the signals right, Tyson Food is attempting to communicate in a legal and ethical manner, but there appears to be a failure to listen by Pilgrim’s Pride.

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Are you trustworthy?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 1, 2009

Do you act authentically for your brand? Honestly…sincerely? And importantly, does what you do instill consumer confidence?

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Top 6 – February 2009

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 1, 2009

Ah February, Augustus and Julius liked it so much they took some for themselves. Možná ne. “Wisdom is knowing which action to…

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Top 6 – January 2009

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 6, 2009

A Black Eyed Pea for Each Day of the Year … Trickle down economics may be doubtful, but trickle down empathy isn’t.…

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Special Guest Author Angela Hribar, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of GlobalSpec, Inc.

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 4, 2009

For many companies, 2008 has been a challenging year. The new realities of our current market and economy have impacted many sectors, and even more expect to feel the effects in 2009. This makes it even more important than ever to plan smarter, more effective ways to market to industrial and technical buyers in the year ahead. Based on research into market trends, here are strategic recommendations to achieve marketing success in 2009. All of these recommendations have something in common: better decision making when it comes to marketing choices.

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Six Months Later Pilgrim’s Pride Still Has Pricing Problems – What Went Wrong?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 4, 2009

Pilgrim’s Pride rose from humble beginnings as a feed store to become the world’s leading chicken supplier. Yet, 2008 proved to be a year of stumbles, eventually leading to bankruptcy filings and the ousting of CEO J. Clinton Rivers. Business press cites a rise in the cost of chicken feed and oil and the lack of a concurrent increase in price, however many other companies went through similar fluctuations in input costs without the same disastrous results. So, what went wrong with pricing at Pilgrim’s Pride? To answer this question, we will examine Pilgrim’s Pride pricing at the industry level, market level, and transaction level.

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OPEC Loss is Grocers’ Gain: Precima National Survey Shows Grocery Store Is Most Likely Place for Americans to Spend Savings from the Pump

By Tim J. Smith, PhD January 3, 2009

Groceries are the top item on which U.S. consumers are spending their savings from lower gas prices, ahead of putting the money in savings, holiday gift buying and paying off credit cards, according to the results of nationwide research from retail analytics firm Precima.

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Learning from Berkshire Hathaway Part 2

By Tim J. Smith, PhD December 2, 2008

The Marketer’s Eye™ looks at mortgages, railroads and Carnival Another in a series of white papers for M&A Professionals In this white…

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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.