Archives posted in: Pricing

Strategic Consulting as Detective and Diplomat

By Kyle T. Westra July 19, 2017

“Strategy consultant” is a job title that is can mean everything and nothing. It’s no surprise that people have trouble understanding what skills are necessary for a strategy consultant, let alone what the role even normally entails.

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The Right Personality For The Right Negotiation

By Pravin Vemuri July 19, 2017

Negotiations are no different, although not as dramatic and not as much a matter of life or death. Not surprisingly, on occasion, they devolve into a hypercompetitive, personality-driven blood sport

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Strategic Movements: July 2017

By Tim J. Smith, PhD July 19, 2017

What will Gillette do? As a starter, they cut prices by 12%. Good for consumers (and society overall), bad for investors. Competition’s role is to drive prices down and quality up. This is part of the reason private capitalism is better than state-controlled enterprise.

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Sales, Marketing, Finance and Pricing in Price Management

By Tim J. Smith, PhD June 16, 2017

Our own research—that of Homburg, Jensen, and Hahn—as well as research by Hinterhuber and still other works by Liozu, repeatedly indicated firms that engage sales, marketing finance, and pricing leaders in pricing decisions outperform those that don’t. At this point, we may even call this settled managerial science.

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Strategic Movements: May 2017

By Tim J. Smith, PhD May 16, 2017

Let me get this right: Grainger’s “pricing action” was to lower prices. The result was higher volumes and lower gross profits.  The aim was a clear market share take. And CEO Donald Macpherson is happy with the result?

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Strategic Movements: April 2017

By Tim J. Smith, PhD April 12, 2017

What can sales managers do to reduce the risk of account loss? According to their research, putting top salespeople on the account doesn’t do the trick at all. Rather, putting a person familiar with the account’s industry on it, even if their past sales performance is average or even below average, can almost eliminate the risk of account loss.

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Collaborative and Dynamic Pricing for Product Manufacturers

By Tim J. Smith, PhD March 8, 2017

Treating pricing as a verb, not a noun, applies pressure to the management of pricing decision making.  But who makes pricing decisions? …

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Pricing in the Life Sciences

By Kyle T. Westra March 8, 2017

What is the value a consumer may place on a new drug that softens or even eliminates an otherwise terminal condition? Nearly limitless. That isn’t to say that prices therefore can or should be limitless, but it does underline the fact that price is determined by the value to the consumer, not the cost to the producer.

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Strategic Movements: March 2017

By Tim J. Smith, PhD March 8, 2017

Verizon engages in a price war surrounding unlimited mobile data plans. Though it hurts to lose revenue as a business, it’s great to have competition as a customer. This is all a suspected response to T-Mobile and Sprint impact on market share, and pricing approach of AT&T.

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Is Pricing a CEO Level Issue?

By Tim J. Smith, PhD February 7, 2017

CEO’s are responsible for organizing productive operations, and ultimately generating revenue. When it comes to their pricing responsibility, CEO’s manage pricing decisions by defining the culture, structure, and routines necessary for producing sound decisions that align with their strategy.

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