Archives posted in: Pricing

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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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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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Hawk-Dove Pricing: Avoiding a Price War

By Curry W. Hilton December 3, 2012

The ever-so-dreaded prisoner’s dilemma outcome achieved in most pricing wars can be avoided in some instances by applying games of coexistence. In particular, the Hawk-Dove game offers a unique result that fosters mutual benefit and healthy market competition. The value contributed by the Hawk-Dove model involves understanding the cost of waging a price war, the potential strategy-dependent profit realized, and the managerial security expressed.

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Information Is Currency

By Spider Lockhart December 3, 2012

“Sellers don’t control their product, quality, marketing, customers, competitors, or pricing. What they do control is, what they know, and how and when to apply what they know.“ Read a controversial approach to sales and price quoting from Spider Lockhart and ask yourself: when should prices be transparent and when should they stay opaque?

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Promotional Pricing…click click boom

By Curry W. Hilton November 1, 2012

After engaging in a brief conversation on “promotional pricing” with a business operations executive at a global manufacturer in consumer goods industry, I was inspired to address some misconceptions discussed and provide further insight on how firms in the B2B space implement profit-enhancing promotional pricing tactics.  First of all, promotional pricing should be viewed as a means to price segment according to consumers’ willingness to pay, not as a pure promotional strategy.  Case in point, consider Remington Arm’s Promotion of Nitro-Steel Load.

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Best practice for starting Strategic Pricing

By Steve Wilkins November 1, 2012

Declining profit margins are forcing companies to find new ways to improve profitability. Most companies have been through the cost cutting and strategic procurement processes and are now looking for the next level to pull. Strategic pricing is starting to become more popular as more senior executive have begun to leverage the power of pricing.

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Avoiding Price Wars

By Curry W. Hilton September 4, 2012

The negative impact on industry profit due to price compression from firms engaging in price wars can possibly be avoided by a better understanding of strategic games. Observing competing firm’s historical behavior and current price announcements offers valuable indications of future actions. Modeling such strategies in a game theoretical scope allows for more informed pricing decisions and possible profit saving maneuvers.

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The Importance of Negotiating Power in Pricing: The Principled Negotiation Approach

By Curry W. Hilton August 1, 2012

The national bestseller, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (2), by Roger Fisher and William Ury offers a unique applied approach to understanding how to reach a “wise” agreement. According to Fisher and Ury, a wise agreement improves both parties relationship by offering a fair and lasting solution

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Setting the Price in the Face of Competitive Substitutes – An Economics Approach

By Curry W. Hilton August 1, 2012

Economic consumer theory represents how a demander allocates consumption behavior between two goods to maximize utility under constraints such as prices, time, and income. Consumer theory rests on the simple foundation that individuals are utility maximizing entities with the driven purpose to make tradeoffs depending on preferences and constraints. In this article, Curry Hilton examines price behavior for two substitutable goods.

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Best Buy & J.C. Penney: Strategically Confronting Dislocation and Price Pressures with Relevancy

By Tim J. Smith, PhD June 1, 2012

Declining profits and hammered by investors, Best Buy and J.C. Penney are having a tough go. Some seem to believe traditional brick and mortar retailers are circling the drain as US consumers switch to online channels. But take a deeper look, and you will find that both show promise.

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