Top 6 – March 2008
Published March 1, 2008
Beyond St’ Patty’s Day Luck is A Ram’s Charge
- Before considering penetration pricing, find a compelling downstream reason. For new-technology launches such as Blu-ray, network externalities were to deliver disproportionate rewards for early market share gains.
- Big wins require risks. Hedging is the safety net for incremental improvement.
- Be dutifully optimistic, even in a recessions. Progress takes work. Downhill slides are easy.
- Make email and snail mail effective: Who is the audience? How will you get their attention? What should they learn? What do you expect them to do with that knowledge?
- When the playing field looks evenly matched, change the field. Sony leverage an outside asset (PS3) to reposition the war (Blu-ray wins).
- Cortes scuttled his ships to close the retreat. A path calculated and consciously chosen should be pursued without the creeping doubts of turning back.
About The Author
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.