BUS-M 574 Pricing Management

• 7 weeks
• 1.5 credits

The first part of the pricing course examines conceptual and analytical issues in buyer price sensitivity. Knowledge of buyer price sensitive must underlie every pricing decision. We will learn a variety of techniques for measuring buyer price sensitivity and use this knowledge to drive pricing decisions. The second portion of the pricing course examines approaches how firms can improve performance through realizing higher prices. Gaining pricing power is of paramount importance to most marketers as rising raw material costs and enhanced competitive pressures are placing tremendous pressure on gross margins. We will establish when conditions are favorable for greater price realization and learn techniques for raising prices that do not alienate the customer (too much). The third component of the pricing course examines approaches that enable firms to build their performance through lower prices. In many situations, lower prices are effective tools for increasing sales, revenue, and share. Plus, lower prices can create barriers to entry in markets and build customer loyalty. However, price reductions are the most abused practice in pricing and can devastate a firm’s Value Proposition, segmentation effort, and profitability if not handled correctly. Analytical tools are offered to help you assess and manage the price reduction process. The fourth component of the pricing class pertains to setting prices for new products. Because historical data does not exist for new products, different approaches must be employed. We will discuss several practical approaches for setting prices for new products, including Value-based pricing. Value-based pricing argues that customers who value our products more should pay more than customers who value our products less. The issues in value-based pricing are twofold: 1) how to assess customer value and 2) how to link value to price. An analytical value-based tool will be employed in class to help us pursue a value-based pricing approach. The pricing knowledge and tools you will gain from the class are applicable to both B2C and B2B contexts. Channel issues complicate the pricing picture but we will gain some insights on how to price throughout the channel.