Pricing and Value

Price management is a direct driver of companies’ economic performance. Many managers see it as the most important among marketing instruments. The pricing process comprises a variety of activities (such as defining a pricing strategy or calculating individual prices) and employs a set of tools and levers that need to be used in a coordinated manner.

The course consists of nine chapters with the following themes:

1. The price challenge
2. Characteristics of price management
3. Price analysis
4. Defining price strategy
5. Calculating prices
6. Price implementation
7. Price performance management

Pricing is essential for a company's profitability and its long term performance! 

Among the four elements of the marketing mix, pricing holds a special position. It is the moment of truth: when a company has innovated, developed a new product, set up distribution channels, created a brand - all of which causes cost, but without producing direct revenue - pricing decisions must ensure that a company can cover its costs plus generate profitability.

Outstanding examples of successful companies, such as Apple or Amazon, show how important pricing strategies and tactics are for the performance on the market.

The course defines the scope and challenge of price management (what needs to be done?), discusses customers’ price behaviours (price search, price evaluation, reactions to prices etc.), presents fundamental analyses in the field of pricing that are required to take the right decisions, discusses what managerial activities an active approach to price management requires, and focuses upon various strategic issues related to pricing implementation. The course provides many practical examples.

Importantly, it focuses strongly on the concept of “value” both from a firm and from a customer perspective, since setting prices is not possible without a thorough understanding of value perceptions on markets.

This Course aims at:

1. Communicating fundamental concepts in pricing, such as payment, value, price behaviour, price instruments, and pricing objectives.
2. Explaining the necessary steps in order to achieve a coordinated price management concept.

In presenza

Presence teaching, discussion of examples, group work

The examination will be in form of a written exam at the end of the course as well as an in-class group work.
The exam will cover slides and readings. 

The in-class group work consists of developing a group presentation.
In the overall credit for the course the weight of the final exam is 60% and the in-class work 40%.

References

To be communicated in class