Monthly Archives: October 2005

SD Hospitals to Post Pricing for Procedures

In a small move that could have big consequences for healthcare pricing, South Dakota passed a law requiring hospitals to post pricing for their 25 most common procedures to a state website. The hospital must perform at least 10 of … Read More

Inflation in Food, Energy, Materials

Inflation is creeping up for manufacturers, according to this report on Purchasing.com. This may be good news for industry, as it indicates some degree of pricing power. On the consumer side, core inflation is very low (0.1% in September), but … Read More

Why Pricing Belongs in the Executive Suite

There’s a new newsletter out, talking about why pricing belongs in the executive suite, and how executives should handle pricing matters. I’d love to hear your comments…

SAP Offers Discounts to Siebel Customers

German software giant SAP is offering deep discounts to customers currently running customer relationship management (CRM) software from rival Siebel, following Oracle’s acqusition of Siebel. The move offers companies a way to migrate to SAP with up to 75% of … Read More

Samsung to Pay $300M Pricing-Fixing Fine

Samsung agreed to a $300M fine for price fixing in the DRAM market. “Competitors” Hynix and Infineon have already paid almost $350M in related fines between them. From a cynical perspective, this fines probably pale in comparison to the extra … Read More

Medicare Guide Has Pricing Error

A guide to changes in Medicare that the government is mailing to 42 million homes contains an important pricing error, the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday. The guide mistakenly suggests that people have access to a number of programs at no … Read More

Retailers Expect Tough Pricing Season

The New York Times (free registration required) posted Let the Price Wars Begin, noting that higher gas prices are cutting into the budgets of many shoppers. This has prompted retailers like Wal-Mart to price aggressively very early in the “holiday” … Read More

Employee Pricing Superlatives Turn to Expletives

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here, but it’s such an expensive dead horse that it deserves another post. Yes, GM and Ford announced sharp reductions in year-on-year September sales, canceling out gains from the Employee Pricing Programs … Read More