You just can’t beat Dilbert for describing certain aspects of the business world, including what happens when you don’t coordinate pricing and product development.
Monthly Archives: March 2006
GM to Stay the Course on Pricing
Despite lowered sales, GM vowed to continue its efforts to offer MSRP figures close to what customers will actually pay. GM is trying to break a strong addiction to big incentives that have eroded profits and brand image, and made … Read More
Pricing Fixing Fallout: Samsung Execs to Jail
Three executives from Samsung pleaded guilty to price fixing in the memory chip market. The execs will serve 7-8 months in jail and pay fines of $250,000 each. (Samsung earlier agreed to a $300M fine.) There’s nothing like a little … Read More
Airlines Try Legroom Surcharges, Price Obfuscation
USA Today had a couple of pieces this week about airlines charging $15-$30 extra for coach seats with more leg room, and their attempts to make price comparisons harder by publishing low fares that do not include certain surcharges. The … Read More
4 Strategies for Making Concessions
There’s a good article in the Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge newsletter about using concessions effectively that everyone involved in setting, managing, or enforcing discounts should read. Author Deepak Malhotra provides four strategies for making concessions. Label your concessions– make … Read More
Struggling Tivo Revamps Pricing
Digital Video Recorder (DVR) pioneer Tivo has altered its pricing strategy amidst slowing subscriber growth. The main change is that there will be no charge for the “box” which previously cost up to several hundred dollars (but was usually much … Read More
Pricing Dispute Hurts Lear Results
A customer pricing dispute increased auto-part supplier Lear’s 2005 loss by $6M, the company reported today. According the Lear, the customer made a unilateral “pricing adjustment,” withholding payment on parts ordered for a product line that is no longer in … Read More
Overcaution Stalled New Sun Pricing Strategy
Sun CEO Scott McNealy said that overly cautious managers delayed the release of a new pricing strategy based solely on the customer’s number of employees. McNealy said that Sun was too late with certain products to compete head-to-head with IBM … Read More