Framing in business is frequently found in the digital economy with dramatic and innovative new products and disruptive value propositions. However, framing in business is not an exclusively digital economic strategy. Creating or revising frames of reference, value propositions, and pricing based on either new or newly framed offerings is a basic strategy skill that brings new differential value creation to customers and new price-setting models to firms. In this article, I define framing and explain its influence on managerial cognition as well as its application to value-based marketing and price setting. Using economic value theory and behavioral economics, I propose steps managers and decision makers can take in an effort to achieve framing innovation as a way to leverage the disruptive competitive advantages that flow from strategic frames of reference in the marketplace.

The internet has empowered consumers and changed the way they search and shop for products and services by increasing the availability and transparency of pricing and other comparative information. However, what is less clear from a managerial perspective is just how transparent pricing information should be. While it might seem that increasing price transparency would reduce consumer search, we find that it may actually increase search and delay. In this article, we review the use of firms’ application of price transparency in practice and propose that specific types of information can influence how transparent prices are to consumers, and how such transparency can influence consumer decisions in a way that is beneficial for the firm. We focus on a specific form of transparency: whether or not the consumer knows the range of pricing. We also discuss whether a high variability pricing approach versus a low variability pricing approach influences consumer decision making—and whether this influence is moderated by transparency.

Dynamic pricing has been utilized in a variety of contexts to frequently change prices with changes in demand or supply conditions, or to stimulate short-term demand. Its use historically has been limited due to the menu costs of changing price. However, advances in data-driven price modeling and Internet pricing capabilities have dramatically reduced these barriers and expanded the accessibility of dynamic pricing to marketers. While dynamic pricing offers the potential to increase firm profitability, it also increases buyer uncertainty about what they should be willing to pay, and when they should purchase. Research has found that consumers are often confused by dynamic pricing strategies (e.g., Cary 2004, Wirtz and Kimes 2007), perceive dynamic pricing to be unfair (Haws and Bearden 2006, Huang, Chang and Chen 2005, Kimes 2002), and generally do not understand these pricing approaches (Cary 2004). Previous consumer research has focused on the impact of dynamic pricing on various perceptual dimensions, such as price fairness, purchase satisfaction (Haws and Bearden 2006), price unfairness, perceived trust and (re)purchase intentions (Lee and Monroe 2008).

A key issue for managers is how to drive gross profit growth, that is, how to leverage gross margins to grow gross profits, and how to strategically manage gross profit and gross margins. Most managers and academicians assume that gross profit is merely an accounting artifact — revenue minus operating costs. In fact, it is much more than that: driving gross profit has strategic implications with respect to the firm’s ability to leverage profit growth as well as the firm’s perceived ability to compete favorably against its competitors — its perceived competitive advantage.

While traditional charitable organizations have limited service attributes, others can be classified as “charitable hybrids” in that they are service organizations that supplement revenue by soliciting donations from patrons. Community theatres, museums, youth organizations, and universities are several examples. As such, these organizations are in the unique position of having to balance service strategy with a charitable mission. The intent of this paper is to develop and test an integrated model of donor intent for these hybrid organizations. Two classes of effects on intent to give to a hybrid charitable organization are studied: services-related effects (quality, value, satisfaction), and “philanthropic” effects (organizational identity, perceived need, and philanthropic predisposition). The results of a LISREL model support the conceptualization and indicate that both types of effects have significant influence on donors– intentions to give, consistent with the services and charitable giving literatures. However, in charitable giving contexts, organizational identification appears to fill a central role in influencing decision outcomes, which diminishes the role of satisfaction.

The predominant view of positioning in both the literature and practice – a remarkably uni- or two-dimensional view – asks these questions: (1) What dimension should the product or service be positioned on, for example, unique styling, design, performance, and quality? (2) What category does the product or service compete in or belong to? So marketers therefore ask: Should the computer brand be positioned as reliable (Dell), or faster (Toshiba)? Research on economic value is well established in the pricing literature, especially in business-to-business pricing. Most of this literature focuses on differentiation value, that is, how to calculate the worth of the differential benefits a customer receives from using the firm's product versus the competitive substitute. But a much less studied area of this research deals with the price of the competitive reference product, or competitive frame of reference. Rarely do marketers extend positioning strategy to the level of economic value, asking: How is the product framed, and how valuable is the frame? The purpose of this chapter is to explore competitive frames of reference in business-to-business positioning. Specifically, what are alternative types of frames of reference? What is the role of the reference price in frames of reference? What are the implications of choosing one type of frame of reference versus another?

In this chapter, we follow the growth of the pricing discipline, especially through the ideas of one of the earliest of pricing's pioneers: Dan Nimer. The Nimer influence on pricing has been foundational, sewing seeds for the growth and development of various pricing fields and subfields – pricing objectives and pricing strategy, value-based pricing, costing and pricing, financial analysis of pricing, and price sensitivity. The ideas we present in this chapter originated largely with Nimer, many in his own voice. We interweave them with the ideas of other contributors to the pricing discipline to show the development of the field. Dan taught many foundational pricing concepts; they are captured in seminars and articles kept through the years. Founding pioneer to pricing, Nimer's influence will remain long into the new century as pricing enters a new phase as a strategic capability of the firm.

In terms of the life cycle, pricing certainly would be considered a young and emerging discipline, only a few decades old. Even marketing is only 50 years old as a business discipline; Jerome McCarthy of Michigan State University introduced the Four P's classification (product, promotion, price, and place-distribution) in 1960. Peter Drucker's influential The Practice of Management hailed the twentieth century as a “marketing revolution” in 1954, but mentions pricing fewer than a dozen times, even then only in passing.

List of Contributors. About the Editor. Foreword to Visionary Pricing. Introduction to Visionary Pricing. One on One, Pricing with Dan Nimer. The Founding Principles and Strategies of Pricing. Integrating Marketing and Operational Choices for Profit Growth. How Price Consulting is Coming of Age. Incorporating Competitive Strategy in Pricing Strategy. Emergent Pricing Strategy. Price and Customers' Perceptions of Value. Using Case ROI (TM) to Determine Customer and Segment Value in the Business-to-Business Environment. Legal Tools that Support Value Pricing. Understanding Value - Beyond Mere Metrics. Creating Value with Sales Promotion Strategies that Avoid Price Discounting. Pricing: From Good to World Class. Pricing Software: Ten Predictions for the Future. Capturing the Value of Pricing Analytics. Prepare your Pricing Operations for Change. About the Authors. Visionary Pricing: Reflections and Advances in Honor of Dan Nimer. Advances in Business Marketing & Purchasing. Advances in Business Marketing & Purchasing. Copyright page. On Dan Nimer.

Advances in technology, operations research, and data driven pricing and marketing are leading pricing strategy into new and untested waters – toward dynamic pricing, and variable pricing strategies, which ultimately require changes in how we view pricing strategy. The dominant view of pricing strategy is that pricing goals, objectives, and strategies should be formulated a priori, and should be consistent with marketing and corporate strategies – deliberate pricing strategy. This chapter argues that firms need to develop new strategic pricing skills that lead to more improvisational, innovative, or adaptive pricing strategies. I call this type of price strategy-making emergent pricing strategy. Innovative pricing strategies that the organization judges, or senses to be effective, are repeated, shared, expanded, and refined into successful pricing patterns that, over time and across situations, become pricing strategy. Thus, rather than specifically designing pricing strategy to achieve a goal, here the organization acts upon a price innovation that seems to make sense for this customer, this market segment, this setting, and this situation, then interprets the outcomes, signals, and reactions that seem to flow from the pricing action, and shares and encourages adoption and adaption by others in the organization. Emergent pricing strategy is particularly useful in unstable, turbulent, and complex product and market environments in which price-sensitive buyers wield significant power and influence.

Providing broad and deep coverage, this volume focuses on sensemaking, decisions, actions, and evaluating outcomes relating to managing business-to-business brands including both product and service brands. This book goes well beyond basic marketing textbooks to provide extensive reviews of relevant studies, original research reports, and in-depth implications for the following B2B brand management issues: Building a Strong B2B Brand; Building a Strong Brand to Resellers; B2B Brand Equity - Theory, Measurement, and Strategy; Effective Strategies for B2B Service Brands; Brand Meaning and its Impact in Subcontractor Contexts; Brand Image, Corporate Reputation, and Customer Value; Internal Branding Theory, Research, and Practice; and, Pricing Theory and Strategy Applications in B2B Brand Management. Collectively these chapters address most aspects of the marketing mix for business-to-business and industrial marketers. Each of the papers provides valuable brand management insights for managers. The chapters are original contributions by leading scholars and B2B brand managers; each chapter following the introductory chapter includes a brand management problem-exercise with a separate instructor's note.

This paper includes an examination of two key issues on price decisions: (1) how should price decisions be made (the strategic and normative issue) within market contexts, and (2) how are price decisions actually made (the execution and implementation of price decisions). The paper closes with some observations useful for applied research and strategies for making effective pricing decisions. The propositions and literature review show that one pricing strategy does not fit a brand in all market contexts that brand executives experience annually in managing brands. Setting specific price points requires continuing deliberate management responses to dynamic market contexts. This paper provides useful sense-making conjunctive steps to accomplish such deliberate thinking effectively relevant for different market contexts.

PurposeThe article seeks to assist managers in low‐margin markets to grow profitability by applying principles of profit leverage.Design/methodology/approachThe paper identifies a series of principles for targeting market segments and growing profits.FindingsGross margins are usually taken for granted by managers, but are actually key indicators of the types of marketing strategies – what the author calls “gross profit strategies” – that managers should use to leverage the growth of gross profit. Two general classes of gross profit strategies are identified – volume‐driven, and price/bundling gross profit strategies. The latter is particularly applicable to managers in low‐margin markets. The paper also discusses four subsidiary gross profit strategies and illustrates with examples of real‐world firms and situations.Originality/valueThe paper defines market‐driven costing and stresses the importance of measuring “true” gross margins, by measuring costs based on the cost to serve the customer, including opportunity costs. Finally, the paper explicates the relationship between true gross margins and managers' perceptions of their competitive ability to compete in the marketplace.

Studies the impact of search cost and prior knowledge on consumer search at different price points in a market price distribution for telecommunications products. In an experiment it is found that buyers search differently on premium price products than they do on moderate and low price products, and that this behavior depends on the search costs of the purchase situation and the knowledge of the buyer involved. The results suggest a number of implications for marketers on the role of premium priced brands, ranging from product line pricing strategy to information communication strategy.

Studies have concluded that cost of search and prior knowledge are two major influences on search. What is not known is whether the effect of search cost is the same for consumers of differing knowledge levels, particularly when consumers must wait to retrieve information. This paper studies the impact on search of different types of search cost: cognitive search cost, operationalized using prior category knowledge; and external search cost, operationalized using waiting times to obtain information. We focus on the prior knowledge×waiting time interaction effect on search in a computer search environment. We find that knowledge facilitates search, but only in low waiting time conditions. High knowledge consumers augment their search with more complex and cognitively demanding sources and patterns of information acquisition. But the search of low knowledge consumers remains largely unaffected. Implications of the study's findings are discussed.PsycINFO classification: 3900; 3920; 3940; 2320;