Optimizing Risk-Balancing Return Under Discrete Choice Models

Similar to individual investors, firms balance revenue or profit risk with the expected return on investment. A stable cash flow is required to satisfy private and public shareholders or to maintain solvency. Product prices impact both the expected demand for the products and the volatility of the demand, and consequently a firm’s revenue or profit risk. This paper presents models and results that demonstrate how risk sensitivity can inform pricing strategy. The authors show that a firm’s distaste for risk not only causes the firm to discount its products in exchange for lower profit volatility, but also reduces the firm’s incentive to price differentiate among the products. The findings also provide insight into how firms with varying degrees of risk aversion may price products of different quality and how this pricing strategy affects product market share.