Supply-chain pricing—A new perspective on pricing in industrial markets

There is growing recognition that collaborative business relationships within the supply chain provide interesting opportunities for mutually increased benefit. However, while efforts on improving collaboration within the supply chain are indeed already widespread in some aspects of goods and services—for example, many manufacturers integrate their logistics function with those of their suppliers—such efforts are lacking when it comes to pricing. In contrast to the predominant position of pricing in most industries, the following article will investigate the opportunities for suppliers and customers to collaborate on pricing in order to establish mutually beneficial relationships. The article will demonstrate that this goal can only be attained when price is no longer regarded as an ex ante distributive parameter between market partners, but as a joint tool for outcome optimization within the overall supply chain process. We will clarify this new perspective with a calculation example and point out managerial implications for practical implementation.