Emerging trends in retail pricing practice: implications for research

This article represents the first of several editorials to appear in the Journal of Retailing designed to examine the nexus between retail practice and research, with the goal of stimulating further research. This essay on emerging trends in pricing discusses recent advances in retail pricing optimization. We begin with a review of how retailers typically make pricing decisions using time-honored heuristics and attempt to infer the optimal decisions. However, current methods are suboptimal because they do not consider the affects of advertising, competition, substitute products, or complementary products on sales. Most fail to take into account how price elasticity changes over time, particularly for fashion merchandise, or how market segments react differentially to price changes. In addition, many retailers find it difficult to know how to price merchandise when their suppliers offer temporary “deals.” They are also generally unaware of how their pricing strategy influences their overall image. As these issues demonstrate, optimal pricing is not a static problem. Retailers must be able to react quickly to changes in the environment or sales patterns. This paper also provides examples of the more sophisticated pricing techniques that are currently being tested in practice. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the critical components that must be incorporated into retail pricing.     

The six pricing myths that kill profits

Pricing is the most important driver of profits. Pricing is also, surprisingly, the area most executives overlook when implementing initiatives to increase profits. There is a reason: Research presented in this article suggests that most executives implicitly hold on to a series of weakly held assumptions about pricing that ultimately are self-defeating. These pricing myths are that (1) costs are the basis for price setting, (2) small price changes have little impact on profits, (3) customers are highly price sensitive, (4) products are difficult to differentiate, (5) high market share leads to high profits, and (6) managing price means changing prices. This research shows how executives can overcome these misconceptions and thus implement sustainable profit improvements via pricing.     

The effect of concentration and market power on food prices: evidence from Finland

This research examines empirically the relationship between economies of scale, concentration, and market power in food retailing. With unique, local market data available Finland, the analysis could investigate the impact of both local concentration and industry-wide concentration (which can be interpreted as multimarket contact) are taken into account in the evaluation of grocery retail competitiveness. The results show that the main factor affecting market power is the size of the retail firm. Larger share grocery retailers, for both the local and the national markets, carried higher mark-ups. At the same time, no firm-level scale economies were found from these larger firms. I conclude from these findings that the main purpose of large grocery retail mergers is to gain market power not efficiency.     

The effect of multi-purpose shopping on pricing and location strategy for grocery stores

Though it is a well-accepted fact that consumers indulge in multi-purpose shopping, most previous models of store choice assume that grocery shopping trips are single-purpose trips. This paper provides the first empirical analysis of multi-purpose shopping using data on actual shopping trips. A latent class factor analytic logit model is proposed, which provides a representation of the market structure of grocery store competition, while integrating; multi-purpose shopping, retail pricing format and location strategy. We conclude that incorporating multi-purpose shopping trips provides a better understanding of the competitive market structure, and discuss the managerial implications for the selection of marketing strategies.     

Is innovation in pricing your next source of competitive advantage?

Few companies treat innovation in pricing as seriously as product innovation or business model innovation. However, after interviews with 50 executives and the analysis of pricing practices of 70 companies worldwide, our research suggests that innovation in pricing may be a company's most powerful—and, in many cases, least explored—source of competitive advantage. Innovation in pricing brings new-to-the-industry approaches to pricing strategies, to pricing tactics, and to the organization of pricing with the objective of increasing customer satisfaction and company profits; too many companies today see pricing as a win/lose proposition between themselves and their customers. Innovation in pricing breaks this deadlock and shows how to increase profits and customer satisfaction conjointly. As a result of our research, we present a canvas laying out more than 20 possible avenues for innovation in pricing, offering to any organization—regardless of size, industry, or nationality—a few key ideas on how to increase both profits and customer satisfaction.     

The dynamics of networked power in a concentrated business network

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of networked power in a concentrated business network. Power is a long standing theme in inter-organizational research, yet there is a paucity of studies about how power emerges and is constructed over time at the network level. The paper adopts process, systems and network theory to interpret a rich single case study from the food industry. Three power mechanisms are identified, gatekeeping, decoupling and resource allocation, which form the basis of a model of networked power dynamics. Empirically tracing the dynamics of networked power highlights the economic contents of interactions. The paper extends current understandings of power as ‘conflict and coercion’ to include influencing, leveraging and strategic maneuvering in the actual performance of networked power.     

Size, strategic, and market orientation affects on innovation

Based on a random sample of 500 South Yorkshire non-hi-tech manufacturing small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the quantitative findings support the hypothesis that size, strategic, and market orientation associate with innovation. The results show that prospectors are medium-sized companies and small companies, defenders. Prospectors are more innovative and market-oriented than defenders. The findings reveal that to succeed in an intense competitive environment, non-hi-tech manufacturing SMEs have to be proactive toward market opportunities, receptive to innovation and take the lead in new product innovation. However, their weaknesses include a lack of flexibility, a partial open culture and an organizational structure that impedes sustained innovation. This study addresses a gap in the literature, by linking innovation to the strategic orientation of the firm instead of examining firms' specific characteristics or the effects of external environment and structural factors. The research focuses on non-hi-tech manufacturing SMEs.     

The influence of business strategy on new product activity: The role of market orientation

In this paper, we propose that business strategy influences new product activity both directly and indirectly via its influence on market orientation. Accordingly, we develop a framework linking firms' relative emphasis on cost leadership, product differentiation and focus strategies to firms' customer and competitor orientation as well as their new product development and introduction activity. We use this framework to develop a simultaneous equations model that is tested on survey data from 175 Dutch firms of varying size and across different industries in the manufacturing sector. The surprising findings are that a greater emphasis on a focus strategy results in a decreased emphasis on customer orientation and that competitor orientation has a negative direct influence on new product activity and an indirect positive effect via customer orientation. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.     

我国在稀有金属出口市场的市场势力研究——以钨矿、稀土金属为例

本文针对我国在稀有金属市场拥有资源优势而无话语权的现状,提出了"中国大市场悖论"这一论点,并以钨矿、稀土这两大稀有金属市场为考察对象,证实了这一悖论的存在。实证研究表明,随着钨矿的过度开采,我国钨矿生产的边际成本逐年上升。我国稀土生产已初具规模化生产特征。钨矿、稀土等出口市场都是非完全竞争市场。我国在20个钨矿出口市场中,仅在孟加拉、印尼、巴基斯坦、瑞士等少数市场拥有一定的市场势力。我国在17个稀土出口市场中,仅在香港、印尼和泰国市场拥有有限的市场势力。基于我国具有资源优势而无定价的现状,提出了在稀有金属开采市场提高资源税,培育稀有金属金融衍生品市场,构建稀有金属出口价格联盟等政策建议。     

中国稀土的国际定价地位研究

我国是世界上最大的稀土生产和储备国,占全球稀土出口50%以上的市场份额。但由于定价权的缺失,我国稀土出口对国际价格影响微弱,总量上的大国优势并未转化为现实的贸易利得,呈现出福利恶化型增长。总量看,稀土国际进出口市场均存在明显的寡头垄断性,但进口方微观市场影响力的强大使国际稀土处于买方市场状态。因此,我国应注重稀土的长远发展和行业集中度,增强企业实力,从微观层面上掌控稀土国际定价的主导权。     

Spatial competition and market power in banking

Banks in non-metropolitan areas compete in a spatially differentiated environment. Non-metro community banks have been insulated from increasing competition from metro banks due to their reliance on soft information in relationship lending. Proximity to borrowers, therefore, may be an important source of market power for non-metro community banks. This paper estimates a structural model of the supply and demand of banking services in which pricing power is allowed to depend explicitly on the distance between rival banks. A spatial autoregressive econometric model shows that approximately 38.0% of economic surplus earned by firms in non-metropolitan banking in the upper midwest is due to spatial market power.     

温州市民营企业进入国际市场战略及其演进

本文在国际商务相关理论的框架下,借助实证研究方法,就温州市民营企业国际市场进入战略及其演进作了较为深入的探讨。民营企业国际市场进入战略的选择经历了三个不同的阶段,在起源阶段政府的默许和支持起到了关键的作用,发展阶段很大程度上取决于企业对国际市场进入的途径创新,而演进阶段与国际知名企业的结盟有着直接的密切关系。不难看出,在温州市民营企业进入国际市场的战略演进过程中,不仅具有对出口式国际市场进入的偏好,同时具有国际市场进入过程的渐进性特征,这些都是由民营企业所具有的优势和对国际市场的认识过程的渐进性所决定的。     

The size of trading blocs Market power and world welfare effects

We construct an n-country n-commodity trade model to analyze the implications of bloc size for (Nash) equilibrium tariffs and welfare. The relationship between the absolute size of (symmetric) trading blocs and their market power is ambiguous, and we illustrate how this relationship varies with model parameters. In contrast, sufficiently large increases in the relative size of a bloc enhance its relative market power and cause the welfare of its country members to rise above the free trade level. We establish the existence of an optimal bloc size, and study the dependence of optimal size on the parameters of the model.     

The overestimated role of strategic orientations for international performance in smaller firms

This article examines how market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) relate to international performance in small firms. Empirically, the article draws on survey data from 188 Swedish SMEs. Results show that strategic orientations have a very limited influence on international performance in these firms. Proactiveness and, to some extent, a market orientation proved positively associated with international performance, while innovativeness and risk taking show no such relationship. Our findings highlight the problems associated with using “traditional” MO and EO constructs in an SME setting and point to the need of developing more appropriate constructs tailored to this context. We also note that the MO construct was developed from a “causal view” of marketing, while successful small international firms rely more on effectuation logic. The article also contributes to the debate between the two dominant perspectives that address firms’ early internationalization processes: the process theory of internationalization and the international new venture perspective, where our results are in favor of the latter.

Strategy shift: Integrating strategy and the firm’s capability to innovate

Innovation is a key source of organizational growth and profitability. Many organizations at the front end of innovation struggle to engender an innovation approach that is effective and lasting. This article presents a framework that defines the interdependency of innovation and strategy, and then outlines the role of top management to continuously renew the positioning of the firm. Based on a synthesis of prior research—including the Dynamic Capabilities View, Innovation Orientation, and Disruptive Innovation Theory—and our own experience working with organizations, we present an operational strategy shift framework, which allows practitioners to increase, refine, and transform their firm’s capability to innovate (CTI) toward achieving their strategic objectives. This framework provides guidance that leaders can use to integrate innovation into their strategic process.     

Performance or learning goal orientation: Implications for business performance

An organization's long-term effectiveness and efficiency reflect its learning goal or performance goal orientation. Goal orientation concepts originate in psychology of achievement motivation theory. Goal orientations drive the development and deployment of organizational capabilities, such as market orientation and innovativeness to achieve organizational performance outcomes. Extant research pays little attention to whether or not industry type (services or manufacturing) operates as a significant moderating factor in the relationships among an organization's capabilities, goal orientation, and performance outcomes. This study addresses this gap. The study results indicate a significant moderating effect of industry type on relationship between goal orientation and performance but not between goal orientation and either market orientation or innovativeness. Goal orientation appears to be more important for service industries than for manufacturing.     

Political environments and business strategy: Implications for managers

Globalization leads to increased business opportunities and changing rules of the game. Different institutional settings and different organizational players continuously shape business opportunities through different public policy processes operating in various locales. Herein, we develop a framework, based on the work of Nobel laureate Douglas North, which enables managers to determine essential considerations of public policy arenas where they may operate or consider operating.     

迈克尔·波特"权衡"论的竞争演化诠释

本文认为对迈克尔.波特竞争战略理论中"两种战略优势同时兼得"和"必须在两种基本战略之中权衡和抉择"存在误解,从产业动态演化视角分析了波特所持观点及其演变,提出了产业演化的三阶段背景和二维战略空间中的产业模式演化曲线,以及"权衡点"概念,认为波特的两种论断是在不同情形下作出的,互不矛盾;波特实际上认为经过"权衡"选取一种基本战略是特定产业模式成熟而又缺乏重大创新的特定时期不得不采取的战略措施;在"权衡点"前后,企业可以按照波特第一、第三两个"经典条件"实现两种优势同时兼得;避免或打破"权衡"最重要的途径是首创一项有战略意义的重大创新。     

Heuristic algorithms for a second-best congestion pricing problem

Designing a congestion pricing scheme involves a number of complex decisions. Focusing on the quantitative parts of a congestion pricing system with link tolls, the problem involves finding the number of toll links, the link toll locations and their corresponding toll level and schedule. In this paper, we develop and evaluate methods for finding the most efficient design for a congestion pricing scheme in a road network model with elastic demand. The design efficiency is measured by the net social surplus, which is computed as the difference between the social surplus and the collection costs (i.e. setup and operational costs) of the congestion pricing system. The problem of finding such a scheme is stated as a combinatorial bi-level optimization problem. At the upper level, we maximize the net social surplus and at the lower level we solve a user equilibrium problem with elastic demand, given the toll locations and toll levels, to simulate the user response. We modify a known heuristic procedure for finding the optimal locations and toll levels given a fixed number of tolls to locate, to find the optimal number of toll facilities as well. A new heuristic procedure, based on repeated solutions of a continuous approximation of the combinatorial problem is also presented. Numerical results for two small test networks are presented. Both methods perform satisfactorily on the two networks. Comparing the two methods, we find that the continuous approximation procedure is the one which shows the best results.