Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,237)
- Faculty Publications (207)
- Article
Consumer Price Sensitivity and Price Thresholds
By: Sangman Han, Sunil Gupta and Donald R. Lehmann
- October 2000 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
Cost of Capital at Ameritrade
By: Mark L. Mitchell and Erik Stafford
Ameritrade Holding Corp. is planning large marketing and technology investments to improve the company's competitive position in deep-discount brokerage by taking advantage of emerging economies of scale. In order to evaluate whether the strategy would generate... View Details
- August 2000 (Revised December 2003)
- Case
Dell's Working Capital
By: Richard S. Ruback and Aldo Sesia
Dell Computer Corp. manufactures, sells, and services personal computers. The company markets its computers directly to its customers and builds computers after receiving a customer order. This build-to-order model enables Dell to have much smaller investment in... View Details
- February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
- Case
Priceline WebHouse Club
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jon K Rust
Priceline empowered consumers to "name their own price" for airline tickets and hotel rooms; then it shopped these offers to marketers. Priceline's founder Jay Walker described the resulting transactions as a new ecosystem, that helped consumers realize lower prices... View Details
- February 2000 (Revised February 2002)
- Case
Owens & Minor, Inc. (A)
By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem
A forward-thinking manager at Owens & Minor (O&M), a large national medical and surgical distribution company, enlisted the help of both logistics and cost managers to develop an innovative pricing schedule based on the customer's activities instead of the price of the... View Details
- February 2000 (Revised September 2002)
- Case
Forever: De Beers and U.S. Antitrust Law
By: Debora L. Spar and Jennifer Burns
For over a century, the international diamond market has been dominated by one of the most successful cartels on earth. Run by the legendary De Beers Corp., the cartel has managed to keep diamond prices increasing and to prevent the defection that dooms most other... View Details
- December 1999 (Revised November 2003)
- Background Note
Pricing: A Value-Based Approach
By: Robert J. Dolan
Presents a framework for determining prices for products and services in concert with the value provided to customers. Discusses methodologies for estimating customer value. View Details
- September 1999 (Revised April 2000)
- Case
drugstore.com
By: Richard L. Nolan
On a clear day in August 1999 in the new headquarters of drugstore.com, against a backdrop of the Blue Angels flying in formation over Lake Washington practicing for their hydroplane Seafare Cup performance, Peter Neupert was pleased with his company's IPO performance.... View Details
- May 1999
- Background Note
Note on Behavioral Pricing
The note introduces the behavioral or psychological aspects of consumer price acceptance. Begins by reviewing the traditional economic approach to product pricing and consumer price acceptance--namely, that consumers should be willing to purchase anytime a product's... View Details
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Decisions; Fairness; Price; Marketing Strategy; Behavior; Perspective; Public Opinion
- January 1998 (Revised February 2002)
- Case
Funai Consulting Company, Ltd. (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Tomoya Nakamura
In the summer of 1997, a consultant at Japan's Funai Consulting Co. Ltd., must decide how to respond to a client's proposal to offer "open pricing" (based on willingness to pay) to customers unable to pay the standard price for the client's product. The client, Akita... View Details
- January 1997 (Revised August 2007)
- Case
Computron, Inc. (2006)
By: John A. Quelch
In July 1996, Mr. Thomas Zimmermann, European Manager of Computron, must select a price for a new computer for his largest customer. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
- Case
Tweeter etc.
By: John T. Gourville and George Wu
In the early 1990s, Tweeter etc., a small regional retailer of higher-end audio and video equipment, faced increasing competitive pricing pressures from several large regional and national consumer electronics chains. In response, in 1993, they introduced "Automatic... View Details
- July 1994 (Revised January 1997)
- Case
Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation
The largest ski resort in Colorado must determine how to select customer segments to focus its promotional and service-delivery efforts. Making segmentation work depends on reordering its pricing policy and "service packages." View Details
- May 1994
- Background Note
Segmenting Customers in Mature Industrial Markets: An Application
In mature industrial markets, segmenting customers by size, industry, or product benefits alone rarely is sufficient. Customer behavior regarding trade-offs between price and service also becomes an important criterion. This note offers a framework to enable such... View Details
- May 1992
- Supplement
Fabtek (B)
By: Rowland T. Moriarty Jr. and Benson P. Shapiro
Presents an urgent order for repair service from an important customer who had purchased an item from a competitor. The item, which TiFab had bid on, went out at a price that TiFab predicted was below the amount necessary to ensure quality manufacture. Now the customer... View Details
- November 1990 (Revised June 1991)
- Case
American Airlines (A): Strategy in the 1990s
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Gary W. Loveman
American Airlines is pursuing a growth strategy through international and domestic route expansion. At the same time, the airline is working hard to cut costs while trying to provide the best customer service possible. Is this strategy achievable given the recent surge... View Details
- October 1990
- Case
Manufacturers Hanover Corp.: Customer Profitability Report
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Banking company noting declining profitability from its traditional lending activities has started to measure the total profitability of its lending relationships. A loan pricing model estimates the profit and return-on-equity from commercial loans. Additional work was... View Details
- July 1989 (Revised May 2004)
- Case
Colonial Homes
By: David E. Bell
Colonial Homes supplies a complete raw materials package to build entire homes. The price of the package is guaranteed at the signing of the sales contract, while delivery (and payment) are not effected for up to six months. In an effort to reduce its exposure to... View Details
- June 1980 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
Southwest Lumber Distributors
By: David E. Bell
Concerns a lumber wholesaler who has been asked to give a forward price commitment. The market price has been volatile and the type of wood is different from that traded on the futures market. The question is: What to do about customer's request? View Details