On August 18, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) announced its earnings and dropped the following bombshell: “HP will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. The devices have not met internal milestones and financial targets. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward. “ My first […]
AirTran Airways provides multi-tiered pricing for advance reservation of seating in its coach class. AirTran differentiates its pricing by positioning vertically in the plane, but not horizontally. That is, for some reason, AirTran charges the same price for a middle seat in the same row as an aisle and middle seat. AirTran does not charge […]
I intended to write a detailed examination of Amazon’s pricing problem with e-books. However after doing just a little research, I found there are plenty of people who have already provided excellent opinions and recommendations. So, instead of providing my classic unsolicited advice, I am posting links to the two most insightful pieces I found […]
The UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education is offering a 4-day pricing program called “Pricing for Profitability in the Information Age“, April 27-30, 2010 and November 15-18, 2010. Here is the intro and program description provided by the program’s website: “Companies leave millions, sometimes billions, of dollars on the table every year through sub-optimal pricing […]
I maintain a relatively regular lunch rotation that features essentially the same main item at each eating establishment. Today, I was delivered a shock to my comfortable culinary routine: I was told that I could not substitute a brownie for the muffin that comes with the chicken salad sandwich box meal at, what I will […]
On the same day that BusinessWeek lauded Subway for the success of its discount $5 footlong sandwiches, the National Franchise Association (NFA) sued Burger King Corporation over the legality of requiring franchisees to charge no more than $1 for the Double Cheeseburger. The Subway success story features a pricing strategy built from the bottom where […]
Subway’s $5 footlong promotion has become a nationwide hit. In “The Accidental Hero,” BusinessWeek writer Matthew Boyle describes how the promotion grew from just a few franchises in Florida to become a top-10 fast-food brand this year. The story demonstrates how a small, local idea can become a nationwide success. The story also powerfully displays […]
This weekend, my alma mater, Stanford University, played football at Wake Forest. I was fortunate enough to make the trip although Stanford was not fortunate enough to win. I was also not fortunate enough to eat lunch before attending the game, paying $9.50 for the privilege of enjoying a small pepperoni pizza and an ice-loaded […]
Barbara Kahn, Dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Miami, appeared on Nightly Business Report August 25, 2009 to comment on the new book “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” by Chris Anderson. Kahn rightly points out that even when consumers seem to be getting goods and services for free, […]
The “tragedy of the commons” (Garrett Hardin, 1968) is a concept in economics that describes how a group of self-interested individuals can destroy a shared (and free) resource. Hardin’s classic is example is a group of herders who destroy a pasture as each herder maximizes his/her number of grazing cows to make the most use […]
