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The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretically rigorous and practically relevant summary of research findings that enables managers to drive sustainable profits improvements via pricing. It showcases multiple case studies that demonstrate how companies can achieve higher-than-average profitability by implementing intelligent pricing strategies and tactics.

Over the past 20 years, this writer has conducted dozens of academic surveys with managers exploring the antecedents, moderators and consequences of pricing practices for existing and new products. The writer has analyzed all pricing research published in leading academic journals over the past decades. Finally, as equity partner of Hinterhuber & Partners, a pricing consultancy (www.hinterhuber.com), this writer – through collaborations with companies and workshops conducted with practicing managers – has collected data and insights on best practices in managing pricing as a strategic activity.

Pricing is the most powerful driver of superior profits, yet managers view pricing as relevant only in the context of innovation. This narrow view prevents companies from realizing their full potential. Best practice examples of pricing as well as rigorous academic research suggest that pricing based on solid scientific principles helps average companies to achieve above-average results. This paper presents a review of recent research and summarizes the fundamental principles that managers must master so that pricing becomes an enabler of lasting superior performance.

Academic research in pricing surpasses managerial practice. Managers often rely on outdated concepts when it comes to pricing strategy and tactics.

The paper presents a framework that allows managers to implement pricing strategies that improve performance.

Effective pricing strategies benefit companies, customers and other stakeholders.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research on pricing and thus documents that pricing based on solid, scientific principles is an enable of lasting, above-average profitability.

This study aims to provide new understanding on operational and dynamic capabilities supportive to the implementation of performance-based public procurement by focusing on dyadic capabilities of a supplier and a buyer.

The study is based on the qualitative analysis of 20 interviews with informants representing Finnish public organizations and their private sector suppliers. The analysis is aligned with a theoretical framework connecting the phases of procurement and the capability types studied.

The findings of the study present the role of operational and dynamic capabilities of a buyer and a supplier in the implementation of performance-based procurement at public procurement phases. Preprocurement phase is found to greatly benefit from all three dynamic capabilities, while operational capabilities suffice in the contracting phase.

Increased understanding on capabilities needed in performance-based procurement can increase the chances of success in reaching better value for money of public services and developing supplier markets.

The study contributes to the literature on performance-based public procurement and value-based selling by taking a dyadic approach to the operational and dynamic capabilities needed in business with an emphasis on performance. As the focus in public procurement shifts increasingly from resources to performance, involving a joint effort between buyer and supplier, the study provides insights into role of dyadic capabilities and explains how dynamic and operational capabilities together support the phases of performance-based procurement implementation in the public sector.

This study aims to investigate the moderating role of hedonic and utilitarian purchase motives for the presentation order effect. Although past research finds that presenting item first and price later (e.g. 70 items for $29) increases consumers’ purchase intention more than presenting the information in the opposite order (e.g. $29 for 70 items), the effect was mostly examined in a hedonic consumption context. This study examines whether the effect is applicable for hedonic purchases but is less applicable for utilitarian purchases, and why.

Seven experiments tested the moderating effect of purchase motives for the presentation order effect. Two serial mediation analyses were conducted to examine the underlying mechanism.

The “item-price” (vs “price-item”) order increases hedonic purchases, but not utilitarian purchases. Because consumers feel guilty about hedonic purchases, they engage in motivated information processing to perceive greater value from their hedonic purchase when item (benefit) information is presented first and price (cost) information is presented later. Perceiving greater value reduces guilt, which consequently increases hedonic purchases. In contrast, the order effect is not observed for utilitarian purchases that do not elicit guilt. When a price discount is offered, the order effect is reversed because actual savings justify hedonic purchases better than perceived savings resulting from motivated information processing.

When promoting hedonic products, marketers are recommended to present item information before price information, unless a price discount is offered, in which case the price should be presented first.

This research introduces a novel moderator for the presentation order effect and a novel underlying mechanism, driven by the motivation to alleviate guilt associated with hedonic purchases.

Pricing is widely acknowledged as a market entry challenge for servitising companies. The purpose of this research is to ascertain the attributes that contribute to willingness to pay (WTP) for industrial services and suggest incorporating those attributes to a pricing model.

Three attributes (Quality of Service, Nearness of Service Provider and Brand Equity of Service Provider) were analyzed at three respective levels to ascertain their importance on WTP. Conventional conjoint analysis (CCA), using an orthogonal design, was the method used. The 346 respondents were decision-makers and top management professionals from various industries.

Brand Equity emerged as the most significant attribute contributing to WTP, having more than 45% importance – followed by the Quality and Nearness.

The scope of the study is limited to the industries and its Allies. However, the relative importance of the attributes may vary depending on the type of service.

The importance of attributes and their WTP preference helps future researchers create a pricing model involving these attributes. This helps service providers price their services rationally, thus succeeding in servitization.

Product life is extended because the manufacturers themselves are servicing it and also help recycle the product with their expertise. Servitization is also helpful for the Indian economy, as it is turning into a manufacturing economy.

This research investigates three attributes that contribute to WTP, in accordance with their level of contribution. It also provides a direction to establish an adequate pricing model for industrial services.

Despite the unparalleled importance of value within healthcare, value-based models remain underutilised in the procurement of medical devices. Research is needed to understand what factors incentivise standard, low-priced device purchasing as opposed to value-adding devices with potentially higher overall health outcomes. Framed in agency theory, we examine the conditions under which different actors involved in purchasing decisions select premium-priced, value-adding medical devices over low-priced, standard medical devices.

We conducted 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects scenario-based vignette experiments on three UK-based online samples of managers (n = 599), medical professionals (n = 279) and purchasing managers (n = 449) with subjects randomly assigned to three treatments: (1) cost-saving incentives, (2) risk-sharing contracts and (3) stronger (versus weaker) clinical evidence.

Our analysis demonstrates the harmful effects of intra-organisational cost-saving incentives on value-based purchasing (VBP) adoption; the positive impact of inter-organisational risk-sharing contracts, especially when medical professionals are involved in decision-making; and the challenge of leveraging clinical evidence to support value claims.

Our results demonstrate the need to align incentives in a context with multiple intra- and inter-organisational agency relationships at play, as well as the difficulty of reducing information asymmetry when information is not easily interpretable to all decision-makers. Overall, the intra-organisational agency factors strongly influenced the choices for the inter-organisational agency relationship.

We contribute to VBP in healthcare by examining the role of intra- and inter-organisational agency relationships and incentives concerning VBP (non-) adoption. We also examine how the impact of such mechanisms differs between medical and purchasing (management) professionals.

In servitization research, there has been a call to move further toward the development of business models based on a service approach. This article aims to answer this call by adopting service logic (SL) and developing strategies and organizational resources and processes to create a service-centric business model called servification, defined as the process of identifying and developing strategies and organizational resources and processes to create a business model based on SL.

This article is conceptual and extends servitization in the direction of service-centric business model innovation by drawing on and extending SL.

The article defines service as a higher-order concept according to SL and develops the concept of a helping strategy as the foundation for a service-based business model. Further, it develops a typology of organizational resources and processes that must be developed for the emergence of such a business model.

Since this article is the first to conceptually develop servification, more both theoretical and empirical research is naturally required. The development of servification takes servitization in the direction of service-based business model innovation and also contributes to the research on SL.

Servification enables the development of service-centric strategies and organizational resources and processes and service-based business models.

This article is the first to adopt SL in studies of business model innovation.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to identify the strategic key components of the Woolah tea brand through the business model canvas framework, to evaluate the major challenges faced by different stakeholders, to analyse the potential effects of bagless tea dip innovation and understand the principles of design thinking and its application in developing innovative solutions, to assess the strategic framework of Woolah tea brand to scale up its business and operations and to align the Woolah tea brand’s sustainability practices with a triple bottom line approach and contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Upamanyu Borkakoty and Anshuman Bharali, the founder duo of Woolah tea, began their entrepreneurial journey on a noble note. They recognised that plastic tea bags, which customers worldwide consume, create harmful health effects in the form of microplastic. They aimed to provide an authentic and sustainable tea experience while making it microplastic-free. When the world is heading towards securing a sustainable future, they envisioned adding a feather to it by proposing their Truedips. The USP of their product is Truedips – a tea ball they prepare by compressing one bud and two premier leaves. The founders were convinced that their innovative idea of tea consumption would provide customers with an authentic and exhilarating experience. However, there were dilemmas and roadblocks. They faced roadblocks related to the farmer’s traditional approach to growing tea, untrained tea growers, lack of financial assistance and customer readiness for a bagless tea experience. The dilemmas they faced related to their customer acceptance of their idea and the price affordability of the product. The big question hovering around was the customer’s feedback and acceptance of the product.

This case study suits graduate and postgraduate business administration students and other management programmes. The case study can also be used for business, marketing, design thinking, innovation and and social entrepreneurship courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

This study investigates the paradox of lotteries in financial markets, challenging traditional utility models predicated on rational behavior amid uncertainty. It explores why investors are drawn to lotteries despite the potential trade-off between risk-adjusted returns and sporadically substantial gains.

Employing a multifaceted approach, the study first scrutinizes diverse theories elucidating the perplexing behavior of lottery investors. Subsequently, it assesses the premium attached to lottery stock shares in the Brazilian financial market using distinct methodologies, thereby offering a comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon. Finally, the study estimates the risk premium associated with the lottery stocks applying an extended Fama–French multifactor model and searching for evidence of overlap with other risk-based anomalies.

This research unveils theories underpinning seemingly irrational investor behavior vis-à-vis lotteries, revealing the motivations propelling investors to willingly exchange risk-adjusted returns for the allure of substantial but infrequent gains. Empirical evidence delineates the extent of the premium paid for lottery stocks in the Brazilian market.

The study’s novelty lies in its amalgamation of theoretical exploration, empirical analysis and the application of the Fama–French factor model to gauge the risk premium associated with lottery-related behavior. Furthermore, its investigation of lottery stocks within the Brazilian market introduces a distinctive dimension, elucidating market dynamics and investor behaviors unique to the region.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent and in what ways signaling theory has been explored within the field of international marketing. This paper systematically reviews the use of signaling theory in the field of international marketing. Communication is a core aspect of the international marketing process. Research in this field has explored effective and unique ways of improving the communication flow to reduce the asymmetry of information between international consumers and the firm. This notion is adopted, enhanced and strengthened by signaling theory. Signaling theory has recently received the attention of international marketing scholars.

The systematic review methodology was applied for the purpose of identifying the relevant studies. We extracted academic articles over the last 23 years from the domain of international marketing that directly contribute to signaling theory based on 57 journal articles extracted through the systematic review process.

Based on systematic research the results reveal that the topic has grown and continues to expand within the broader international marketing field. We offer a theoretical conceptual framework to better understand signaling theory in the context of international marketing.

The authors map and critically evaluate the use of signaling theory in international marketing. Relevance of signaling theory in international marketing is growing and authors present an integrative framework that organizes the existing literature, and provides scholars to further expand on emerging themes of the domain. The paper offers some useful future research directions.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on key performance metrics of accommodation properties by elaborating on the roles of business models (i.e. franchised, chain-managed and independent hotels, and the sharing economy) and state-level restrictions in the US.

The pandemic is considered a variable interference against the average daily rate, occupancy and revenue per available room, which permits the examination of the before and after effects of the pandemic. The panel data model is used to examine the effect of the recent pandemic on the accommodation sector in the USA.

The results showed that chain-managed hotels were the most adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, while independent hotels were the least adversely impacted. Interestingly, and consistent with emerging consumer needs suggested by spatial distance theory, the pandemic does not have significant negative effects on Airbnb. The adverse impact of the pandemic on hotels was exacerbated in more restrictive states, while Airbnb remained immune to regulatory differences.

This study addresses the dearth of research on the types, roles and efficacy of business models in the accommodation industry and makes important theoretical contributions to the study of business model resilience in the accommodation industry, leveraging the resource-based theory of the firm and spatial distance theory.

The findings of this study make a significant contribution to the extant literature on the resilience of business models in the accommodation industry and have important implications for hotels, Airbnb owners, accommodation brands and destination and health policymakers. They demonstrate that a lower level of corporate control and greater flexibility in brand and operational standards allow for a more effective response to business disruptions such as a global pandemic.