PRICING ANALYSIS AND MODELS

This course is elective and suggested to students in the third year of the degree in Business Administration, it is held in the second period. It provides the basic tools for the analysis of pricing models and to provide support in managerial decisions relating to price choices.
Along with the educational objectives of the degree course, in addition to theoretical aspects the course deals with methods and models in the perspective of the solution of real business problems.

Due to the persistency of the current health emergency it is not possible to establish now the precise teaching method adopted for this course. We can expect that at least half of the activities will be delivered in distance (through video recordings and other teaching materials uploaded on the Moodle platform or via lectures held on Hangouts Meet). The description provided here below applies to lessons delivered both in presence or in distance.

The teaching activities proposed in the lectures, together with the individual study, allow the student to acquire the ability to appropriately employ models for the development and control at the managerial level of pricing policies, considering both the rational and the psychological component of price.

Expected results:

A) Knowledge and understanding
a.1) understand the main pricing strategies and tactics
a.2) know the main quantitative models for pricing policies
a.3) understand the psychological component in the consumer's reactions to price

B) Application of knowledge and understanding:
b.1) be able to calculate the optimal sale price based on the main rational models of price choice
b.2) adapt the pricing strategy to the economic context

C) Judgment skills:
c.1) to recognize the price choices implemented by various retailers and to assess their adequacy

The skills provided by the first year Mathematics course are given for acquired, in particular with regard to derivation and optimization techniques.

1. Cost oriented pricing
2. Lerner's formula and price choices in the distribution channel
3. Price and advertising: the Dorfman Steiner formula
4. Price discrimination and willingness to pay
5. Price and auctions
6. Indirect price discrimination techniques
7. Psychological pricing vs. fair price
8. Price strategies for market entry
9. Dynamic pricing and revenue management
10. Fair trade price

Principles of Pricing - An Analytical Approach
Rakesh Vohra, Lakshman Krishnamurthi, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2012
(ISBN:9781107010659)

Other teaching material will be made available on the Moodle platform of the course.

The evaluation takes place through:
a) a written exam (mandatory) consisting of 3 open-ended exercises, variations of exercises already solved in class and, subsequently, three other open-ended questions of a theoretical nature (total time beyond 60 minutes);
b) an oral exam (optional) consisting of 2 or 3 questions starting from the discussion of the written exam.
The maximum grade that can be recorded following the written exam is 26/30. If the written exam is valued as satisfactory (grade greater than or equal to 18/30) the student can ask to record the grade obtained in the written exam if it is not higher than 26/30 or the mark 26/30 if the written exam score is greater than 26/30, he has also the possibility to take an oral exam (in this case the final grade is obtained as the average between the written test score and the oral test score).

Groups of students (3-4 students per group) may also deepen the study of a topic of the course through the examination of a business case; the study must be presented to the colleagues of the course on a date to be agreed, and in any case before the written test.
This activity can allow up to 2 points out of 30 to be added to the final evaluation.

The precise form of the final written exam will depend on the health situation and on the disposition of the national authority at the time. Detailed instructions will be given by the instructor in time to prepare for the exam.

The course consists of 30 hours of lectures, the student in his individual work is required to understand and assimilate the basic concepts of the theory, comparing the course notes with the recommended texts; the theoretical contents are always accompanied by examples, exercises drawn from concrete examples of pricing and some simulations (business games) in the classroom.

Depending on the health situation, updates concerning the activities and their scheduling will be made available on the Moodle platform (moodle.unive.it) and on the personal pages of the instructors.

Italian

Further information and materials related to the course, both regarding organizational aspects and didactic aspects, will be made available starting from the beginning of the course on the University e-learning platform (www.moodle.unive.it). Students are required to register for the course on the Moodle platform.

written and oral