Monroe and Cox Provide Eight

Monroe and Cox provide eight pricing practices of companies that have a negative effect on profitability. Which do you consider to be the easiest to avoid or fix? Why? Explain your position using an example.

Transaction similarity is by far the easiest to avoid or fix, as it can be quickly redefined through the use of market messaging and product positioning. This aspect of pricing is also the most commonly used one for attaining competitive parity, even when product attributes are not going to deliver comparable value

(Xia, Monroe, Cox, 2004). Too often companies will also use this technique to drop prices quickly, in an effort to reach parity on pricing against competitors, in addition to product positioning. This can have a very negative effect on profitability quickly as well, further depressing gross contribution margins.

What factors would you want to consider in evaluating profitability if you were a DVD movie and CD music retailer engaging in a price promotion strategy?

Of the many factors to consider in evaluating the profitability of a DVD movie or CD as a retailer, among the most valuable would be the popularity, competitive distribution and price elasticity of a given type of entertainment. The reliance on brand salience and value would also need to be taken into account in any fast-moving consumer product as well (Rajagopal, 2008). All of these factors need to be balanced against the need for quickly moving inventory and not initially resorting to price first, but instead looking at how to use bundling and promotion that would retain gross contribution margin.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of the suggestions made in the Castanon (2004) article? Explain your answer.

The benefits of the suggestions made in the Castanon (2004) article include streamlining the lead-to-close process, creating a more effective model of how marketing strategies and initiatives contribute to overall sales performance, and quantifying the effects of sales strategies on quote production and quote-to-order performance. The drawbacks of the suggestions made in the article include a lack of visibility into the unquantifiable aspects of the marketing strategies and initiatives in place, in addition to lack of visibility into how trust factors into quoting efficiency. Another drawback is the lack of focus on how the individual salesperson's performance affects how many quotes they produce over time.

The Cavusgil and Zou (1994) article concludes that product adaptation, hiring competent (international) staff, and having competent foreign distributors are key factors for success in a cross-border venture. Choose one of these factors and explain why it is important and how the authors support this conclusion.

Cavusgil and Zou (1994) define product adaptation as the ability of a firm to first recognize and then act on the idiosyncratic aspects of a given market's need for product adaption and customization. The researchers found that the higher the degree of product adaptation, the more agile and internationally competent a given firm is in meeting the needs of a given market or region. This can also be construed as the ability to actively question their own ethnocentric beliefs of a market and challenge internal assumptions about products needing to be similar or identical to save on costs. The highest performing firms understand regional and national variations, sometimes at a very significant level, needs to be accomplished for a product to succeed.

Bloom and Dalpe (1993) discuss some issues in marketing professional services. What are some of the marketing concepts involved in this article? Provide support for your analysis.

The marketing concepts the authors Bloom and Dalpe (1993) based their article on regarding professional services include customer-driven innovation, a strong focus on meeting and exceeding customer expectations, market research and the need for companies to become sales-driven rather than complacent over time. The authors also point out the value of measuring customer expectations so they can be completely exceeded as well, which is a form of customer satisfaction research. Implicit in the article is also the need for managing service recovery, or the ability to recover from bad experiences and turn customers around to be loyal to a given brand or service.