Pricing Employee Empowerment Is a

Pricing Employee empowerment is a current issue in business. Some of the most successful businesses, particularly those in technology industries, have incorporated a high level of employee empowerment in their business models. These models are often viewed as unsustainable for companies, but many businesses have been able to empower their employees and use this as a source of competitive advantage (Clow, 2012). The theory of employee empowerment is that companies can gain competitive advantage by empowering their employees.

High end employees, especially those in knowledge industries, prefer to work in environments where they have a high level of environment. Google provides its employees with set time off to pursue their own projects on company time, which is one of the most empowering policies of any company. Employee empowerment attracts the best and brightest, and for firms that rely on constant innovation and operational excellence attracting such employees is critical.

At Google, empowerment of employees is one of the central tenets, and it can be found in a number of policies. The strategy appears to have worked wonderfully. The company is rated as the best place to work, and its market share metrics and financial measures are exceptional. In just over a dozen years, Google has become one of the largest companies on the planet, with billions of dollars in cash and profits. It has even become the subject of talks about anti-monopoly action for its dominance of certain industries.

The company has also expanded recently to a number of different product areas, including its Android operating system and Chrome browser. These innovations have all been the result of Google's ability to attract the best employees and empower them to pursue worthwhile projects. Another interesting theory is penetration pricing. The idea behind this theory is that if a company is introducing a new product or service, it can gain market share more rapidly if it offers that product at a price lower than market norms.

The penetration pricing strategy is intended to be temporary, such that once the desired market effect has occurred -- the penetration has been made -- the price is then put to a more "normal" price. An example of this in recent news is the introduction by Burger King of BK Smooth Roast Coffee. This new blend of coffee was developed to make Burger King more competitive in the fast food breakfast business, where it trails the market leaders badly.

The new blend was offered with an introductory price of 25 cents (QSR Web.com, 2013). The objective of this pricing strategy was twofold. The first objective was penetration -- to get people to try the coffee in the hopes of winning over some converts. Ideally, the customer would come in daily during the promotion because this is the cheapest coffee around,.