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  • Pricing superheroes: How a ...
    Liozu, Stephan M.

    Industrial marketing management, 05/2015, Letnik: 47
    Journal Article

    Despite strong evidence of substantial impact on the bottom line, most companies counter-intuitively neglect the pricing function — as do most scholars. Although pricing is gaining in popularity, only a few articles published in major marketing journals focus on it, and scholars have long asked how organizational and behavioral characteristics of firms affect the link between pricing practices and firm performance. To address these practical and theoretical deficits, we surveyed 507 professionals involved in account and sales management at business-to-business (B2B) firms from around the world to measure the influence of five organizational factors on sales collective confidence associated with pricing and relative firm performance. Results demonstrate that four of the five factors (pricing capabilities, delegation of pricing authority, incentive and goal systems, and knowledge before negotiation) positively and significantly influence sales collective confidence associated with pricing. In turn, we find collective confidence in the sales force to be significantly and positively related to relative firm performance, suggesting that firms that are able to design organizations and allocate resources in a way that maximizes pricing confidence can achieve superior financial outcomes. In aggregate, these organizational factors promote competitive advantage and comparative firm performance. •The paper explores the antecedents of confidence in pricing with sales professionals.•It operationalizes the construct of organizational confidence in pricing.•It highlights the link between the sales force pricing confidence & performance.•Pricing capabilities & preparation before negotiation build confidence in pricing.