Dynamic Pricing for New Products Using a Utility-Based Generalization of the Bass Diffusion Model

The Bass Model (BM) has an excellent track record in the realm of new product sales forecasting. However, its use for optimal dynamic pricing or advertising is relatively limited because the Generalized Bass Model (GBM), which extends the BM to handle marketing variables, uses only percentage changes in marketing variables, rather than their actual values. This restricts the GBM’s prescriptive use, for example, to derive the optimal price path for a new product, conditional on an assumed launch price, but not the launch price itself. In this paper, we employ a utility-based extension of the BM, which can yield normative prescriptions regarding both the introductory price and the price path after launch, for the new product. We offer two versions of this utility-based diffusion model, namely, the Bass-Gumbel Diffusion Model (BGDM) and the Bass-Logit Diffusion Model (BLDM), the latter of which has been previously used. We show that both the BGDM and BLDM handily outperform the GBM in forecasting new product sales using empirical data from four product categories. We discuss how to estimate the BGDM and BLDM in the absence of past sales data. We compare the optimal pricing policy of the BLDM with the GBM and derive optimal pricing policies that are implied by the BLDM under various ranges of model parameters. We illustrate a dynamic pricing approach that allows managers to derive optimal marketing policies in a computationally convenient manner and extend this approach to a competitive, multiproduct case. This paper was accepted by Gui Liberali for the Management Science Special Issue on Data-Driven Prescriptive Analytics.

The Analysis of Company Growth Determinants Based on Financial Statements of the European Companies

The primary aim of this paper is to determine the indicators that have an influence on the company growth in the field of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries during the six-year period (2014–2019). This sector is very important for sustainable development, bearing in mind the need to preserve natural resources, i.e., land, water, plant, and animal resources. Sustainable development of this sector is of satisfactory technical-technological development, economically sustainable, and socially acceptable. The sample consists of 1333 observations of active companies on the European market. Multiple regression analysis was used in order to thoroughly analyze the variables of growth. The obtained results showed that company size has a negative impact on growth, while return on assets and leverage have a positive impact on growth. The impact of these variables was statistically significant. Along with the influence of observed determinants based on data from financial statements, the future growth and development of companies in this sector will certainly depend on the volume of investments, pricing policy, credit and natural conditions, agricultural policy measures, and adequate institutional support through the provision of financial support and encouragement of exports of products. Institutional incentives for more intensive integration of the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector are aimed at achieving the concept of integrated sustainable development.

Factors of development of children's sports schools in rural areas

The article presents an analysis of the external and internal environment of children's sports schools in rural areas in the form of a SWOT matrix. Children's sports schools in rural areas are distinguished by a huge set of sports disciplines, many their own facilities and a low pricing policy. Among the most significant disadvantages are the lack of active promotion of schools and a small percentage of paid services compared to budget ones. To improve the situation of children's sports schools in rural areas, it is proposed to create a promotion program that will help increase the number of students and affect the growth of the organization's income.

Smart Metering and Pricing Policy in Smart Grids

Pricing policy is one of the tools allowing the involvement of customers in the balance between the supply and the demand in smart grids. The present chapter aims at presenting the smart metering action including the bidirectional measurement of energy for smart houses equipped with renewable energies as well as the way a smart meter communicates data at the required timing to and from the control center. A typical bill establishment explaining how the net billing is produced along with a discussion about different pricing policies that the utility may adopt to reduce the peak load demand is also presented. The work is concluded by a typical simulation of a smart city modeled in LABVIEW software.

Analysis of Russian Segment of the Web Development Market Operating Online on Upwork

The Russian segment of the web services market in the online environment, on the platform of the Upwork freelance exchange, is considered, its key characteristics, the composition of participants, development trends are highlighted, and the market structure is identified. It is found that despite the low barriers to entry, the web development market is very stable, since the composition of entrenched firms that have been operating for more than six years remains. The pricing policy of most Russian companies indicates that they work in the middle price segment and have low budgets, which is due to the specifics of the foreign market and high competition.

PROBLEMS OF RESOURCE SAVING AND INNOVATIVE DIRECTIONS OF THEIR SOLUTIONS IN THE CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTION

The rational use of cocoa beans as the main raw material in the production of chocolate products is an important and complex problem in the field of resource conservation facing the confectionery industry. One of the main directions of its solution is innovative technologies for the integrated use of cocoa beans, including the processing of their shell-cocoa shell, which has become a new product of confectionery production. Its acquisition contributes to improving the efficiency of the enterprise on the basis of resource-efficient technologies. This resource efficiency technology allows the production of confectionery products of the highest quality while maintaining an affordable pricing policy for the consumer and the enterprise. And also this rational use of raw materials for confectionery production contributes to ensuring environmental safety and improving the financial and economic condition of the enterprise.

Methodology of Assessing the Comlectarity of Consumer Services in the Territory of Urban Aglomeration

The article presents methodological approaches to the formation of a criteria of assessing the level of consumer services sphere development on the territory of an urban agglomeration, taking into account the determination of the indicative supply rate of companies providing services. The semantic basis of the category "complectarity" is formulated and the significance of this category in the approach of assessing the actual state of the development level of the consumer services sphere is shown, taking into account the actual set of services provided by enterprises in relation to the set of services, which serve as a measure of their number. The application of this methodology allows us to reveal the unevenness of the supply of consumer services relative to real demand of this services and to explain the formation of pricing policy of companies, providing services in conditions of deviation from the equilibrium of supply and demand, which fully meets the principles of the theory of pricing formation by formulating a coherent strategy of the consumer services sphere development. Research carried out on the basis of using methodology of complectarity makes it possible to more accurately determine the species and quantitative disparities in supply in any territory of an urban agglomeration, taking into account the size of the population living in it. Evaluation of the supply of consumer services relative to their real demand based on the application of the bundling methodology allows us to determine the specific and quantitative disproportions of the supply of consumer services in any territory of an urban agglomeration relative to the number of people living there, which corresponds to the theory of pricing, explains the possibility of forming an equilibrium price, subject to the presence or absence of a package offer of consumer services, including specific and quantitative indicators. Thus, a program or strategy for the development of consumer services should be aimed at bringing the indicator of integral completeness to one. It is with this meaning that economic equilibrium and the absolute achievement of the goals of strategic development of the consumer services sector take place. This condition corresponds to the concepts of "set", "ideal completeness" and serves as a criterion for assessing the level of development of consumer services in the territory under consideration.

Changes of Strategic Pricing Policy of Logistics Service Providers in Financial Macroeconomic Instability

This paper aims to examine the influence of macroeconomic instability on the microeconomic environment, especially on financial strategy after the application of strategic pricing policy by providers of logistics services and make recommendations for providers who use pricing as a marketing tool. Special attention is paid to enhancing their competitive position in times of economic crisis. The research is based on an analysis of the situation during the 2008–2009 economic crisis. It is hypothesized that the number of providers who applied a strategic pricing policy after its culmination in 2010 was higher than in 2008 (shortly before the onset of the crisis). The conclusions derived are then transferred to the period of the 2020 coronavirus economic recession under the assumption of the same analogical characteristics of both periods. The paper does not speculate – its purpose is to present a thorough and complex analysis of the situation by employing a wide range of statistical instruments, thereby attaining results of a very high level of statistical reliability. The study has the potential to be a valuable contribution to the literature in its respective field, especially during global anti-Covid measures, which makes the theme of strengthening competitive positions of logistics service providers very topical.