Among the critical factors in the go-to-market strategy for key customers, pricing has a significant importance for the financial results of a company and a direct impact on profit.
This thesis “Pricingstrategies and price politics in the key account enterprise business”compares theoretical pricing strategies identified in leading scientific literature with the pricing methods used in the HP Europe Sales Development environment. With the knowledge gained of this analysis, case studies with typical deal scenarios are documented and pricing strategies as an example recommended. A further result of this research is the recommended redesign of the deal escalation request forms (Big Deal Request Form, Global Pricing Approval Request and War Room Request Form) for key customers used in Sales Development.
For collecting the necessary information an extensive research in English, French and German literature, in the HP Intranet and documented interviews as well as continuous discussions with managers and the German Sales Team were done.
All theoretical pricing methods found in literature already exist in the HP Sales Development business environment or exist as a slightly modified method except the fixed pricing (4.5). The case studies and deal scenarios with pricing recommendation are an input to the Sales Development Team for future pricing. The deal escalation request forms are redesigned for the purpose of efficiency, information sharing, and risk management. It can be used for all European countries for regional, global and special escalated HP pricing requests from the country based Sales force to the Sales Development.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Foreword
- Goals
- HP Project Plan
- Structure
- HP a global acting IT company
- The HP story
- HP Financial facts
- HP product and business portfolio
- HP organizational structure
- The HP competition
- Dell Corporation
- Fujitsu Siemens
- Toshiba
- IBM
- Pre-merger Compaq
- PC Market competition overview EMEA
- Pricing Theories
- Preconditions of the pricing theory
- Markets
- Price and the theory of supply and demand
- Pricing objectives and the break even point
- Pricing methods
- Customer decision process
- Pricing methods HP PSG EMEA Sales Dev
- Costs
- List prices
- Marketing guidelines
- Channel
- TV/MA9/M72 pricing and MWD
- War Room
- Pricing strategies
- Direct or Indirect Sales channel?
- Theoretical and HP Pricing in comparison
- Pricing as a competition advantage?
- Theoretical pricing methods
- HP PSG EMEA Sales Dev pricing
- Comparison
- Strategic pricing recommendations and scenarios
- Pricing environment
- Pricing scenarios
- Pricing recommendations
- Deal Escalation Process and redesign of request forms
- Large deal pricing request and escalation forms
- Recommended Big Deal Request Form (BDRF)
- The GPAR Form
- The War Room Request Form
- Conclusion
- Sources
- List of abbreviations
- List of charts
- List of illustrations
- Interviews
- Bibliography
- English
- French
- German
- Internet links
- HP Intranet
- HP Grenoble Internal Servers
- Other Sources
- Appendix
- Picture gallery
- Documents
- HP Financial data in detail
- Big Deal Request Form (original version)
- Global Pricing Approval Request (original version)
- War Room Request Form (original version)
- Report of the interviews and prepared questions
- Affidavit
- Index
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This master's thesis examines the pricing strategies and price politics of HP in its key account enterprise business, specifically focusing on the company's experience after merging with Compaq. The research aims to analyze HP's pricing methods and tools while considering the company's overall business strategy and competitive environment.
- Analysis of HP's pricing methods and strategies for key accounts.
- Evaluation of the impact of the merger with Compaq on HP's pricing policies.
- Comparison of HP's pricing practices with established theoretical models.
- Development of strategic recommendations for HP's pricing in the future.
- Examination of the role of pricing in achieving competitive advantage.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- Executive Summary: Provides a concise overview of the key findings and recommendations of the thesis.
- Introduction: Introduces the research topic and its significance, outlines the goals and structure of the thesis, and provides a brief overview of HP's background and business model.
- HP a global acting IT company: Discusses the history, financial performance, product portfolio, organizational structure, and competition of HP. It includes insights into the company's global presence and its position in the IT market.
- Pricing Theories: Explores fundamental pricing concepts, including the relationship between price and supply and demand, various pricing objectives, and different pricing methods. It also examines the customer decision-making process influenced by price.
- Pricing methods HP PSG EMEA Sales Dev: Delves into the specific pricing methods employed by HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG) in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. It analyzes factors such as costs, list prices, marketing guidelines, channel strategies, and pricing tools used within the Sales Development department.
- Theoretical and HP Pricing in comparison: Compares the theoretical pricing methods discussed earlier with HP's actual pricing practices, highlighting similarities, differences, and potential discrepancies. It assesses whether HP's pricing approach aligns with theoretical principles and identifies key strengths and weaknesses.
- Strategic pricing recommendations and scenarios: Based on the analysis conducted, the chapter develops strategic recommendations for HP's pricing in the future, taking into account the changing market environment, competitive pressures, and evolving customer needs. It also presents various pricing scenarios to illustrate the potential impact of different pricing strategies.
- Deal Escalation Process and redesign of request forms: Examines the process for escalating large deals and proposes improvements to the existing request forms used for pricing approvals. This chapter aims to streamline the process and ensure efficient decision-making for key account pricing.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The main keywords of this thesis are: pricing strategies, price politics, key account management, enterprise business, HP, Compaq, merger, IT industry, competitive advantage, theoretical pricing models, pricing methods, cost analysis, market analysis, customer decision-making, pricing recommendations, deal escalation process, request forms.
- Citar trabajo
- Christian Lang (Autor), 2002, Pricing strategies and price politics in the key account enterprise business, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/66556
