Week 3 Assignment

week 3 assignment

Week Three Reflection Paper

Team B

ECOP 561

Week 3 Reflection

Joseph

The week three objectives were both familiar and new to me. I understood pricing strategies were methods used by companies in every industry to price their products and or services. However, I was not aware of all the different pricing strategies presented in the readings. Depending on the current market and where the company stands they may elect to use discount pricing, price skimming, penetration pricing, or competitive pricing. Selecting the appropriate pricing strategy will ultimately help the company project future profits.

Non-price barriers was another topic of the week, which I was unfamiliar with. The discussion question for the week required me to do further research into the topic. What I learned was it important to understand every organization has different barriers to enter the market. For a new school to enter the market, means going through the lengthy accreditation process. For a new bank wanting to enter the market that means going through the legal process of meeting governmental regulations. For more established businesses they need to consider how to take advantage of economies of scale.

Stephane

As for ways to increase product differentiation and determine ways to reduce costs for an organization, those were concepts I was far more comfortable with discussing. I think in most business setting those are common topics discussed on a regular basis. To survive in a difficult economy it is important to not only reduce costs wherever possible but also creatively set your service or product apart from your competition. I am currently employed with University of Phoenix; in 2009 the company had to do a large layoff to cut costs. During the next fiscal year, their goals are to invest more funding into new technology for process use as well as students. There is also...