Case studies of unethical Issues in Pricing
定价中不道德问题的案例研究
固定价格--一份商业竞争对手之间达成的协议，为了以同样的价格出售相同的产品或服务。
撇脂定价：一种定价策略，在其中的一个市场一开始为一个产品或服务设定一个相对较高的价格，然后过一段时间降低价格。它允许企业在竞争进入之前，迅速收回其沉没成本，降低市场价格。
价格歧视：它存在于相同的商品或服务，销售交易的价格不同，但是来自同一个供应商。
串通投标-两个或两个以上的竞争对手之间的协议。它是一种形式上的勾结，这在大多数国家是非法的。它是一种固定价格和市场配置的形式，它涉及一种协议中，一组的一方将指定投标人中标。它常被使用的合同通过招标确定，例如在政府建设合同的情况。
价格战是一种用于业务上的术语，它能指示一种激烈竞争状态，伴随着价格的下降一个多侧面的序列。一位竞争对手将降低价格，然后别人也会降低他们的价格，与之相匹配。
Price fixing - An agreement between business competitors to sell the same product or service at the same price.
Price skimming - A pricing strategy, in which a marketer sets a relatively high price for a product or service at first, then lowers the price over time. It allows the firm to recover its sunk costs quickly before competition steps in and lowers the market price.
Price discrimination - exists when sales of identical goods or services are transacted at different prices from the same provider.
Bid rigging - an agreement between two or more competitors. It is a form of collusion, which is illegal in most countries. It is a form of price fixing and market allocation, and it involves an agreement in which one party of a group of bidders will be designated to win the bid. It is often practiced where contracts are determined by a call for bids, for example in the case of government construction contracts.
Price war - is a term used in business to indicate a state of intense competitive rivalry accompanied by a multi-lateral series of price reductions. One competitor will lower its price, and then others will lower their prices to match. If one of the reactors reduces their price below the original price cut, then a new round of reductions is initiated. In the short-term, price wars are good for consumers who are able to take advantage of lower prices. Typically they are not good for the companies involved. The lower prices reduce profit margins and can threaten survival. etc.
Dumping – Dumping refers to selling goods in the foreign market at prices which are lower than prices charged in the international market or less than the cost price of the product. This is basically done to destroy the domestic market of the importing country and gain a monopoly like position in that market. Most of the countries have anti-dumping arrangements in place. It can also be referred as a form of protectionism.
Case 1:
Fuel Pricing In India
Background of the Case:
India is not only one of the fastest growing economies in the world but also is home to one-fifth of world’s population. At this rate of growth, the demand for the petroleum products is on an expected rise in the country. Considering this socio-economic ramifications, the government has been substantially involved in the pricing and supply of these petroleum products.
The involvement of the government is not ambiguous as the demand of the petroleum products has been increasing at 15% per annum. Also, the availability of these products at home ground is highly inaccessible, the country has to depend a lot on the imports of these products. The current import prices for India is 5.27$ per gallon as opposed to 3.27$ for USA. Further, Due to the rapid development of the economy diesel and petrol was required heavily for the carrying goods within the country. And Also due to the rapid development of the automobile sector, the demand for the petroleum products increased. Around 250 million of the country lives below the poverty line and a majority of the population have been classified as the Middle Class. It becomes the government’s responsibility to provide this section of the country with cooking fuel in subsidized prices as it cannot be afforded by them. Thus, any steep increase in the prices of these products adversely affects the Indian economy.
Course of Action:
After Independence, The cost realization of the companies was linked to ‘import parity’ type of pricing, known as Value Stock Pricing (VSA). It was a cost plus formula of the import pric
