The masters' thesis introduces theoretical basis to value-based pricing and the process of price creation. It demonstrates the implementation of theory upon real business case identifying the sources of value and price perception of a big Czech bank. Moreover, the thesis describes, how customer perceives the value and price, what factors influence his perceptions, how to effectively measure these perceptions and how to create value-based pricing through segmentation and communication. Application chapter describes the identification process of sources of value and price perceptions by providing desk research, qualitative and quantitative market research - concretely in-depth interviews and derived importance of attributes method, which quantifies the strength of product and price drivers on customer's perception. The thesis makes a list of the most important "value for money" drivers of unnamed Czech bank, which struggles with clients' churn to direct banks. The thesis proposes solutions to stop this churn and to improve bank image on the market among both clients and non-clients.

Objective: The objective of the study is to learn how the customer’s willingness pay after a price increase differs given different product conditions. Specifically, how it differs between high and low involvement products and hedonic and utilitarian products. The objective is also to understand what value drivers it is that affect the customers willingness to pay after a price increase. Methodology approach: An online survey was distributed through social media. The research study was conducted using multiple linear regression and one-way ANOVA using data from 270 participants. Research limitation: The survey used in the study uses scales that have been revised. This means that other important value dimensions that were a part of the original scales have been neglected. Results/conclusion: No significant difference was found between the different product groups. The variables; product quality, service quality were both found to have a positive impact on the outcome variable customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. The variable transaction cost had on the other hand a negative impact on the outcome variable. Future recommendations: The results of the study indicate that lowering the transaction cost can increase customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. It also indicates that increasing the product quality and service quality can increase the customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase. Previous research has showed the significant profitability firms can make when they adapt to value-based pricing. Therefore, further studies to investigate the customer’s willingness to pay after a price increase may be of interest.

This study examines various approaches used by companies providingsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS) in a business-to-business (B2B) environment to find a pricing strategy. To be able to meet competition in a global market, a good pricing strategy is vital. Pricing is an important part of marketing, which must be congruent with the company's overall objectives. Strategic pricing is made up of different factors represented in the strategic pricing pyramid, which is based on a value-based approach. It is paramount to know your customers and their preferences when designing a pricing strategy and selecting pricing models, price metrics, market segmentation, bundling, and price levels. After having estimated how much value a product or service creates for a customer, this must be communicated to potential customers in order to convince them to purchase your offering. Choosing the right pricing strategy is not a onetime occurrence, but an on-going process. In this qualitative study, three case studies are performed to tie theory to real world practise.

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to explore and identify activities that contributes to the abilities that are necessary in order to enable the transformation towards a value-based business model. The purpose will be answered through the development of a transformation framework that can guide organisations and aid in order to succeed with the transformation process. Method –  A qualitative approach was found to be optimal for answering the purpose of the study. A single case study was performed  and the data was collected through interviews at a market leading Swedish IT-company. The chosen research approach was inductive which meant that the theoretical background was developed within the area and acted as a pillar for the following interviews. In total 25 interviews, divided in three interview waves were conducted and further analysed with a thematical analysis. Findings – The case study resulted in a transformation framework that consists of ten abilities that are distributed across three transformation stages. The abilities are divided into the three main themes value-based selling, value-based pricing and organisational change that is needed within the process of the transformation towards a value-based business model. 33 activities were identified to develop the abilities.  Theoretical and Managerial Implications – The case study contribute to the clearly limited research in the area of value-based business models within the IT-industry by empirically building on previous research from other industries and further developing it. Through the identification of activities and abilities and further compiling the transformation framework organisations have received a tool that will be able to aid the process of transforming the business model towards a value-based. Limitations and Future Research – The case study is limited to a single company within the IT-industry. Therefor further research is recommended with a wider data collection to examine the degree of generalisability of the case study to both confirm the identified activities and abilities but also further exploration. / Syfte – IT-branschen är en snabbt föränderlig bransch med en hög innovationshastighet. Organisationer söker nya teknologier för att utöka sin konkurrenskraft, men nya digitala förutsättningar leder ofta till förändring av nyckelaktiviteter vilket medför ett behov av att utveckla ledningsmetoder för att styra dessa komplexa omvandlingar. Fallstudiens syfte är att utforska och identifiera aktiviteter som bidrar till de förmågor som är nödvändiga för att möjliggöra transformationen mot en värdebaserad affärsmodell inom IT-branschen. Fallstudiens syfte besvarades genom utvecklingen av ett transformationsramverk som vägleder organisationer att lyckas i transformationsprocessen. Metod – Studien utfördes som en explorativ fallstudie med en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Fallstudieföretaget är ett marknadsledande IT-bolag i Sverige. Den kvalitativa forskningsansatsen ledde till att 25 intervjuer genomfördes i tre intervjuvågor och resultatet utvecklades med hjälp av tematisk analys. Resultat – Fallstudien resulterade i ett transformationsramverk som består av tio förmågor utspridda i tre transformationsfaser. Förmågorna berör värdebaserad försäljning, värdebaserad prissättning och den organisationella förändringen som krävs för att transformeras till en värdebaserad affärsmodell. Förmågorna genererades genom den tematiska analysen där 33 aktiviteter identifierades som bidrar till förmågorna nödvändiga för att möjliggöra transformationen. Teoretiskt och praktiskt bidrag – Fallstudien bidrar till den tydligt begränsade forskningen inom värdebaserade affärsmodeller inom IT-branschen genom att empiriskt byggt vidare på tidigare forskning inom andra branscher och utvecklat den vidare. Genom identifiering av aktiviteter och förmågor nödvändiga för transformationen mot en värdebaserad affärsmodell och sammanställt dessa i ett vägledande transformationsramverk har organisationer fått ett vägledande verktyg som underlättar transformationsprocessen. Begränsningar och framtida forskning – Fallstudien är begränsad till ett enskilt fallstudieföretag inom IT-branschen. Därav rekommenderas framtida forskning med en bredare datainsamling för att undersöka generaliserbarheten av fallstudien samt för att bekräfta de identifierade aktiviteterna och förmågorna, men även för att möjligtvis identifiera ytterligare aktiviteter och förmågor.

he business climate is undergoing a transformation and managers are faced with several challenges, notthe least of which is related to pricing strategy. With an increased transparency in the market as well as anincreased competitive pressure, and with more sophisticated and well-informed consumers, retailbusinesses find it hard to navigate the pricing jungle. At the same time, the conventional wisdom in thefield of pricing and the theoretical models on the topic, originate from a time long before thedigitalization. Old models are not a problem in itself, but when there are new forces in the pricingecosystem, driven by technological advancement, an assessment of the incumbent models is in the bestinterest of both businesses and academia. The reason for this is that, the use of old models that rely oninaccurate assumptions may impact businesses’ prioritizing of resources or their overall business strategy.In addition, researchers might be distracted and the research field disrupted. Thus, the purpose of thisstudy is to discuss whether or not there are additional dimensions in pricing strategy that are not coveredby the incumbent pricing models. Here, dimensions refer to the key components of businesses’ strategicdecision making in regards to pricing.This thesis examines pricing models in today’s business context in order to answer the research question:“Are there additional dimensions of the empirical reality of pricing strategy that are not covered by theincumbent pricing models?” The research question has been studied qualitatively through a literaturereview, a pilot study and twelve case studies, where the pilot study had the purpose of exploring thedepth, whereas the multiple case studies focused on the breadth, of pricing strategies. The case studiescover businesses in different retail industries and of different sizes, namely the industries of Clothing &Accessories, Daily Goods, Furniture and Toys & Tools, and of the following sizes: micro, small, mediumand large. The empirical data has mainly been gathered by conducting interviews with production, salesand management personnel at the case businesses. The data has been structured, reduced and analysedwith the help of a framework of analysis that has been developed throughout the pilot study.The results of this study lean on previous research and a main divider in pricing strategies has beenidentified as businesses use either a data-driven or an intuition-driven approach in their strategic workwith pricing. As such, it is proposed that the division of pricing strategies need to be acknowledged, sincethe separate methodological approaches may lead to different results, while implying different costs,resources and required knowledge. Furthermore, the division may form a basis for competitive advantage,be extended to other areas of strategic management and become clearer, since the adoption of technologyand its impact will increase in the future. As a result, in the future of pricing, they key is going to be toaccount for both the strategic perspectives and the methodological approaches in the strategic decisionmaking process of pricing.

The demand of fast food is increasing in current food market worldwide. But fast food, as one of the unhealthy food types, cannot deny its impact as one of the causes of leading death in populations of most high income countries. Healthy fast food is called by governments, health organizations and societies, and desired by customers especially in Sweden because it is affordable, easy accessible, and most immortally, healthy. Companies are emerging based on the current fast food demand to provide healthy one in its unique style and format to meet the needs of healthy food in Sweden market. This research focuses on pricing approach and strategy that is suitable for products of healthy fast food based on literature research and interviews of fast food business owners in Stockholm. According to both literature information and interview results, value based pricing strategy was indicating as a better solution in health fast food business especially in start-up business. The application of value based pricing strategy requires discipline and practice with barrier overcome solutions, and factors with impact on pricing decision making need to be considered to ensure maximum profitability. Furthermore, healthy fast food is a new and promising business trend with developable future, and environmental friendly packaging fits to its business style and customer need.

Modularity has the possibility to fulfil a wide range of customer requirements by using relatively few input components. The benefits of modularization from an engineering perspective have been confirmed repeatedly by multiple researchers, but less attention has been drawn to the question of how to effectively price the large number of variants of top-level configurations. In terms of pricing, a common approach is to add a contribution margin to the production cost, but there are problems associated with this method. In general, there should be possibilities to: i) base price on value, not cost (i.e., price structure); ii) ensure consistency in pricing between configurations (i.e., pricing policy); and iii) maintain the prices over time (i.e., price maintenance). Contribution margin on production cost approach does not effectively fulfill these three criteria. This thesis aims to contribute to filling this research gap by introducing the concept of module-based pricing: a top-level configuration’s list price should be the sum of the prices of its modules. The model, MBPN, developed in this thesis minimizes the difference in the outcome of any existing and a new, modular based model as a neutral starting point. The model uses applied least squares method with an option to set variable limits on the module prices to achieve e.g., value-based module pricing. The results present a case of a successful transition from a contribution margin on production cost approach to module-based pricing for a configurable product. / Modularisering har möjligheten att uppfylla ett stort antal kundkrav med utgångspunkt i relativt få komponentvariationer. De ingenjörsmässiga fördelarna med detta tillvägagångssätt har bekräftats upprepade gånger i olika studier, men mindre uppmärksamhet har riktats mot hur man effektivt kan prissätta de olika varianter av konfigureringar som uppkommer med modulariseringsstrategier. Gällande prissättning av konfigurerade produkter är det vanligt att använda en bidragsmarginal på produktionskostnaden, men det finns problem associerade med denna metod. Generellt bör det finnasmöjligheter att: i) basera pris på värde, inte kostnad (dvs. prisstruktur); ii) säkerställa enhetlighet i prissättningen mellan konfigurationer (dvs. prissättningspolicy); och iii) upprätthålla priserna över tid (dvs. prisunderhåll). Bidragsmarginal på produktionskostnaden uppfyller inte dessa tre kriterier. Detta examensarbete introducerar därför konceptet modulbaserad prissättning: konfigureringens listpris utgörs av summan av dess modulers priser. Modellen, MBPN, utvecklad i detta examensarbete minimerar skillnaden i utfallet av en befintlig och en ny, modulbaserad modell som en neutral utgångspunkt. Modellen är en tillämpad minsta kvadratmetod med möjligheter att applicera variabelgränser för att uppnå t.ex. värdebaserad modulprissättning. Resultatet visar på en framgångsrik övergång från en prissättningsmodell baserad på bidragsmarginal på produktionskostnad till modulbaserad prissättning för en konfigurerbar produkt.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att genom en flerfallsstudie analysera och söka förståelse för sambanden mellan prissättningsstrategier och prissättningsmetoder som tillämpas hos företag som riktar sin verksamhet främst mot andra företag, B2B. Analysen av empirin sker med hjälp av redan existerande teorier om prisstrategier och prissättningsmetoder. Trots studiens fokus på ett visst företag inom en viss bransch är ändå förhoppningen att studiens slutsatser ska kunna vara av intresse för B2B-företag med samma kostnadsstrukturer. Metod: Ramen för studien utgörs av en deduktiv ansats med kvalitativ undersökningsdesign. Företagen i studien har studerats genom en flerfallsstudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer som metod för att insamla data. Teoretisk referensram: Uppsatsens teoretiska del innefattar teorier från företagsekonomisk forskning som förklarar vanliga prisstrategier, prissättningsmetoder och dess funktioner. Begreppen Price Waterfall och Strategic Fit har behandlats för att i analysen kunna se hur väl företagens övriga aktiviteter integrerar med prissättningsprocessen. Slutsats: Målet med denna studie är att besvara frågeställningen: Vilka samband finns det mellan prissättningsstrategier och prissättningsmetoder inom B2B-fötetag? Resultatet visar att det finns tydliga samband på flera områden. Det finns flera slutsatser att dra av denna studie, men den viktigaste slutsatsen är: För att vinstmaximera sina prisstrategier måste man hitta samband med flera olika prissättningsmetoder och arbeta med dessa på ett aktivt sätt i hela organisationen / Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and seek knowledge about the connection between pricing strategy and pricing methods in B2B companies. The analysis was conducted with help from already exciting theory about pricing strategy and pricing methods. Even though the study is conducted on a small amount of companies in a special branch, the ambition is that this thesis could be of interest for B2B-companies with the same structures of cost. Method: The thesis uses a deductive and qualitative approach. The data is collected from a case study conducted through semi-structured interviews. Theoretical framework: The base of the theoretical approach is a number of theories from business and specialist literature that have explained common pricing strategy and pricing methods. The concept of Price Waterfall and Strategic Fit is used to analyze how the companies’ activities integrate with the pricing process. Conclusion: The purpose of this study is to answer the question: What is the relationship between pricing strategies and pricing practices in B2B companies? The result shows that there are clear links in several areas. There are several conclusions to draw from this study, but the main conclusion is that to maximize profits the pricing strategies must be associated with several different pricing methods and work with them in an active way in the whole organization

在未來的無線點對點環境中，由於資訊將被賦予金錢上的價值，故核心議題將不在於如何解決資訊便車者問題，而是必須針對有價資訊制定一有效的定價模式以促進個體提供差異化服務的意願。本研究所提出之情境式小額定價模式，以價值導向定價為基礎，除了針對個體本身資源限制考量而設計之外，更考量服務本身之特性(如無形性、不可分割性、異質性與易逝性)，因此可有效地針對個體目前所處的情境需求以協助服務買方與賣方分別制定服務價格策略與價格談判策略，讓買賣雙方可快速地達成協議。 本研究期望藉由情境式定價與談判機制的提出，能對WP2P 的無線應用服 務發展有所貢獻，並期望讓使用者在動態且即時的環境下，能有效地促進資訊分享的意願與流通，進而能恣意地享受行動服務所帶來的全新生活體驗。 / In the foreseeable Wireless Peer-to-Peer (WP2P) environments (in which information traded is associated with monetary value), one of the key issues in WP2P will focus on how to build efficient pricing strategies to facilitate the peers’ willingness of offering differentiated services (rather than the status–quo of merely resolving the free rider problems). Accordingly, this paper presents a contextualized micro pricing strategy for e-services operating in distributed WP2P environments. The pricing strategy grounding in the concept of value-based pricing not only takes mobile device restrictions and attributes of the surrounding context (ex. time, location) into account, but also regards the unique features of services (intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, perishability) to assist service buyers and sellers to rapidly come to a deal with each other in terms of a lightweight pricing/bargaining process. The contribution of the proposed contextualized micro pricing strategy is to improve peers’ willingness of furnishing differentiated services and to enhance the distribution of the service resources amid the WP2P environments.

Manufacturing companies are increasingly serving customers through valuebased offers by adding and integrating more services in their businesses. Although, manufacturers mainly still use cost-based pricing, many are reconsidering their pricing strategies to capture a fair share of the value they create through value-based offers. Therefore, adopting to value-based pricing (VBP) becomes a necessity when competing value-driven. This study explores the barriers to VBP among servitising industrial manufacturers. Related concepts to VBP, such as value-based selling (VBS) and service-dominant logic (SDL) are also discussed in this thesis. The study implemented a qualitative multiple-case study. The case companies provided insights to their VBP journey and the barriers they face, where contextual factors are an important aspect to consider. In the findings, the discovered barriers are divided into internal and external barriers. It is evident that companies should work with SDL and VBS as means for overcoming barriers as they affect the outcome of VBP. Hence, this thesis contributes to the emerging research on VBP, and provides guidance to companies that are on their VBP journey.