Systems and decision support issues in network pricing

The primary objective of a business is to provide quality products and services to customers, and through this to make a profit as a strongly related objectives measure. Many organizations fail to make an appropriate profit because they do not know how to price their products or services. Pricing is the critical element in achieving a profit and is a factor that all firms should seek to control. In order to set prices appropriately, a firm must understand their products, the market for these, production and distribution costs, and the competition. Especially with the growth of the Internet and electronic commerce networks, the marketplace responds very rapidly to technological advances and international competition. Thus, the need to be continually sensitive to the many factors that affect pricing, and to be ready to adjust organizational behavior appropriately, is greater than ever. Here, we present a literature review and overview of this important subject and related pricing decision support issues.