Prof Om Narasimhan

This course is available on the MSc in Marketing. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes.

The content of the course is organised into two principal modules: (1) pricing strategy and fundamentals and (2) pricing tactics and implementation. The first module covers fundamental analytical tools, theories, and conceptual frameworks needed for price strategy formulation. Basic principles from marketing, economics, and psychology will be reviewed and extended, with attention to how digital markets, real-time data, and algorithmic pricing are transforming traditional approaches. This provides an in-depth treatment of the role of price in the firm’s value proposition to the customer and the determination of customer response to price. The second module covers pricing tactics with emphasis on pricing in the digital domain, including dynamic pricing, personalization strategies, and the ethical considerations of algorithm-driven pricing decisions. Students will examine how firms use data analytics and machine learning to optimize pricing in real-time while maintaining customer trust.

Course content is refreshed frequently to incorporate current research, emerging technologies, and evolving business practices.

30 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

In its Ethics Code, LSE upholds a commitment to intellectual freedom. This means we will protect the freedom of expression of our students and staff and the right to engage in healthy debate in the classroom.

Students will be engaged in analysing several cases, doing numerical problems, and analysing data sets using the techniques learned in class. This will set the stage for their group project (gathering and analysing data) as well as the exam (interpretation of quantitative findings). Students will be taking four short quizzes during the course of the term; these are meant to ensure a proper grasp of the concepts and tools covered in the lectures.

• The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (2010): Nagle, Hogan, and Zale, Prentice Hall.
• Pricing Information: How to customize both the product and the price (1998): Carl Schapiro and Hal Varian, Harvard Business School Chapters.
• 'Pricing as a Strategic Capability' (2002): Mark Bergen, Shantanu Dutta, Mark Ritson, Sloan Management Review.

Exam (45%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period.

Project (40%).

This component of assessment includes an element of group work.

Quiz (15%).

For detailed assessment information, including all deadlines and timings, please see the relevant course Moodle page. Assessment timings will be available at the start of each term.