Chris Anderson is a professor at the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration. Prior to his appointment in 2006, he was on the faculty at the Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, Canada. Professor Anderson’s main research focus is on revenue management and service pricing. He actively works in the application and development of revenue management across numerous industry types, including hotels, airlines, and rental car and tour companies, as well as numerous consumer packaged goods and financial services firms. Professor Anderson’s research has been funded by numerous governmental agencies and industrial partners. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management and is the regional editor for the International Journal of Revenue Management. At the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Professor Anderson teaches courses in revenue management and service operations management.
Price Sensitivity and Pricing DecisionsCornell Course
Course Overview
Pricing has become an increasingly important mechanism in maximizing a firm's profits. The ease with which consumers comparison-shop has inspired firms to become more active pricers. Unfortunately, if you lack a proper understanding of the impact of price on demand (and contribution), changing prices can quickly erode your firm's profits. This course describes the impact of changing prices in a competitive environment and describes several methods for measuring demand sensitivity to price changes, or price elasticity.
The course begins with a strategic look at pricing and discusses the impact of price changes, including the anticipated reaction of your competitors. You will examine these impacts through a discussion of recent price changes during economic declines as well as a well-documented airline price war. Following this strategic discussion, you will use a set of tactical tools to evaluate the effect of a price action on demand and, ultimately, on profitability. You will have a chance to immediately practice what you've studied by participating in a pricing simulation game.
This course contains an optional module on Tableau, an interactive visualization software used for business intelligence. You can download a free copy of it to your desktop. While this is optional material, you can use Tableau skills for data analysis and presentations.
You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Price and Inventory Controls
Key Course Takeaways
- Apply price sensitivity tactics to make pricing decisions
- Use price elasticity and regression to maximize revenue
- Visualize data in Tableau (optional bonus content)
How It Works
Course Author
Who Should Enroll
- General managers
- Revenue managers
- Marketing managers
- Hospitality professionals responsible for financial performance
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