Course Spotlight: The Pricing of Products and Services
Capturing Value
In “The Pricing of Products and Services” course, Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services (MIIPS) students learn the importance of strategically pricing products and services to capture the value they create for businesses.
This lesson is demonstrated early on with an interactive mock commodity trading game played in the course. Students are assigned roles as buyers or sellers, and each role is given a playing card with a number on it. For buyers, that number indicates the budget for their purchase; they must stay equal to or less than it to succeed. For sellers, the number indicates the amount their company’s product costs; they must decide to ask for a price either higher than or equal to that cost to succeed.
This game helps showcase what it’s like when supply and demand dictate price fluctuation. Students realize in real time how supply and demand drive everything around them, including their own motives as a (pretend) broker.
Underneath the playful nature of the game, students are learning an important lesson: When your product is the same as everyone else's, you’re stuck taking whatever price the market gives you. However, when you offer something unique, you gain the freedom to set your own prices and generate profits.
