Abstract
On 2nd–3rd October, 2007, the third annual Revenue Management and Price Optimization conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The conference explored how multiple factors, including fragmentation of customer markets, transparency in markets, and globalisation, have spurred a transformation from intuition-based to analytical-based decision making across many industries. Panellists included representatives from industries spanning airline, hotel, gaming, grocery, jewellery, package delivery, consumer goods, manufacturing, and consulting. This paper summarises key discussions that emerged from the conference and highlights success stories portrayed in keynote addresses given by James Whitehurst, former chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines; Rick Campana, vice president of Corporate Marketing of the United Parcel Service; and Chuck Neville, executive director of Finance of General Motors Service and Parts Operations.
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References
Arangode, K. (2007) Manager, Johnson & Johnson, Panellist in enterprise profits.
Benson, B. (2007) Head of trading projects, Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Panellist in promotional spending.
Birch, C. (2007) Director, revenue management–western division, Harrah's Entertainment, Panellist in customer lifetime value.
Braun, D. (2007) Vice president of corporate strategic pricing, Parker Hannifin Corp., Panellist in B2B and panelist in enterprise profits.
Campana, R. (2007) Vice president of corporate marketing, United Parcel Service, Keynote speaker.
Coleman, T. (2007) Vice president for revenue management, MGM Mirage, Panellist in customer lifetime value.
Cross, R. (2007) Conference co-chair, chairman and CEO of Revenue Analytics, Welcoming address and chair of B2B panel session.
Hart, M. (2007) Senior director, Winn-Dixie stores, Panellist in promotional spending.
Manning, P. S. (2007) Director, Deloitte consulting strategy & operations, customer & market strategy practice, moderator of strategic pricing breakout.
Marsh, P. (2007) Former commercial director, Signet, Panellist in promotional spending.
McCulloh, A. L. (2007) Assistant vice president for pricing and revenue management, Archstone-Smith, Panellist in customer lifetime value.
Neville, C. (2007) Executive director of finance, General Motor Service and Parts Operations, Keynote Speaker.
Pattison, J. (2007) Head of promotions management, Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Panellist in promotional spending.
Roberts, D. (2007) Regional vice president for market strategy, Marriot, Panellist in B2B.
Rozell, J. (2007) Revenue optimization leader, Carlson Hotels, Panellist in enterprise profits.
Telipsky, B. (2007) Director of revenue management, UPS, Panellist in B2B.
Wellet, S. (2007) Vice president for strategic sales and support, Lenovo Americas, Panellist in B2B.
Whitehurst, J. (2007) Former Chief Operating Officer, Delta Air Lines, Keynote speaker.
Wilson, T. (2007) VP of pricing and margin management, Acuity Brands Lighting, Moderator of breakout on a framework for sustainable improvement.
Bibliography
The following lists individuals who participated in the conference as moderators or workshop leaders who are not included in the reference.
Aref, M. (2007) CEO of Predictix, Chair of panel on promotional spending.
Barfield, B. (2007) Principal, The Rainmaker Group, Moderator of customer lifetime value panel.
Cross, D. (2007) President, Revenue Analytics, Workshop instructor for measuring pricing and revenue management.
Cross, Z. (2007) Vice president, Revenue Analytics, Workshop instructor for measuring pricing and revenue management.
Crystal, C. (2007) Assistant professor, University of Notre Dame, Workshop instructor for unconstraining demand data.
Ferguson, M. (2007) Conference co-chair, Associate professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Management, Opening remarks, workshop instructor for competitive pricing in a B2B market, and workshop instructor for unconstraining demand data.
Garrow, L. (2007) Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Civil Engineering, Workshop instructor for discrete choice modeling.
Geraghty, K. (2007) Principal, Revenue Research, Inc., Workshop instructor for e-commerce.
Higbie, J. (2007) Senior vice president and chief scientist, Revenue Analytics, Moderator of enterprise profits and workshop instructor for measuring pricing and revenue management.
Koppelman, F. S. (2007) Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Workshop instructor for discrete choice modeling.
Kuyumcu, H. A. (2007) Prorize LLC, Workshop instructor for a primer on scientific pricing.
Salbu, S. (2007) Dean and Stephen P. Zelnak, Jr. chair, Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Management, Opening remarks.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all panellists and moderators who participated in the conference. We extend our special gratitude to the conference organising committee members, including Bob Cross, Zach Cross, Kevin Geraghty, and Jon Higbie as well as Joanna Roy, Conference Planning Director. Sponsorship for this conference included leadership support from Deloitte, QL2 Software, and Zillaint; luncheon sponsorship by SAS; supporting sponsorship by Predictix and Rainmaker; and exhibitions by JDA, PROS, QL2 Software, and Zilliant. In-kind support for design of the conference logo was provided by Abovo Group. We are grateful for the generous support of these sponsors, which enabled us to effectively double the attendance from 2006.
For information about this conference and future conferences, please contact the authors or visit the conference website at http://revenuemanagementconference.com. The fourth annual conference will take place at Georgia Tech on 28th and 29th October, 2008. Additional information about the Pricing and Revenue Management Initiative at Georgia Tech, which was funded by a grant by the Georgia Tech Focused Research program and initiated these conferences, can be found at http://mgt.gatech.edu/fac_research/centers_initiatives/pricing.html.
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1 Laurie Garrow is an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research interests include travel behaviour modelling and development of advanced discrete choice models. She currently serves as the chair of the Urban Transportation Special Interest Group of INFORMS and co-chair of the AGIFORS Scheduling and Strategic Planning Group. Prior to joining the faculty, she worked for five years in the research and development revenue management group for United Airlines and for one year in customer science at Mercer Management Consulting.
2 Mark Ferguson is the Gregory J. Owens Associate Professor in the College of Management and is the coordinator for the Pricing and Revenue Management Initiative at Georgia Tech. He served as co-chair of the conference featured in this article. He serves as a board member for the Pricing and Revenue Management subdivision of INFORMS and has consulted with a number of companies on price optimisation. Two of his papers have won best paper awards at the national Production and Operations Management conferences and his research has been supported by the National Science Foundation. Before joining the faculty, he worked for five years as an engineer and inventory manager at IBM.
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Garrow, L., Ferguson, M. Revenue management and the analytics explosion: Perspectives from industry experts. J Revenue Pricing Manag 7, 219–229 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2008.3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2008.3