Reference Prices as Determinants of Business‐to‐Business Price Negotiation Outcomes: An Empirical Perspective from the Chemical Industry
整合交易成本经济学和消费者行为中的参考价格理论，利用德国化学品供应商与282个客户关系的谈判数据，分析卖方保留价、期望价和初始报价对最终成交价的影响，发现期望价和初始报价比保留价更重要。
Price negotiations in supply chain relationships often take place during annual pricing reviews. This study integrates transaction cost economics and reference price thinking from consumer behavior to understand better how a seller's reservation price, aspiration price, and initial price offering might influence the ultimate settlement price. We apply ridge regression to negotiation data from 282 business relationships of a G erman chemicals supplier with customers in six client industries. Overall, the three determinants explain 86 percent of the variation in the settlement price. A seller's reservation price is substantially less important than the aspiration price or the initial price offering. Although this outcome can be explained via a reference price perspective, transaction cost economics theory helps clarify the industry differences that determine the impact of reservation prices and initial price offerings on settlement prices.