Pricing and integrating in state-owned container handling companies: the case of Egypt

Abstract

From a macroeconomic point of view, Egyptian state-owned container handling companies (ESOCCH) play a fundamental role in supporting the national economy, so it is vital to maintaining their competitive advantages among other competitors, in this context price competition is one of many ways that companies can compete in the marketplace, take into account that pricing is one of the challenging decisions; it is not a straightforward task, because of the existence of many pricing approaches, strategies, and capabilities, besides taking into consideration internal and external factors affecting pricing decisions. Consequently, in this paper, we analyze the pricing process in ESOCCH to understanding current pricing process, in order to determine if it is necessary to improve it. Second discover if there is a link between the pricing process and companies’ vision and mission, to ensure sustainable development of these companies in the long term. Third figure out the degree of integration among ESOCCH in general and in pricing process particularly, thus enhance their role in developing the Egyptian economy. Based on that we used a concurrent triangulation approach, through collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data concurrently, then comparing the results to determine if there is convergence, differences, or some combination. That will be done via interviewing Chief Financial Officer at ESOCCH to understand for instance the pricing process, who sets the price, and internal and external factors affecting pricing decisions, meanwhile analyzing companies’ mission and vision statements, and their current tariff.