ABSTRACT
When making pricing decisions, the successful strategist must consider not only what is profitable, but also what will be perceived as ethical and legal. Unfortunately, good advice on both of these issues is all too often unavailable or misleading. Attorneys who do not specialize in antitrust law tend to be overly conservative-advising against activities that are only sometimes illegal or that could trigger an investigation. In fact, benign changes in questionable pricing policies are often all that is necessary to make them both profitable and defensible. On the other hand, product and sales managers eager to achieve quarterly objectives will sometimes fail to consider these constraints at all, resulting in costly condemnations of their companies in courts of law or public opinion. This chapter is intended to raise awareness of the issues and educate you enough to question the advice you receive.
