Credit Card Payment Processing in Electronic Commerce: An Analysis of the Bucket Pricing Strategy

Credit cards have been the dominant payment method for the electronic commerce retail industry. However, online retailers, especially the small to medium ones, continue to be disadvantaged by the seemingly arbitrary bucket pricing strategy implemented by the credit card processing companies. We address the following research question: “Can the credit card processors continue to economically justify the use of bucket pricing structure, especially considering the increased competition within the industry and from competing payment alternatives?” We use an economic model as a basis of our analyses and discussions.Credit card payments; credit card processing; bucket pricing; tiered pricing; electronic commerce; online retailers.

A STUDY OF DIGITAL MUSIC PRICING MODELS

The development of Internet brought in revolutions in pricing models in the music industry. Currently, there are two common schemes to sell digital music. The first one is referred to as the ownership model, under which the consumers purchase and download the singles they prefer. The second one is referred to as the subscription model, under which consumers subscribe to the streaming services by paying a subscription fee. Out paper reveals that the advertisement revenue rate impacts music service providers’ choice of pricing models. The music provider should choose the subscription model, when the advertisement revenue rate is low; the ownership model when the advertisement revenue rate is moderate; and offer the music for free and exploit profit from advertisements when the advertisement revenue rate is high

Incorporation of the Roadify API in Ride and Bike Sharing Systems

Ride and bike share companies have an interest in optimizing trips involving multi-modal transit. To make these services more user-friendly and efficient, we proposed that transit data should be integrated into them. Providing transit data to rideshare drivers in particular would increase their productivity and profits. To develop a plan for partnership between these companies and our sponsor, we developed pricing models and assessed how the APIs would work together. A tiered subscription model with a free trial base became the pricing structure of choice for a partnership with ridesharing company Uber, following research and discussions with our sponsor. Despite initial promise, we ruled out bike sharing as a possibility due to limited digital architecture and weaker financial incentives

Illustrations of Price Discrimination in Baseball

Price discrimination of this nature, focused on differing degrees of quality, bundled goods, volume discounts, and other forms of second-degree price discrimination, is commonplace in MLB. Indeed, it is safe to say that every single MLB ticket is sold under some form of price discrimination. As teams grow increasingly sophisticated in their pricing strategies, price discrimination is becoming more precise, more wide-spread, and more profitable, while at the same time providing for more opportunities for more fans to find tickets at a price they are willing to pay. Unlike a baseball game, where one team must lose and one must win, price discrimination allows for win-win economic outcomes for teams and fans alike.price discrimination; bundling; variable pricing; dynamic pricing; secondary ticketing; two-part tariff; loaded ticket

Fork in the Road: Alternative Paths to a High Performance U.S. Health System

Estimates the cost savings and coverage rates of three options for healthcare reform: an insurance exchange with no public plan, a public plan paying Medicare rates, and a public plan paying rates midway between Medicare and private plan rates

The Three Faces of Retainer Care

Retainer care arrangements allow patients to pay a fee directly to a physician’s office in order to obtain special access to care. Practices usually convert to retainer status by concentrating their attention on a small panel and dropping the majority of their patients. Proponents call retainer care a triumph of consumer-directed health care; opponents deride it as “boutique medicine.” Both sides are deploying a variety of legal tactics in order to attain their goals. After surveying these conflicts, this article clarifies what is at stake by analyzing the three key features of retainer care: preventive care, queue-jumping, and amenity-bundling. Most commendably, retainer physicians are aggressively counseling their patients on how to avoid getting ill. More questionably, they are trading faster access to better health care for cash. Most troublingly, they are bundling medical care with unrelated amenity services. Each of these “faces” of retainer care deserves a different legal response. This article develops a normative framework for tailored intervention. Regulators have taken some promising steps toward mitigating the worst aspects of retainer care conversions. However, taxation may be the only approach sufficiently targeted to reduce incentives for queue-jumping and amenity-bundling while promoting innovation in preventive care

Theater Battle Management Core System Systems Engineering Case Study

The Theater Battle Management Core System (TBMCS) is an integrated air command and control (C2) system that performs standardized, secure, automated air battle planning and execution management for Air Force, multi-service, and allied commanders in theaters of operation worldwide. TBMCS provides the means to plan, direct, and control all theater air operations and to coordinate with land, maritime, and special operations elements. It is deployed at C2 nodes at national, force and wing/unit-level elements. TBMCS operates in support of planners and decision makers at, and below, the level of Joint Force Air Component Commander. The system is modular and scalable for air, land, or sea transport and the deployed configurations can be tailored to meet a particular contingency