Actual work where 2 students given their post on this:

Work #1:

In 500 words or more, explain PCI compliance to the database administrator at a large retailer. Consider the consequences for non-compliance. 

Use at least three sources. Include at least 3 quotes from your sources enclosed in quotation marks and cited in-line by reference to your reference list.  Example: “words you copied” (citation) These quotes should be one full sentence not altered or paraphrased. Cite your sources using APA format. 

Write in essay format not in bulleted, numbered or other list format. 

Reply to two classmates’ posting in a paragraph of at least five sentences by asking questions, reflecting on your own experience, challenging assumptions, pointing out something new you learned, offering suggestions. These peer responses are not ‘attaboys’. 

It is important that you use your own words, that you cite your sources, that you comply with the instructions regarding length of your post and that you reply to two classmates in a substantive way (not ‘nice post’ or the like).  Your goal is to help your colleagues write better. Do not use spinbot or other word replacement software. Proof read your work or have it edited. Find something interesting and/or relevant to your work to write about.  

Work #2:

Discussion Board – Price Skimming

Price skimming strategy is a new product strategy that results in a high initial product price being reduced over time as demand at the higher price is satisfied. Research a product or service that may have entered the market with a high initial price and now the demand at the higher price is satisfied. Discuss why you believe consumer demand has changed for this product or service which resulted in satisfaction of the market.

Please find the attachments.

Sneha Work:

Businesses across the world look for different pricing strategies and Price skimming is a widely used strategy. According to Adam Hayes “Price skimming is a product pricing strategy by which a firm charges the highest initial price that customers will pay and then lowers it over time”(Hayes, 2021). Businesses follow this strategy to maintain competitive prices than their competitors. Customers will always look for an alternative in this digital world. Many price matching tools help customers get similar products. On the other side, product owner makes sure that their product is at the selling price. When a company launches their product into the market they keep a higher price until competition arises, Once they find that there is a similar competitive product for a less price than their product they reduce the price to attract the customers and generate profits. Even though businesses make a better profit when the product has a higher value when they see a competitive product they focus on high-quality sales which brings them equal profit. Price Skimming strategy has a major limitation of short time money generations because of high prices they also need to plan to maintain the lower prices. According to author Patrick Campbell “Incorporate skimming into your pricing strategy only when you have enough repeat buyers to generate dependable word of mouth and assurance that you can’t be easily undercut”(Campbell, 2020).

           Sony Corporation is well known for its electronics, they produce high-quality products which brought them immense brand value. Price skimming strategy is also followed by Sony Corporation. As Roberta  Greenspan mentioned, “Sony also implements value-based pricing to determine the appropriateness of some premium prices, based on actual product value and customers’ perceived value of the products”(2017). They follow price skimming using a premium pricing strategy. An example of Sony’s price skimming strategy was explained by Anders Bylund as follows “That’s why Sony sold a 55-inch 4K TV set for $4,000 just 20 months ago, but now offers an updated version of the same screen for just $1,500″(2015). These examples made me believe that the price skimming strategy is working for businesses and also customers’ thoughts are changing to opt for these products because of the price drops.

References

Anders Bylund. (2015). How to price skimming boosts modern pricing strategies. Fool. https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/24/how-price-skimming-boosts-modern-pricing-strategie.aspx

Adam Hayes. (2021). Price Skimming. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/priceskimming.asp#:~:text=Price%20skimming%20is%20a%20product,then%20lowers%20it%20over%20time.&text=The%20skimming%20strategy%20gets%20its,prices%20are%20lowered%20over%20time.

Patrick Campbell. (2020). Complete Guide to price skimming.Profitwell.https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/price-skimming

Roberta  Greenspan. (2017). Sony Corporation’s Marketing Mix(4Ps) analysis. Panmure. http://panmore.com/sony-corporation-marketing-mix-4ps-analysis

Jacob Work:

Price skimming strategy is often referred as a new product strategy which results in a high initial product price which will gradually decrease over a period of time based on the demand factors within the market. Whenever a new product is launched in the market with unique and high-end features in comparison to the existing products in the market. It is difficult for experts to determine the demand and acceptance of products in the market. Price skimming strategy is widely practice for high end technological products which enable unique features and services in comparison to its rivalries. Price skimming helps in recovering sunk costs and recover from development costs and high prices will result in high profits and higher margins in profits. Electronic devices and IT technologies play vital role in price skimming. As with the technological advancements and market demands electronic devices and technologies come up with modern features which will serve the need and will enhance services and make changes in technology which will result in higher price for new versions with advance features. In such cases, demand for older products and services will reduce(Bhasin & Fernandez., 2017).

One such example is related to Apple product which releases its new gadgets every year with new and advance features which will show immediate demand in the market for various reasons. When Apple launches its iPhone 4s series in the market in the year 2011 at that time there were very less people in the market to afford iPhone. Later with the release of new series of iPhone 4 version with new and updates services and features apple reduces its price for old model i.e., iPhone 4s. Soon after the reduced price and already boom in the market for apple products allowed customers to purchase Apple products. Though apple usually releases its products in higher pricing in comparison to its other rivalries who also provide similar services. Apple mainly focuses to attract the customers who do not mind to pay premium cost to buy products and are so much brand conscious and are interested in Apple services and once the targeted consumers buy the products and the sales value attains the reach then apple comes up with new price variation and some of the consumers deliberately wait till the time apple reduces its price and will purchase its products. This kind of price strategy is widely practiced by Apple. Apple has its own brand value and never fails to reach the expectations of consumers and always comes with some unique features which will immediately draw the attention of consumers and has huge demand in the market.( Gartenstein., 2019).

References:

Bhasin, H., & Fernandez, C. (2017, December 16). Skimming price – Skimming pricing strategy in Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/skimming-price/.

Gartenstein, D. (2019). What Are the Benefits of Skimming Pricing Strategy? Retrieved from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-skimming-pricing-strategy-5122.html

Ram Work:

PCI compliance is a payment card industry data security standard, which is the security regulation standards related to payment cardholders and card information security. If any company stores these kinds of payment information, they need to comply with the PCI standard. Some of the PCI standards’ general requirements are maintaining and building a secure network where it is mandatory to install and maintain a good firewall to protect the data from any attacks. It is also good to change the passwords and any security login details provided by the vendors.

It is also necessary to keep the non-production systems safe, which store the card data. Also, there should be explicit instruction in handling the access authorization on the SQL server. There are two different kinds of authentication available for the SQL server. The first one is the windows authentication, and SQL server authentication in this windows authentication is way less vulnerable for any attacks. Still, SQL server authentication can use response when validating the authentication attempts. For the admins to have complete control over the data, any action the individual took should have all the privileges and access. “The reason behind the creation of PCI standards was as a way of ensuring that a larger control of these credit card information was given to retailers so that these retailers can perform procedures and steps which will prevent both theft and fraud of data” (Bonner et al., 2011). We need to stick with these standards if you are a retailer handling credit card information. One of the ways this is ensured is the imposition of heavy penalties for not complying. To ensure enforcement, company, IT, database, and legal departments collaboratively try very hard. Such four classes are very different and never speak together, and that may be a problem. DBAs are legally binding even because they intend to be sold – and are typically even accepted for software procurement in the contract language. “As if achieving PCI compliance wasn’t complex enough on its own, maintaining compliance year-over-year and keeping up with ever-evolving nuances to PCS data security standards has proven itself a perpetual expense and burden to any organization” (Brereton, 2020). 

The effect on database administration of regulatory PCI compliance is unique. The DBA is not liable for compliance design and execution, but its role is impacted by applications and responsibilities relevant to enforcement. The critical impact of compliance on the DBA is assessing, deploying, and managing compliance technologies, especially data and DBMS. PCI-related activities involving the maintenance of information, data integrity, the auditing and data exposure of records, the masking and obscuring of records, long-term database preservation and archival, and better follow up to standard DBA activities modifying management, backup, and recovery. Retailers that comply with PCI standards may experiences attacks due to data breaches which may be costly to compromised credit cards and suspension and even legal action against them. After understanding the general overview and risk accompanied by PCI compliance, DBA must take the main three categories to attain PCI compliance. Taking a free self-assessment questionnaire is the first step to identifying potential vulnerabilities from how credit card data was captured, stored, and transmitted within the payment environment (Clapper & Richmond, 2016).

Reference:

Bonner, E., O’ Raw, J., & Curran, K. (2011). Implementing the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS). TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics And Control), 9(2), 365. https://doi.org/10.12928/telkomnika.v9i2.709

Brereton, L., Rana, A., Webb, D., H, J., & Wallace, T. (2020). PCI Compliance: Requirements Explained Checklist (2018). Retrieved from https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/pci-compliance/#weve-successfully-achieved-pci-compliance-whats-next

Clapper, D., & Richmond, W. (2016). Small Business Compliance with PCI DSS. Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences, 19(1), 54.

Dushyanth Work:

PCI Compliance to the Database Administrator at a Large Retailer

            Retailers mainly under-emphasize the need for payment security due to other challenges that they experience. They focus on sales generation and competitiveness in the sector, not realizing the importance of their payment systems (Graminga, 2018). They should realize that Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security rules can significantly influence their profitability. “These guidelines govern how retail stores properly handle credit card transactions, including: account numbers; card expiration dates; cardholder names; and card verification values (CVVs)” (Graminga, 2018). The collection, processing, and transmission of the data mentioned above require several steps to protect it from attack.

            Incompliance to the PCI guidelines can severely affect the firm’s operations. It exposes the retailer to credit card fraud or hefty fees and penalties by the agency (Graminga, 2018). Moreover, after data loss, the management might incur litigation and legal expenses after being summoned in courts. It also leads to reduced consumer confidence in the retailer since the customers feel unvalued (Graminga, 2018). Thus, the management should install the required  IT resources to preserve its debit and credit card data.

            Lakin (2018) ascertains that, “It’s evident that hacking and online theft have become problematic for retail businesses more than ever.” Statistics show that several major retail brands have suffered from cyber attacks, where millions of their customer data was exposed. Some of the victims are Macy’s, Best Buy, and Forever 21 retailers, who have been in operation for a very long time (Lakin, 2018). Therefore, they failed to use their resources and experience in the retail industry to safeguard themselves from the strikes.

            Analysts estimate that the cyber attacks can lead to 20 % loss of consumer base, even after the first hacking incident. Moreover, 50 % of the consumers might take a very long time before shopping in the affected store (Lakin, 2018). The waiting time can be more than a year, where the large retailer survives due to the large number of customers they have. “Luckily, there is a framework that has been created to help retailers lower their risk of cyber breach and secure the private credit card data that is passing through their systems” (Lakin, 2018). The implementation of PCI compliance assures customers that their data is safe and recoverable after attacks.

            PCI DSS compliance allows organizations adopt tight regulations on storage and transmission of payment information. Therefore, the management assesses the payment environment, mitigates any detected vulnerabilities, and compile data security reports after consultations with the stakeholders. It has to understand that, “The global payment security market size is expected to reach $43.76 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc.” (Fasulo, 2019). Therefore, the compliance operations should scaled upwards and motivate customers to adopt digital payment methods. The strategy will allow the retailers to prevent occurrence of fraudulent transactions since they can track data in real time (Fasulo, 2019).  Moreover, it ensures that attacks like those staged on Worldpay in 2015 and a South Korean payment infrastructure  that claimed lots of consumer data.

References

Fasulo, P. (2019, September 6). Why the Retail Industry Needs to Improve PCI Compliance & Cybersecurity. Security Scorecard

Graminga, K. (2018, April 16). Why PCI Compliance is Important for Retailers. My total Retail

Lakin,R.  (2018, July 23). PCI Compliance Guide for Retailers. Iron Edge Group