Systems and techniques for management and negotiation of prices of goods
purchased from a vendor. Pricing information is collected by a purchaser.
This information reflects factors influencing pricing of components used
by a vendor and intended for use in products sold to the purchaser. The
pricing information is processed to develop models that can be used to
compute expected prices for components. The models and other available
information are then used to compute target prices for components. When a
price quotation for a product is received from a vendor, the price
quotation is analyzed, and the quoted price is compared against an
overall target price generated by identifying the components making up
the product and adding the target prices for components and elements
making up the product. If the quoted price exceeds the target price, the
price quotation is rejected. Negotiations may then be undertaken to
resolve the pricing differences.