Transfer Pricing in the Context of Strategic Congruence

Abstract: The most common approach towards transfer pricing has been purely economic or with focus on tax regulations. However, transfer pricing has developed to become a component of organizational strategy. This indicates a growing focus on transfer pricing from a managerial perspective. A well-functioning transfer pricing structure can enable increased operational efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to explain the alignment between transfer pricing methods and strategy. The alignment between corporate levels and divisions enhances a corporation’s possibility to obtain strategic congruence, and thereby competitive advantage to become a stronger player on the market. The research is conducted as a multi-level case study with both qualitative and quantitative data collection. The result stresses that the case firms transfer pricing design is based on managerial objectives, and uses market-based and negotiated transfer price policies. The result finds that the methods and the strategy are partly aligned, which contributes to the corporation’s overall performance. Although, due to the levels different perceptions of profit maximization some sub-optimization occurs.