This book is about marketing models and the process of model building. Our primary focus is on models that can be used by managers to support marketing decisions. It has long been known that simple models usually outperform judgments in predicting outcomes in a wide variety of contexts. For example, models of judgments tend to provide better forecasts of the outcomes than the judgments themselves (because the model eliminates the noise in judgments). And since judgments never fully reflect the complexities of the many forces that influence outcomes, it is easy to see why models of actual outcomes should be very attractive to (marketing) decision makers. Thus, appropriately constructed models can provide insights about structural relations between marketing variables. Since models explicate the relations, both the process of model building and the model that ultimately results can improve the quality of marketing decisions. Managers often use rules of thumb for decisions. For example, a brand manager will have defined a specific set of alternative brands as the competitive set within a product category. Usually this set is based on perceived similarities in brand characteristics, advertising messages, etc. If a new marketing initiative occurs for one of the other brands, the brand manager will have a strong inclination to react. The reaction is partly based on the manager's desire to maintain some competitive parity in the mar keting variables.

Marketing models is a core component of the marketing discipline. The recent developments in marketing models have been incredibly fast with information technology (e.g., the Internet), online marketing (e-commerce) and customer relationship management (CRM) creating radical changes in the way companies interact with their customers. This has created completely new breeds of marketing models, but major progress has also taken place in existing types of marketing models. The HANDBOOK OF MARKETING DECISION MODELS presents the state of the art in marketing decision models, dealing with new modeling areas such as customer relationship management, customer value and online marketing, but also describes recent developments in other areas. In the category of marketing mix models, the latest models for advertising, sales promotions, sales management, and competition are dealt with. New developments are presented in consumer decision models, models for return on marketing, marketing management support systems, and in special techniques such as time series and neural nets. Not only are the most recent models discussed, but the book also pays attention to the implementation of marketing models in companies and to applications in specific industries.

Intelligent Support Systems for Marketing Decisions examines new product development, market penetration strategies, and other marketing decisions utilizing a confluence of methods, including Decision Support Systems (DSS), Artificial Intelligence in Marketing and Multicriteria Analysis. The authors systematically examine the use and implementation of these methodologies in making strategic marketing decisions. Part I discusses the basic concepts of multicriteria analysis vis-à-vis marketing decisions and in new product development situations. Part II presents basic concepts from the fields of Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and Intelligent Decision Support Methods. In addition, specialized categories of DSS (multicriteria DSS, web-based DSS, group DSS, spatial DSS) are discussed in terms of their key features and current use in marketing applications. Part III presents IDSS and a multicriteria methodology for new product development. Further chapters present a developmental strategy for analyzing, designing, and implementing an Intelligent Marketing Decision Support System. The implementation discussion is illustrated with a real-world example of the methods and system in use.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Annotated bibliography and guide to information sources and statistical sources for business and management, with partic. Regard to the USA - covers accounting, taxation, industrial information, investment, management information systems, financing, insurance, marketing, personnel management, labour relations, operational management, production management, etc.