Abstract:

Marketing Models are not a substitute for the art of the marketing man but they are addressed to the same problem, i.e. they offer the facility for putting some (not all) of the elements in the mix together and then predicting the likely outcome. The benefits from the market research standpoint are evident in that the model provides a framework for sub-optimisation. The benefits from the marketing man's standpoint are that the discipline of the model helps him to define more explicitly the premisses on which his synthesis is based, and also enables him to explore many more alternative strategies than would have been the case without the model. In time the model becomes a repository of corporate wisdom because it is less mobile than e.g. brand managers who, if they are competent, usually have pretty rapid career progression.