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Understanding Consumer Decision
Making: The Means-End Approach to Marketing and Advertising Strategy
"Means-End Approach"
rather than "Consumer Decision Making" is the main
theme in this book as the authors focus on how managers can use
the means-end methodology to investigate consumer decision-making,
marketing strategy and advertising strategy issues. The authors
divide the book into four main sections. The first section (after
the introduction) focuses on the methods associated with means-end
chains with three separate chapters devoted to the execution
and analysis of the laddering technique. The second main section
focuses on applying the means-end technique to assessing advertising
strategy using several case studies where the technique was used
to assess a particular advertising strategy. The fourth section
is equally applied with the focus on applications to marketing
strategy. Only in the final section are some theoretical perspectives
mentioned. This book seems to be presented for business practitioners
as a "how-to" book designed to encourage the use of
the laddering technique in marketing and advertising strategic
evaluations. As with most qualitative techniques, the process
is situation specific and is more descriptive than predictive.
The missing factor in using this book is a comparison to other
potential techniques in studying consumer decision-making. The
authors do make a passing reference to some alternative techniques
(i.e., Theory of Reasoned Action), but a comprehensive focus
on the theoretic advantages and disadvantages of the means-end
technique are minimized in favor of case study descriptions of
how the technique can be used. The authors readily acknowledge
that the means-end chain approach is a framework rather than
a theory, and as such, the authors do a good job presenting how
the technique can be used to describe the cognitive structure
of consumers and describe underlying motives for certain behaviors.
Overall, the book meets its stated goal to help business managers
understand the means-end perspective, however the title may be
a little misleading as the focus on "Understanding Consumer
Decision Making" is very unidirectional in favor of a focus
on the "Means-end Approach."
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