【正文】 s restaurant from memory before it will be considered. For high involvement products, consumers are more likely to use an external search. Before buying a car, for example, the consumer may ask friends39。s family, which achieves the desired endstate of security. In advertising, it is important to portray 畢 業(yè) 論 文 25 the desired endstates. Focusing on the large motor will do less good than portraying a successful person driving the car. Information search and decision making. Consumers engage in both internal and external information search. Internal search involves the consumer identifying alternatives from his or her memory. For certain low involvement products, it is very important that marketing programs achieve “top of mind” awareness. For example, few people will search the Yellow Pages for fast food restaurants。s motivation for buying products. To achieve this goal, we can use the MeansEnd chain, wherein we consider a logical progression of consequences of product use that eventually lead to desired end benefit. Thus, for example, a consumer may see that a car has a large engine, leading to fast acceleration, leading to a feeling of performance, leading to a feeling of power, which ultimately improves the consumer39。s perception on each dimension is relatively clear. In the similarity rating approach, respondents are not asked about their perceptions of brands on any specific dimensions. Instead, subjects are asked to rate the extent of similarity of different pairs of products Using 畢 業(yè) 論 文 24 a puter algorithms, the puter then identifies positions of each brand on a map of a given number of dimensions. The puter does not reveal what each dimension means— that must be left to human interpretation based on what the variations in each dimension appears to reveal. This second method is more useful when no specific product dimensions have been identified as being of particular interest or when it is not clear what the variables of difference are for the product category. Information Search and Decision Making. Problem Recognition. One model of consumer decision making involves several steps. The first one is problem recognition — you realize that something is not as it should be. Perhaps, for example, your car is getting more difficult to start and is not accelerating well. The second step is information search — what are some alternative ways of solving the problem? You might buy a new car, buy a used car, take your car in for repair, ride the bus, ride a taxi, or ride a skateboard to work. The third step involves evaluation of alternatives. A skateboard is inexpensive, but may be illsuited for long distances and for rainy days. Finally, we have the purchase stage, and sometimes a postpurchase stage. In reality, people may go back and forth between the stages. For example, a person may resume alternative identification during while evaluating already known alternatives. Consumer involvement will tend to vary dramatically depending on the type of product. In general, consumer involvement will be higher for products that are very expensive or are highly significant in the consumer39。s brand and those of petitors are perceived. One approach to identifying consumer product perceptions is multidimensional scaling. Here, we identify how products are perceived on two or more “dimensions,” allowing us to plot brands against each o ther. It may then be possible to attempt to “move” one39。s now offers gourmet food. Thus, McD39。 and heavy vs. light consumers. We now put these variables together to arrive at various binations. In the next step, we decide to target one or more segments. Our choice should generally depend on several factors. First, how well are existing segments served by other manufacturers? It will be more difficult to appeal to a segment that is already well served than to one whose needs are not currently being served well. Secondly, how large is the segment, and how can we expect it to grow? Thirdly, do we have strengths as a pany that will help us appeal particularly to one group of consumers? Firms may already have an established reputation. While McDonald39。t. Usually, this is the case only for modities. In the concentrated strategy, one firm chooses to focus on one of several segments that exist while leaving other segments to petitors. For example, Southwest Airlines focuses on price sensitive consumers who will forego meals and assigned seating for low prices. In contrast, most airlines follow the differentiated strategy: They offer high priced tickets to those who are inflexible in that they cannot tell in advance when they need to fly and find it impractical to stay over a Saturday. These travelers— usually business travelers— pay high fares but can only fill the planes up partially. The same airlines then sell some of the remaining seats to more price sensitive customers who can buy two weeks in advance and stay over. Note that segmentation calls for some tough choices. There may be a large number of variables that can be used to differentiate consumers of a given product category。t be all things to all people,” and experience has demonstrated that firms that specialize in meeting the needs of one group of consumers over another tend to be more profitable. Generically, there are three approaches to marketing. In the undifferentiated strategy, all consumers are treated as the same, with firms not making any specific efforts to satisfy particular groups. This may work when the product is a standard one where one petitor really can39。 brand choices. A second application is public policy .In the 1980s, Accutane , a near miracle cure for ae, was introduced. Unfortunately, Accutane resulted in severe birth defects if taken by pregnant women Although physicians were