The Value of Analogical Reasoning for the Design of Creative Sales Promotion Campaigns: A Case-Based Reasoning Approach

54 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2009

See all articles by Niek Althuizen

Niek Althuizen

ESSEC Business School - Marketing Department

Berend Wierenga

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM); Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

Date Written: December 2008 2,

Abstract

Many marketing problems, such as the design of marketing communication campaigns and the development of new products, require creative solutions. Such problems are typically weakly-structured and underspecified (open-ended). The authors investigate the potential of analogical reasoning as a decision support principle for this type of problems. They carry out experiments in a case-based reasoning (CBR) environment. The application domain is the design of sales promotion campaigns. The authors demonstrate that providing decision makers with analogies leads to more creative campaigns. Providing analogies is most effective for decision makers with a low creative ability. Furthermore, solutions become better when decision makers have a larger set of analogies to choose from. Far analogies have the potential of generating more novel solutions than near analogies, but there is a higher threshold for using them. Interestingly, decision makers do not recognize the contribution of the analogies to the quality of their solution. On the practical side, the authors provide an effective tool for supporting decision making in weakly-structured marketing problem areas.

Keywords: creative design, analogical reasoning, decision support systems, sales promotion campaigns, analogieën

JEL Classification: C44, M31, M

Suggested Citation

Althuizen, Niek A.P. and Wierenga, Berend, The Value of Analogical Reasoning for the Design of Creative Sales Promotion Campaigns: A Case-Based Reasoning Approach (December 2008 2,). ERIM Report Series Reference No. ERS-2008-006-MKT, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1333466

Niek A.P. Althuizen (Contact Author)

ESSEC Business School - Marketing Department ( email )

France

Berend Wierenga

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
Room T08-21
3000 DR Rotterdam, 3000 DR
Netherlands

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands