Applying Scientific Reasoning to the Field of Marketing: Make Better Decisions - Paperback

by Terry Grapentine (Author)

Marketing decisions often misfire when driven more by beliefs than by knowledge. This book will guide you on how to differentiate between the two and to think more clearly and correctly when making those decisions, thereby increasing organizational success. The author has based this book on the fields of epistemology-the study of how knowledge is created-and the philosophy of science- the study of what it means for a science to be called a science. The motivation behind the book is quite simple: Given that science is so successful, why shouldn't marketers borrow thinking and reasoning skills from science and apply them to marketing? Indeed, why not? The book details the groundwork for learning how to apply scientific reasoning to the field of marketing, such as some basic and important definitions ("What is a belief?" "What is knowledge?"), and identifies barriers to scientific reasoning, giving an example from the Dow Chemical Company and just how Dow uses critical thinking and reasoning skills to make more effective marketing and business decisions. You'll also learn some real "thinking tools" you will need to apply scientific reasoning to solving your marketing problems. It introduces topics relating to attributes versus constructs, the meaning of causation, the relationship between coherence and justified beliefs, the importance of logic to sound reasoning, and the avoidance of logical fallacies in making sound recommendations. The book concludes by giving you direction to further improve your ability to apply scientific reasoning to solving marketing problems.

Author Biography

Terry Grapentine has 35 years' experience in the field of marketing. Most of his career has been spent as a marketing research consultant, and he has also served as the director of consumer insights for a Fortune 500 company and taught marketing and marketing research at the university level. His more than 30 publications appear in a variety of industry magazines and journals and he speaks at various association conferences, including those sponsored by the American Marketing Association, the Marketing Research Association, the Advertising Research Foundation, and The Conference Board.