Impact of types of functional relationships, decisions, and solutions on the applicability of marketing models

I want to complement the review by Leeflang and Wittink [Internat. J. Res. Marketing 17 (2000) 105] by investigating the impact different marketing mo dels have on actual decision-making. Consumer products companies do not fre quently apply optimization models because the profit improvements of the de termination of the optimal level of a variable like price or advertising bu dget are small acid heavily depend on hardly predictable competitive reacti ons. Models are more often applied for the differentiation of product attri butes or prices to serve the needs of different segments, and the allocatio n of a budget or effort across customers. The most influential modeling too l is spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel and the add-in Solver. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.