Applying Scientific Reasoning to the Field of Marketing, livre ebook

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.
A Personal Observation ..........................................................................xi
Acknowledgments .................................................................................xiii
Section 1 Laying the Groundwork .............................................. 1
Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................3
Chapter 2 Epistemology and Philosophy of Science:
Why Th ey are Useful for Marketing ................................9
Chapter 3 Applying Scientifi c Reasoning to the
Field of Marketing and Business: Th e Dow
Chemical Story ..............................................................21
Chapter 4 Barriers to Scientifi c Reasoning ......................................35
Chapter 5 Worldviews: Th e Lens that Can Distort Reality .............47
Section 2 Th inking Scientifi cally .............................................. 63
Chapter 6 An Introduction to Scientifi c Reasoning .......................65
Chapter 7 Attributes Versus Constructs .........................................81
Chapter 8 Causation ......................................................................95
Chapter 9 Coherence ...................................................................113
Chapter 10 Logic: Deduction, Induction, and Inference to the
Best Explanation ..........................................................127
Chapter 11 Arguments and Logical Fallacies ..................................145
Section 3 Developing Th eories ................................................ 163
Chapter 12 Th eory .........................................................................165
Chapter 13 Creative Th inking in Th eory Development ..................187
Chapter 14 Your Journey ................................................................207
Chapter 15 Additional Readings ....................................................219
Notes .................................................................................................223
Bibliography ......................................................................................231
Index .................................................................................................239