dc.description.abstract | Patterns of consumption in a society are shaped by choices made at the levels of
production (what to produce[l]), distribution (how to allocate the products within
society), information dissemination (how is the existence of products going to be
communicated?), and pricing (at what cost will the exchange take place?). In studying
these choices, that is, choices for consumption, marketing scholars have been almost
totally occupied with a very narrow spectrum of choice, viz., brand choice. For
example, in the 1964-74 period, research involving consumer choice published in the
Journal of Marketing Research has been almost totally on brand choice, with a small
number of articles dealing with product choice, and none with choice among consumption
patterns. The same is true regarding the applications of new concepts and
formulations to marketing phenomena. Almost all new concepts (such as, attitude
theory, multi-dimensional scaling, etc.) have been applied to brand choice. Why this
is so can probably be best explained by the historical development of the marketing
discipline[2]. | |