The need for hybrid decision systems in complex marketing domains: HYMS

The complexity of strategic market planning is well known to those working in this area. It requires many expert and intuitive judgements based on a number of interrelated, yet diverse, market factors. It would seem that expert systems and decision support systems might have a large impact in this area but the development of such systems has proven difficult with results, so far, less than originally conceived. This paper describes a hybrid expert system HYMS for strategic marketing planning. HYMS aims to provide a structured marketing planning process, guide a user through this process, offer expert advice at key stages and finally make recommendations for users in setting objectives and strategies. It combines the advantages of the expert system and decision support system technology in order to enhance its effectiveness. The paper first presents a brief review on expert systems and decision support systems in marketing. It also discusses the selection of a strategic marketing planning model for HYMS and a method by which structure and objectivity are introduced into the, largely subjective, process of assigning importance to various marketing factors. Finally, it describes the architecture of the prototype system and concludes with remarks from expert users in this field.