Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how * The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products); * The the psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media); * The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; * Limitations in consumer knowledge …showed first 75 words of 16199 total…

…showed last 75 words of 16199 total…fix" prices or collectively drop service levels. Antitrust law is, however, a "thorny" area. Consumers may benefit, for example, as some less efficient firms are driven out of business, and may benefit from the efficiencies which may or may not materialize when large firms "gobble up" smaller ones--a defense used in the Microsoft trial. Reference: Hawkins, Del I., Roger J. Best, and Kenneth A. Coney (1998), Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, 7th ed., Boston: McGraw Hill.