Analysis of human judgment and decision making provides useful methodologies for examining the human decision process and substantive results. One such methodology is a lens model analysis. The authors used such a model to study how well a model of expert decisions can capture a valid strategy in the decision process. The study also addresses whether a model of an expert can be more accurate than the expert. The predictive accuracy (predictive validity) of two linear (statistical) models and two nonlinear models of human experts is compared. The results indicate that nonlinear models can capture factors (valid nonlinear strategy) that contribute to the experts' predictive accuracy. However, linear models cannot capture the valid nonlinear strategy as well as nonlinear models. One linear model and two nonlinear models performed as well as the overall average of a group of experts. However, all of the models were outperformed by the most accurate expert. By combining validity of decision strategy with characteristics of modeling algorithms, it is possible to explain why certain algorithms perform better than others.
Soon after the concept of a management information system was introduced in the mid-1960s, marketers tailored it to their own unique needs, naming it the marketing information system (MKIS). Several studies have been conducted of how MKISs are used in the Fortune 500 companies, and the authors compare their current findings to those of ten and eighteen years ago. It seems that both the MKIS support and the model use for the three levels of marketing management are more balanced today than ten years ago. Moreover, pricing decisions instead of product decisions are taking the lead in using the MKIS services today. Marketers have been taking advantage of developments in technology and methodology to increase the level of decision support since the 1960s. However, there is a lack of satisfaction with the MKIS among marketers today. Many firms are not linking their marketing plans with theft companywide information system plans to create competitive advantages. Under today's intense global competition, these situations must be rectified as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will definitely create pressures that could either increase the role of the marketing information system in these firms, or eliminate it entirely.
This paper reports a pilot study designed to investigate media and source patterns for managerial information systems across three hierarchical levels of management. Our basic hypothesis is that media and source patterns will differ by management level. Eight executives in a large energy company were used to investigate the hypothesis: three senior executives, three middle-level executives, and two lower-level executives.