This paper develops and applies a prelaunch model and measurement system to the marketing planning of a new automobile. The analysis addresses active search by consumers, dealer visits, word-of-mouth communication, magazine reviews, and production constraints---issues that are important in...

Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-27).

"The Marketing Center." Sponsored by a grant from General Motors (Buick Motors Division).

"This paper is also available under MIT Operations Research Center Technical Report TR-109."

Virtual advisors often increase sales for those customers who find such online advice to be convenient and helpful. However, other customers take a more active role in their purchase decisions and prefer more detailed data. In general, we expect that websites are more preferred and increase...