Affiliations: Department of Operations and Logistics Management, School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author. Yao Zhang, Department of Operations and Logistics Management, School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110167, China. Tel.: +86 24 8368 9392; Fax: +86 24 2389 1569; E-mail: yzhang@mail.neu.edu.cn.
Abstract: Successful new product launches are significant for company survival in intense competition environments. Companies generally divide customers into different marketing segments to increase profits due to the growing focus on customer relationship management (CRM). For new product launches, developing marketing strategies towards customers in different segments is a critical issue faced by companies. To address this issue, this paper proposes a fuzzy optimization method to select marketing strategies for new products based on similar cases. In the proposed method, a case database and a target case are constructed that consist of relevant data about historical products and a new product, respectively. Then, historical similar cases are retrieved based on similarities and adapted according to the current situation. Next, triangular fuzzy numbers are used to describe customers’ responses to the marketing strategies. Finally, a fuzzy integer linear model is constructed. By solving this model, marketing strategies for the new product towards customers in different segments can be obtained. A case study is provided to illustrate the potential for the practical application of the proposed methodology and several managerial implications are also noted.
Keywords: Fuzzy integer linear programming, similar cases, marketing strategy, new product launch, customer segment
